This is a interesting, but slightly weird, concept that has come to the Western World, from yes, you guessed it, China. For some reason, the Chinese and Japanese are always at the forefront of being very, oh so, different compared to the rest of the world. But hey, at least they’re trying new things…

So all of this equates to the first dark restaurant in Asia, which opened its doors on 23 December 2006 (just in time for a black Christmas). The restaurant is located in Beijing, China and the interior is painted entirely in black. Except for the entrance hall and restrooms, the rest of the restaurant is pitch black. Patrons are seated at their tables with the help of waiters wearing night-vision goggles and also using luminous watches and cellphone lights.

Apparently the idea is basicly to starve the customers’ sense of vision, to enhance the tasting and smelling senses, which obviously makes for a better meal. The only problem as we can see, is probably the fact that you are indeed eating your meal in the dark and this might be quite an obstacle. But except for that, the only idea is quite unique and we like the fact that it is new and innovative.

Maybe we’ll pop around there on our next trip to Asia (note: we’ve never been there, so this is daydreaming) and experience it first-hand. And except for that wish, we’re just wondering whether they’re really trying to be cool or whether the electricity company doesn’t like them!?

(Edit: According to the comments on the blog where we first found this article, similar restaurants can be found in Melbourne, Montreal, Zurich, Berlin, London and various cities in the States and Russia. Also, Zurich’s Blindekuh, “Blind Cow” in English, and Montreal’s O.Noir was created to create jobs for the visually and hearing impaired and also raise awareness for these impairments. We quite like that idea too…)

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