In District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, there's a restaurant, \"Noir. Dining in the Dark Saigon,\" where you savor a course meal in darkness with all light shut out. Guests are led to their seats without seeing a menu and, deprived of sight, read the dishes relying only on aroma, texture, and sound. Serving as guides are visually impaired staff, for whom the dark is home ground. It's been passed down among travelers as an experience that reexamines the very act of \"eating\" between sightseeing.<\/p>\n
The restaurant is in the Da Kao area of District 1, deep in an alley extending to 178\u2013180D Hai Ba Trung street. The location itself, hard to find from the main street, is an entry point to time cut off from the outside world. After entering, you first enjoy appetizers and a puzzle game in a bright lounge, then, before your eyes adjust to the dark, entrust your belongings and light sources before proceeding to the main dark room. You can't bring in even the light of a smartphone or watch.<\/p>\n
Guiding guests in the dark room are visually impaired staff. Of all 22 employees, 11 are people with visual impairment themselves, serving customers after three months of training. In the dark, sighted people lose their footing, and they \u2014 usually placed on the side of being supported \u2014 completely command the space. From the position of the table and the location of the glass to the cue for the next dish, they convey it accurately by voice and presence. Of the roughly 4,000 visually impaired people in Ho Chi Minh City, 6.3% are said to be able to work, and this restaurant is one of those few places of employment.<\/p>\n
The dishes are a modern course weaving together European, Asian, and Vietnamese elements. If told in advance, a vegan option is prepared too. The price is 700,000 to 750,000 VND per person. From the prelude in the lounge to the meal in the dark room, the experience runs about two hours.<\/p>\n