Dining in a Pitch-Dark Restaurant - by Lily

It took a special occasion for me to google romantic dining place in Singapore. The occasion was our 30th wedding anniversary, and the place I found – NOX, a dine in the dark restaurant.

Last Friday evening, we arrived at the restaurant ahead of our reservation time. The front of the restaurant was quiet, and the double wooden door completely closed. We ventured inside and stepped into the dimly-lit lounge where a few couples were seated. We were led to a small table and offered a small starter while we got settled. Then we were asked to put all our electronics, including smart watches, into a locker and lined up along with two other couples to get ready for dinner upstairs. At the top of the narrow stairway, the head waiter gave us some instructions. We lined up in a single file, each one held onto the shoulder of the person in front of us with both hands. Gingerly through a dark holding area, then a second black curtain, we were embraced by the total darkness of the dining room.

NOX

waiting lounge

starters in the lounge

Following the waiter we reached our table. I felt the back of my chair, pulled it out a bit and sat down. It was pitch dark, all the communications were through language and touch. The napkin was on the table right in front of us, utensils on the right-hand side, and above the utensils was an empty glass. We ordered a bottle of sparkling water, which was placed at the center of the table, exactly in between the two glasses. Our first task was to pour some water out, which I did without any glitches. The trick is to make sure the bottle touches the glass and put things back to where they belong afterwards. We could not see each other, but we could hold hands on top of the table, our hands met exactly at the location of the bottled water. The setup was perfect for some heart-to-heart. We recounted the early days of our lives together year-by-year, the good memories, the interesting events. Somehow, none of us could remember how we celebrated our 20th anniversary, which would have to be checked later.

The appetizers arrived. There were four dishes. We were asked to start with the one closest to us at 6 o’clock, then go clockwise to sample 9, 12, and 3 o’clock sequentially. I dipped into the first dish with my fork. It was some sort of meat with diced veggie and fruit. I could taste bell pepper and mango. The 2nd dish was too soft to be meat but not soft enough to be tofu, I was at a complete loss with this one (1). The 12 o’clock dish was my favorite, smoked salmon with croutons and green onion. The last one was prawn with sauce.

As we waited for the next course, we noticed that the conversations in the room became livelier, more people arrived, and a larger group with more laughter. Allan filled my glass with air – he didn’t realize that he didn’t tilt the bottle enough to allow the water flow into my glass :) Entrée was also 4 dishes. Allan liked the 6 o’clock one the best. I tasted pumpkin in the 2nd one and fish for sure for the 3rd one. The last one was my favorite for this round and I felt for certain it was slow cooked pork (2).

Dessert round started with ice cream, the flavor was orange with a slight bitter taste that I like, but I can’t recall the correct name of it (3). The 9 o’clock one tasted bland with a soft texture, neither aspect was appealing to me (4). The 12 o’clock one was a strawberry cake, the fresh strawberry tasted good! The last one with chocolate fudge with sauce. The chocolate tasted rich and nice, but the sauce was overly sweet to my taste.

After completion of the 12-course set menu, we went back to the lounge downstairs. A staff gathered us for a “debrief” of the dining experience. She asked us to recall each dish then showed us the pictures of each dish. As soon as I saw the pictures I realized the element we missed, the visual of the dishes! We were so focused on the taste of the dishes and guessing what it was, I completely didn’t think to imagine how the dish would look like. Looking at the pictures, the dishes looked a lot more delicious than we tasted. Or one can say the visual presentation of a dish can significantly affect the taste experience. With this dine in the dark experience we heightened our appreciation for both the taste and the look of the food we eat.

Hand in hand we walked out of the restaurant and stepped into the balmy evening. Tomorrow, more adventures await.

Note 

1 ravioli; 2 but it turned out to be beef…; 3 Yuzu; 4 Spanish pudding

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Past Celebrations of Matrimony 

The celebration of our wedding anniversary is usually very simple: We watch our wedding ceremony video together on the night of the anniversary day - "With this ring, I thee wed, this is my promise, you are forever my love", "With this ring, I thee wed, and with it I give it all the treasure of my mind, my heart and my hands" - we are moved by our own simple wedding ceremony every year!

This has been the mainstay for all these years. But over the years we added additional activities on major milestones. 

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we did something extra. Lily hand made a beautiful card chronicled the milestones of our marriage. Coincidentally Allan was preparing a long article on our first 12 years together including our dating time. Allan did not complete it on the anniversary day. It became a project for us. An intended wedding anniversary present from Allan to Lily became a new year's day present for ourselves.

For our 20th anniversary, for the first time ever in our marriage Allan put a giant and beautiful flower bouquet on our kitchen counter. It was a Friday, Lily came home from work in the evening. She was super surprised to see it when entering the kitchen from garage, she knew what it was for; it’s the flowers she had been waiting for…