Restaurant Review: Noir. Dining in the Dark

Soon after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, I was texting back and forth with my dad. (For those who don't know, I definitely inherited my food obsession from him, and not from my mom, whose favorite food is toast.) He is always ahead of the game when it comes to different foods and restaurants to try. Sometimes he even asks where we're planning on eating and then, after checking out their menu online, offers advice on what we should order. It may sound crazy to some, but I love him for it. 

Anyway, that was how we heard about Noir. (Full name: Noir. Dining in the Dark.) He hadn't been himself but heard about it from a friend. I Googled and ended up on TripAdvisor (sigh...), where I saw that it is #1 of 2,000+ Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. As if that wasn't enough to convince us that we needed to check it out, Noir is a dining experience totally unlike any other Mike or I had ever had... you eat your three course meal in total darkness. 

So, we made a reservation for the following night. This is how it goes when you dine at Noir: 

Upon arrival, you're greeted and led to a table in their casual lounge area, which is dimly lit. They offer a welcome cocktail, asking "alcohol or no alcohol?" 

"Alcohol!" - Mike and I in unison.

Then, things get really fun. You're brought a game that looks like it's for preschoolers - a wooden board with nine indentations in different shapes and nine blocks in corresponding shapes. You put on a blindfold and try to complete the puzzle. Doing so is a brief but helpful training session on using your hands when you can't see what you're doing. 

The only task left before entering the dining room is to pick which menu you want, east or west. You don't get to select based on specific foods (because that would ruin the surprise), instead it's based on flavors. Wary of fish eyes and snake meat and who knows what else, we chose west. (Given how weird some of those foods ended up being, I'd say we made the right choice!) 

Now, there's one more really interesting element that I haven't mentioned yet. All of the servers in the blacked out dining room are blind. Read more about the restaurant's dedication to hiring and empowering local blind and visually impaired people here.  

At the transition point between the lounge and the dark room, you meet your server and line up with hands on shoulders so he or she can lead you in to your table. 

The entrance is a short maze through thick, black material. It's crazy how quickly you're enveloped in total darkness! Almost immediately, you can feel that your other senses have heightened. Everything sounds louder, each smell is stronger and lingers longer. It's surreal. 

Mike and I giggled as we sat there, unable to see each other or anything around us. We talked about what we were feeling and seeing in a way we never have after sitting down in a normal restaurant. 

Your heart starts racing a bit when they set the food in front of you. My first thought was, "Surely all food doesn't smell so strongly?" The waiter instructs you on which order to eat. Each course was actually four separate small dishes, all served in bowls, making eating a bit easier. 

The bowls all sit on a single tray, with indentations for each bowl. I noticed with a small smile that its design mirrored the game we played before entering the dining room. 

There are also no knives required, and no knives on the table, because duh. 

For someone who considers herself to be well-versed in food, I took my first bite and had no idea what I was eating. As the meal went on, other tastes stood out as more familiar, while there were some that completely stumped us. Those were the most fun, even if we didn't like the taste, because we had little debates in the dark about what they could be. 

After dinner, you exit the dining room and head back to the lounge, where another restaurant employee brings over an iPad to show you what you just ate. This was really cool - there were some that made sense and others that were completely surprising. 

Feeling blind, even if only for an hour or so, was very interesting. While the overall experience was fun, it was also enlightening how helpless we felt without one of our most-used senses.  

Although it was the most expensive dinner we've had yet on this journey, it was also the most memorable. We'd definitely recommend dining at Noir for anyone looking for something different or celebrating a special occasion. 

Restaurant Review: Joe's Beerhouse

On our first night in Namibia, we ended up at Joe's Beerhouse for dinner. Known to be a "Windhoek institution," Joe's was recommended by a few people, including the people working at the B&B where we were staying. 

We had heard only that it gets packed and we'd need a reservation, which we figured was a good sign. But we still had no idea what kind of food people ate in Namibia and thus didn't know what to expect.

Luckily, it was only a 10 minute walk from the B&B and they made the reservation for us. Still jet-lagged, doe-eyed travelers, we made our way to dinner, attempting to look natural although I'm sure our eyes were darting all over the place. 

When we got to the restaurant, I was excited to see a huge outdoor seating area with funky African decor everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Covering the walls, in the center of all open areas, hanging from the bar and even on the ceilings.

Joe's has a very cool ambiance and the menu to match. Their eclectic mix of options includes everything from burgers to local game meat. It turns out that Namibian food is generally hearty, meat-and-potatoes dishes, often with a German flair (the lingering influence of German colonization from 1884-1915). 

Mike, feeling more adventurous, ordered the Bushman Sosatie game meat kebob. Flustered by my inability to make a decision, I ordered pork schnitzel. (This was the first of many times to come that Mike "out-ordered" me.)

While waiting for our food, we chatted with a friendly german couple seated next to us at the picnic table - that's another cool thing about Joe's, most tables are community seating, so it's basically guaranteed that you'll meet and mingle with fellow travelers. They were celebrating their last night in Namibia after a three week trip and told us that they'd eaten at Joe's on the first night and loved it so much that they came back. Another good sign! 

The schnitzel was tasty but covered in a thick, too-rich sauce and the portion could have fed a family of four. Mike and I both tried each kind of game meat - zebra, crocodile, kudu, oryx and springbok. The crocodile was our least favorite - it was sort of like chewy, slightly fishy chicken. But the rest were quite tasty and not game-y at all, especially the kudu and oryx, both of which we'd eat again and again in the following weeks.

Not only are there interesting things to read and look at all over the walls, they can also be found in the menu. I love the following story because it really captures the spirit of travel. Things don't always go right, but you usually walk away with more than you expected. 

"THE TALE OF THE PORTUGUESE TRAVELLERS

In August of 2009, two brave Portuguese adventurers attempted a mission to drive across Africa in an old Mini. Ricardo Mota and Adalberto Salveira had a dream of proving just how tough the petit Mini is, and this adventure would be their way of paying tribute to the tiny car.

They bought an old Mini in Durban and immediately headed to Maputo in Mozambique. From there, they would drive from the Indian Ocean across Africa all the way to Luanda on the Atlantic coast. 

The two intrepid adventurers left Maputo on the 3rd of August, traversing Africa's rough roads in their little Mini. Mota and Salveira travelled about 1,000km per day, crossing the northern part of South Africa and heading into Botswana before making it to Namibia. 

Although they didn't encounter any serious problems, the trip was not without its challenges. A couple of flat tyres caused minor problems, but the weak headlights on the old Mini made driving at night challenging, especially with huge swarms of mosquitoes getting in the way!

When they finally made it to the Angola border for the final part of their trip, Fate dealt them a cruel hand. Due to visa problems, they would not be allowed into the country. Mota and Salveira were devastated - their dream lay in shards just a few hundred kilometres from their final destination. 

But Fate had another plan in store for them - turning around at the border and heading south through Namibia, Mota and Salveira arrived at Joe's Beerhouse. Here, the two adventurers regaled guests with their tales of adventure on Africa's roads, sipping cold beers and getting the occasional opportunity to converse in their mother tongue with other Angolese visitors to Joe's.

So impressed were the two with the hospitality (and cold beer and delicious food) that they donated their now-legendary Mini to Joe's Beerhouse. Today, Joe's Beerhouse is proud to have been part of this amazing tale of adventure, and our owners eagerly retell the tale of Ricardo Meta and Adalberto Salveira to anyone who asks about the old Mini standing outside." 

If you ever find yourself in Windhoek, a stop by this joint to exchange travel tales, sample tasty game, or at the very least enjoy a cold beer, is a must.