3. March 2012: Restaurant blindekuh basel

Definitely a great experience – if you dine at the blindekuh your senses open up and become very intense – why? You do not see anything at all. The whole dining experience takes place in complete darkness. You have to book in advance as the place is booked out pretty early, especially on weekends. When you enter you are welcomed and you get to pick your menu – which is either à la carte so you know what you will be eating or, if you like experiments, you should try the “Menu Surprise” (version with meat; CHF 64.00).

Our first course was – yeah, what was it? Clearly, it was a soup but it was quite difficult to say what it was. Guessing ranged from lentil to beans and we were debatting if it contained elements of meat or not. At the end – when we got out – we were told it was a tomato-flavored chestnut cream soup with Chorizo. So, we did not quite managed to find out what it was but where maybe also not that far. Eating a soup does not proof to difficult in complete and utter darkness. The soup was good, I must admit, but not outstanding really and the chorizo was barely tasteable (as there were tiny, tiny pieces only).

The second course came on a plate – and we figured pretty soon it was spaetzle and savoy cabbage in a cream sauce. Even the hint of thyme we were able to taste on the spaetzle. The meat was the tricky part – we ranged between chicken, turkey, veal, pork and even beef. But none of us was able to tell that it actually was cony back filet. The main course was absolutely delicious and you would want more – which is unfortunately not possible. What made the main course very interesting besides its taste was the difficulty to eat it. You would think it is easy to eat in complete darkness as you know where your fork, knife and plate are but, believe me, it is not as easy as one might think. While you think you cut yourself quite a big piece of meat, you end up with a tiny piece in your mouth, and while you think your fork is full with spaetzle you suddenly have an empty fork in your mouth. It makes the experience very interesting but also, it makes it quite difficult to eat, especially when you are hungry as hell.

As a desert, we had cinnamon mousse on some stewed fruit with amaretti – meaning we found out what it was besides what kind of compote it was. We figured later, it was plum compote. The desert was tasty too, but the mousse was a bit too coarse for my taste and somehow it is difficult to eat it properly.

With regards to the dishes I can say, they were definitely good – there was nothing which made your taste buds go crazy but it was all made very fine. Eating actually proofs more difficult that you might think (besides the soup because you have a bowl so you cannot really make anything wrong).

The atmosphere – well, nice I guess but absolutely not possible to judge upon as you really did not see anything at all. Our waiter was Hermann and he was very friendly, helpful and patient despite the fact that he seemed quite stressed as he had to serve several tables. What is interesting about the concept is that the waiters are also blind which makes it very interesting to experience how they do everything. Nothing has spilled over the table or anything – definitely impressive!

What was a bit of a downer was the fact that the kitchen apparently could not keep up with the pace. I cannot exactly say how long we have waited between the courses but overall we spent about 2,5 hours in complete darkness and we were eating rather quickly (as we were all starving) – or at least it felt like. Still, there was quite some time in between the courses which was getting on our nerves at some point – especially between the first course and the main course.

To sum the whole experience up: It is definitely worth going because it is something you seldomly experience in your regular life (given you are able to read this). Eating proofs more difficult than you think, not everything is clearly recognizable when you do not see what you eat (although afterwards when you are told what you have had, it all makes perfect sense). Other than that it is really impressive how the blind waiters do their job. Plus: Being in complete darkness and not seeing anything might seem quite easy at first (as if you close your eyes) but it is actually quite a hard job for your brain – you know you are able to see and you still do not see anything – quite hard. Also, it is quite funny as you can steal knife and fork of your company at the table which can lead to pretty funny situations when one only has two knifes instead of a knife and a fork at his disposition.

All in all, go and give it a shot! It is definitely worth it – a unique experience which makes you aware of how life as a blind person might be (sure it is only a short glimpse you get, but it is very impressive) plus the experience of eating becomes way more intense and also shows that good company is worth tremendously much when you are eating out (okay, nothing new to me, but still). But make sure to reserve in advance!

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Contact Details:

Restaurant blindekuh basel

Dornacherstrasse 192

4053 Basel (CH)

Tel.: +41 61 336 33 00

Fax: +41 61 336 33 05

E-Mail: basel@blindekuh.ch

Homepage: http://www.blindekuh.ch

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.