Blind Date

I went to Montreal, Canada over the break to visit my parents, friends, and girlfriend.
Rather than having a Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to go on a date with my girlfriend.

We went to a restaurant called O Noir (a pun for au noir, meaning "in the dark"). The restaurant is special, because the patrons dine in a room that is pitch black. You literally cannot see anything and even all cell phones are asked to be turned off, because they can produce light.

We are given a menu to choose our meal from. As an appetizer I go with an octopus and decide to go for the "special" for my main course. I do not get a desert. The special is a surprise, so I tell them I do not want mushrooms in mine because I do not like them. My girlfriend gets vegetables with goat cheese and shrimp with risotto. The meal with an appetizer OR desert costs $30 Can. A meal with all three costs $37 Can.

I place my hand on the waiter's shoulder and my girlfriend places hers on mine. We are taken into a pitch black room and guided through the maze of tables and chairs to our seat. It is incredible how the waiter knows exactly how to take us there. It is completely bizarre not being able to see ANYTHING (I close my eyes during the meal to rest them, because they are utterly useless. I also take off my glasses, but put them back on after I accidentally knocked them off the table and almost ended up losing them forever). Another thing we notice is that everyone is really loud, because they feel the need to be since they cannot see the others.

The food was fairly good but overpriced, but the experience was truly something unique. It is fun trying to eat food with utensils until you eventually give up and resort to using your fingers (it's OK, because no one can see). I also enjoyed the liberty of scaring my girlfriend while I was literally right across the table from her. Even holding hands was something new, because we had to find each other's hands first.

Although it was definitely expensive for the food we got, the experience was something I think everyone should have at least once. There is a restaurant called Opaque if anyone is interested in this in Atlanta. Unfortunately, I believe it is also fairly expensive.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving meals. I know I enjoyed mine.