Thursday, July 24, 2014

blindekuh

I finally made it to one of Zurich's most talked-about restaurants, the "blind cow" or "blindekuh". The restaurant is only about a block away from my apartment, but it is very difficult to get a reservation. Due to the summer holidays, we were able to get in. The concept of the restaurant is described in more detail on their website (http://www.blindekuh.ch/en/blindekuh_zuerich/), but in general, you eat your dinner in complete darkness. The waiters are blind or partially-sighted.

The dinner was something like I've never experienced before. There were five of us - me, Lise, Piotr, Elivra, and Davis. We all thought that our eyes would somewhat adjust to the darkness once we got inside, but it was complete darkness. You could not see your own hand one inch in front of your face. Our phones, watches, and anything else which would create light were left in lockers outside. We had to be led to the tables by our waiter holding onto the person's shoulder in front of you. Pouring our own wine proved to be a hilarious experiment - some ended up with full (almost overflowing) glasses and some ended up with just a sip. We all chose to do the surprise menu which meant we received three courses and didn't know what any of them were. At first, you tried to eat "normally", but by the end there was a lot more fingers being used and less fork/knife usage. The food was absolutley delicious (they told us afterwards what it was we'd eaten), and the experience was something I would highly recommend to everyone. Its true that your other senses were more aware when you couldn't see, which heightened the dining experience with all the smells and also was interesting to have a dinner conversation when you could not get all of the non-verbal cues you would get if you could see.

 
Outside of the restaurant - an old church which has been renovated:

 
Piotr and I and the cow (I guess he's blind):

 
After our return to the light - drinks at local wine bar - Lise, Piotr, Davis & Elvira:

 
The card stating what was included in the surprise menu. We received this at the end of our meal (after we returned to the light):


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