O.NOIR - It’s Better in the Dark
Get ready to grab forkfuls of nothing if you choose to check out one of Montreal’s newest restaurants that’s opening soon; O.NOIR.
With similar establishments already in Europe, Australia, L.A. and New York, this is Canada’s first-ever restaurant that lets patrons experience what it’s like to be blind. Which I think is a extremely interesting idea. The thought of not being able to see my food as I’m eating does make me a little nervous, but on the flip side of that, being effectively forced to use all of my other senses while dining is something that I’m more than excited about.
What I really like is that they will be giving %5 of the profits to local associations for the blind and visually impaired and essentially most of the staff will be visually impaired as well. There’s no indication of prices or even what the menu will consist of yet, but %5 can add up nicely for a worthy cause.
Has anyone from those above mentioned cities ever experienced these restaurants? This is a great time for anyone to chime in with thoughts, or to express whether or not you’d be willing to dine in the dark.
Links, contact info and a couple of videos after the jump.
When I first found out about this restaurant opening here in Montreal (I’ve previously heard of their existence elsewhere) I was floored. It’s such a semi-original idea (they’ve been around for a few years after all) and it’s something that you can’t fully recreate in your own dining room/kitchen as it’s near impossible to block out all light sources completely, unless you eat in your bathroom… But I digress, I just had to know more, so I googled:
- Dans le Noir? London(might be a good indication of what the prices and menu could be)
- Opaque in L.A. (check out their video feature on LTN here)
- I also found this video on YouTube, also talking about Opaque
- And a few search results came up on Gridskipper concerning dark dining.
So there you have it. Anyone game enough to give this a go? Drop a few comments about what you think of this new addition to Montreal’s already great list of fine restaurants.
O.NOIR is opening September 15th.
1631 Ste-Catherine West near Guy-Concordia Metro
514-937-9727
Check out their website for even more details.
… Let’s just hope they don’t serve Deep-Fried Coca-Cola!!
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Neato. That sounds really cool but I think I’d be nervous eating something I can’t see. I guess that really drives home the point since visually impaired people have to eat every single meal like that. On a related note though, there’s another restaurant in Montreal that opened recently called “Robin des Bois”. I think it’s located somewhere on St. Laurent and it’s run mostly by volunteers, only the chefs are paid, so that all profits go to designated charities. Still trying to find a time to check it out. Supposedly the food is really good because one of the chef’s is from Toqué.
After checking out O.NOIR’s website, I became really interested in this whole idea. It’s something I’ve never had the opportunity to experience before. And it’s for a good cause too! What differentiates this restaurant from all others, I found out, was that first of all, you can’t help but feel how it’s like to be blind. Also, 5% of its profits are given out to local blind associations! It really does seem like such an exciting experience and I definitely can’t wait to try it out!
it’s a crazy idea!wow..
i cant believe it!i will go give it a try ..man !what a wonderful concept.i already reserved 2 seats for next sunday night.
I ate at a similar restaurant in Sydney, Australia called The Dark Side of Hyde Park. It was great! I really like the concept of O.Noir better because they hire seeing impaired staff, while the staff in Australia were wearing night vision googles.