Blacked Out

Last night was one of the craziest dining experiences I've ever had...we went to this great restaurant - Dans le Noir http://www.danslenoir.com/london/

Such a cool experience, the concept is you experience your meal as if you were blind! The dining area is 100% completely black, the waiters can't see either...So first things first, get there and choose your food. Well, kind of. There are just four choices, Surprise, Fish, Vegetarian, and Meat. They don't tell you what the actual food is, just that. So we were all feeling adventurous, and went with the surprise, including the surprise wine.

Next we were led back to the dining room by Derek, our server for the evening. You hold onto each others shoulders, and follow him into the blackest room imaginable! He seats each of you, tells you what is in front of you (your silverware, glasses, etc) Then hands the bottle of wine to one of you, and you are responsible for filling your own glasses! Amazing, try pouring wine without spilling in the complete blackness! You get creative for sure. The starter came out first. Some sort of meat with cheese rolls. We all decided it must be pork (or as they call pork here, bacon). It was very good though. Next came out the main course, three types of meat, some mashed potatoes, a few veggies. It is so crazy difficult to eat with your fork when you don't know where/what you are forking up! So I resorted to feeling around with one hand, then stabbing with my other hand once I found what I was going to eat - probably not the best table etiquette, but the only way I could figure out what to put in my mouth! Insane how hard it was to eat, but it was so incredibly easy to find/drink my wine!!! :) Last was dessert - a rice pudding thing with some cookies and chocolates around it. Delish!

The best part of the experience is you have no idea what people around you are doing...for example my ever romantic boyfriend handed me his underwear! Lol! Awesome - so I in return gave him mine! Later they were passed to our friend, who wasn't quite as excited to receive them as I had been! She actually snuck up behind him and put them on his head! Lol!!! He thought it was our waiter, then got pretty freaked out when they started coming down over his face, he thought Derek was trying to suffocate him!!! It was absolutely hilarious! Also a great way to get to know new acquaintances, much easier to discuss sex, sex, and sex when you don't have to see the expressions on peoples faces...highly recommend it for shy people.

At the end of the meal, Derek came and led us from the room just like he had when we were brought in. Once we got outside in the light, we all got to see my bf wearing my bra, and also got to see what we had eaten! They have pictures of what the food looked like, and what it was. The starter (we had thought was pork) actually was goose breast! The main course had been Shark (so we were close on the fish!), Kangaroo steak (I had thought it to be steak), and some sort of African Antelope! Crazy, would have never ordered most of that on my own, but super fun to realized you had just tried 4 things you've never eaten before!

After the restaurant we decided to make the most of our Thursday night, and headed out to a karaoke bar. Along the way we had a Clive Owens spotting (I'm still not exactly sure who he is) And we proceeded to drink as many types of alcohol as possible, listened to some lovely and not so great singers, and I managed to find some new friends from Wyoming. Yes, I came all the way from Colorado to London, and managed to find some guys from Wyoming...apparently my redneck radar is still working quite well :) Weird, but running into someone you share even the smallest thing in common with from back home, can temporarily cure your homesickness! I had been feeling pretty sad all day and for some reason, it just made me feel better! :)

Okay, I'm going to figure out where I can get a nice Kangaroo steak to grill up for dinner...xoxo

Photos: Top - Me and one of my Wyoming buddies - his dance moves and spinning moves actually resulted in some bruising when I was flung across the dance floor! Bottom - My new roommates singing it up!