08 Jul Onoir – Where eating in the dark is an adventure

by Aunty Ashley

O Noir offers a sensual dining experience like no other. To enjoy food, drink and conversation IN THE DARK gives a unique intensity to dining. When you eat without your sight, your remaining senses are heightened to savour the smell and taste of food.

This is an experience geared towards, in my opinion, anyone 12 and over. I felt anxiety when entering the dark portion of the evening so please take that into consideration when deciding if this is something you would like to try.

First of all, I really enjoyed it. It was incredible. I am still undecided as to whether the food was extra tasty because my other senses were alerted or was it simply because the chef was outstanding. Both?

A gang from work got together to try Onoir. We were eight girls, and that worked well. At first, patrons are gathered in a lit lounge where we are offered a menu from which to choose our meal. There are two-course selections including either appetiser and main or main and dessert. There is a three-course option including appetiser, main and dessert.

Once we decided on our meals, our waitress came over to introduce herself and usher us into the darkened room. Did I mention that all the wait staff are visually impaired? They are. The cooks are not and work in the light.  We were asked to place any drinks we had in our right hand and place our left hand on the shoulder of another person in our party. We walked single file behind our waitress, Lily, hands on each other’s shoulder, to our seats.

Lily was fantastic; she guided us by telling us where our place setting was. She advised we keep our drinks in the front centre of the dish for practicality.

As the courses were served, we became more familiar without place settings. What was interesting was we never knew how much was left on the plate, which meant we had to be more aware of whether we felt full as opposed to whether the dish was empty.

As my appetiser, I selected the chef’s surprise. All I can tell you is there was arugula with crunchy vegetables. I recognised the arugula immediately, but some of the other ingredients were not as obvious. I will not say all that this entailed as I do not want to spoil it for anyone who wants to go.

As the main dish, I chose the fresh lobster pasta with white wine, and lemongrass sauce served with fennel and leek chips. My immediate neighbour chose the crunchy curry risotto with sun-dried tomato pesto and buttered brussels sprouts. Both choices were out of this world. I will certainly be going back for more. This was an excellent adventure.

A little background on Onoir.

This socially conscious concept sprang from Jorge Spielmann, a blind pastor in Zurich who used to blindfold his dinner guests at his home so they could share his eating experience. In 1999, Spielmann opened Blindekuh (German for Blind Cow), a project aimed at teaching the sighted about the sightless world, and provide jobs for blind people.

Onoir has elicited the help of Horizon Travail (an organisation affiliated with Emploi Quebec), which helps prepare and train visually impaired people to enter the mainstream job market; a population that experiences roughly a 70% unemployment rate.

A percentage of Onoir’s profits are given to support local associations that serve blind and visually impaired people of all ages.

Onoir
124 Prince Arthur St East
Montreal, QC H2X 1B5

Contact: 514-937-9727
info@onoir.com