Dining in pitch darkness. This is how 360 Istanbul ’s new restaurant Senses is marketed. And you indeed dine in pitch darkness. I went to this restaurant last Saturday with two friends. Would I go again? No. Would I recommend it? Yes, the experience is definitely worth a try, albeit a bit expensive for what it’s worth in my view.
Senses is created after the concept of similar restaurants in Switzerland and Berlin. Where in Switzerland the waiters are also blind our guys in Istanbul have taken advantage of technology and are serving with night vision goggles, which unfortunately have little blinking lights that are distracting from the full experience. But not to worry. It’s still pitch dark!
The menu is a five course fixed menu for a price of 125 TL including wine pairing. I do not want to disclose the details of the menu as a huge part of the fun is discovering the food using all your senses except your sight. Dinner is served with two kinds of wines and both are excellently paired with the food. The red is a dark, full bodied wine. The white is dry with hints of pears. I didn’t like the white by itself but it went amazingly well with the main course. And you get unlimited refills!
Guests are briefed before the dinner about the set up. You are told about the configuration of the dinner table, how to get a waiter’s attention (by raising your hand), and strongly encouraged to take care of your natural needs before entering the dining room as it is not recommended that you leave the place until the dinner is over. You are also forewarned that you will most likely try to compensate for the your sight’s absence by talking…and so will everyone else…and that this is exactly what happens. This is why they also recommend everyone to speak with a lower voice but that of course does not really happen.. This is actually an unfortunate thing as the room gets very loud and a bit more silence would be much more welcome to enjoy the dark atmosphere, the food and the company. You are then provided with a black apron and led into the room, curtain after curtain, holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of you.
Guests are encouraged to eat by hand. This makes your experience significantly richer as you real feel the texture of the food. The menu has been designed with a wide range of tastes and textures to give you a diverse experience and challenge you along a large spectrum.
In short I recommend the experience. The food was very good although I think one tends to expect something completely out of this world at a restaurant like this and I can’t tell you that this was the case. But don’t get me wrong. The food was delicious, although I have no clue what it looked like. Things had layers, you had to open certain packages, mix it with this and that….all to enhance your sightless dining experience. And the chefs certainly deserve an applause for this.
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