TUCKED high up away from the paparazzi lies a secret celebrity restaurant spot where patrons dine in pitch-black conditions, are served by blind waiters, and aren’t allowed their phones in.
Actors, comedians, and singers alike have found their way to Dans Le Noir? in Farringdon, London, which is one of 13 restaurants around the world where your senses are put to the extreme in the darkness.
SuppliedDans Le Noir? is a restaurant in central London where diners enjoy their meals in pitch-black conditions and aren’t allowed their phones in[/caption]
APThe restaurant is popular among celebrities and has been visited before by singer Katy Perry[/caption]
GettyOne waiter at the venue recalled a prank played on TV star and adventurer Bear Grylls[/caption]
Frequented by the likes of Katy Perry and Bear Grylls, this iconic restaurant, which also featured in the 2013 film About Time, is the perfect hideaway for diners – where you may even find yourself sat next to a celeb and not even realise it.
The Sun visited the venue to uncover the stories behind its waiters, its fascinating concept, and its elusive guests – including an incredible prank played on one TV star.
Roberto Rebecchi, 66, has been a waiter at the restaurant “since day one” in 2006, and recalls the celebrities he’s had the pleasure of serving over his many years of service, including Perry and Grylls.
He also remembered a hilarious prank played on the British adventurer by his wife Shara which saw him turn up to the restaurant for a meal, completely oblivious that the venue was pitch-black.
The TV star was reportedly stunned when he entered the dining area, kept entirely in the dark.
Roberto also recalls a number of other actors from Hollywood as well as leading British comedians who frequented the establishment in the past.
It’s no wonder the restaurant is so popular among celebrity figures – how else could you dine at a restaurant without any fear of people recognising you or any unflattering photographs being taken of you as you eat?
When asked about the best moments he’d experienced at Dans Le Noir?, he admitted these came well before it moved locations.
The restaurant was previously based in nearby Clerkenwell Green before it moved to its present site of Farringdon during the Covid-19 pandemic.
There, Roberto recalled a time when a number of popular celebrity chefs turned up to the restaurant, as well as an opportunity he was then given to go on the iconic 2000s TV show Ready Steady Cook.
Speaking on the potential intimidation factor of the setting, Roberto said while some people may become scared when entering the dining room for the first time, they typically settle in after a short while.
The concept of Dans Le Noir? was born in Paris in 2009 by Edouard de Broglie, a French entrepreneur.
Designed to intensify your other senses, through the absence of sight, the restaurant aims to create one of the most intimate dining experiences on the planet.
The darkness in the dining area is no understatement, as you can truly see nothing in the venue.
It’s no wonder many of the waiters recall people feeling the sudden urge to escape the somewhat uncomfortable situation.
Since the darkness is practically total, patrons have to be led by their waiter, arm on shoulder, through the maze of the dining floor.
SuppliedGuests enter the downstairs of the venue in the light where they can enjoy a drink before heading up to the dining area[/caption]
SuppliedWaiter Robert Rebecchi has worked at the restaurant since it opened[/caption]
SuppliedMichael Chan, 55, was our waiter on the night and has worked at the venue since 2018[/caption]
Once you arrive at your table, you’re guided down to your seat before the waiter then familiarises you with all the items on the surface, including glasses, cutlery, and napkins.
Staff explained that the restaurant is made up of long sharing tables, which each typically serve 12 people.
To add to the experience, diners are provided with a mystery multiple-course meal, ranging from two to five different dishes.
On top of this, diners can also enjoy a mystery wine with their food.
The experience allows you to fully immerse yourself in an ultimate layer of privacy and intimacy, where it feels like you’re in a whole other world as you dine.
While this does sound extravagant and wealthy, waiter Roberto says the experience is not just for the elite.
He believes the restaurant is “for everyone”, adding: “It’s for the public in general, it’s open to everybody.
“This place is about disability.
“Disability shouldn’t be seen like an obstacle – an impossible mountain to climb.
“This place makes the impossible possible.”
Roberto’s story took him from Italy to London, and he had previously worked in hospitality before losing his sight.
He explained his vision began to go after he opened his own restaurant in the capital, due to a detached retina.
Roberto said despite having kept going in the partnership for about 10 years, he couldn’t keep working past this point.
After embarking on a computer course to help change his career, Roberto came across a man who was organising courses for people with disabilities.
SuppliedSophie Freeman, 25, and Ian Kraus, 33, praised the restaurant’s concept for both waiters and guests[/caption]
SuppliedDiner Jacca Robertson, 24, felt the experience was one of the greatest he had ever had at a restaurant[/caption]
SuppliedThe view inside the dining area[/caption]
This is where he learnt of the concept of Dans Le Noir?, what Roberto called the perfect opportunity to “carry on doing my job”.
Despite his loss of sight, Roberto never doubted his ability to work again and believes other opportunities would have eventually come along.
Another waiter, Michael Chan, 55, has been serving customers at the restaurant since 2018.
In a similar story to Roberto, Michael too lost his sight as an adult, eventually finding his way to Dans Le Noir? to become a waiter.
He described the opportunity to find employment as incredible as it had been difficult for him to gain work in Hong Kong, where he was working while his sight began to worsen.
Both Roberto and Michael’s incredible stories behind how they ended up at the iconic restaurant show just how much resistance they had in the face of adversity.
Guests we met on the night shared this view, calling the waiters “exceptional” and “incredible”.
Two American visitors, Ian Kraus, 33, and Sophie Freeman, 25, said the experience was “life-changing”, saying it was a “brilliant” concept for both workers and diners.
Ian said: “I don’t want to say it’s a novelty because I feel like that diminishes the seriousness and beauty of it, but the experience of eating in the dark is just a secondary factor to it all.
“It’s the way they can build a community by forcing people to sit in the dark and talk to each other – that’s what’s so interesting and so incredible”.
We had encountered the pair while sitting next to them in the dining room, completely oblivious to how they looked.
By purely interacting through speaking, each person at the restaurant began to build a mental image of one another, and a mental map of the room.
While some guests may feel uncomfortable without a mobile phone at first – they are taken before you climb to the dining area – the experience allows you to detach from the rest of the world.
Sophie added: “It teaches you to be present and to live in the moment.
“You appreciate all you have when you have your sight, but also the beauties of your heightened senses when you don’t.”
“Other-wordly”, “sensual”, and “unlike anything else” are some of the ways the restaurant was described by other diners.
The bar area in the downstairs of the restaurant
Guests adjust back to the light downstairs after leaving the dining area, and they are also told what they ate and shown images of the food
SuppliedThe Sun’s Milad Sherzad visited the venue in central London[/caption]
Jacca Robertson, 24, praised the staff, in particular Michael, for introducing each guest to each other as they sat at the table.
He added: “I had more faith in Michael than I would a sighted waiter.”
Another diner, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “This is probably the greatest dining experience I have ever had.
“The sheer intimacy of walking through the restaurant, through the eyes of a blind person, is incredible.
“Even when I first sat down I thought to myself, how can I even prove where I am right now?”
He added that the entire process of eating a mystery meal in darkness, alongside other unknown patrons, was a “liberating” experience.
Continuing, he said: “Nowhere else in the world would I sit down and start chatting to the people sitting next to me like that.
“It just feels like you’re all in the journey and experience together, and it makes you reach out and make those new connections.
“I think the lack of phones also helps greatly too, as you don’t feel the itch to grab it and check for random notifications – you’re fully immersed in the moment and with the people you’re there with.
“Without a doubt, this experience has changed my life.”
Michelin-starred restaurant ‘loved by celebrities’ slammed by hygiene inspectors after ‘mould found in fridge’
The Sportsman in Whitstable has won a number of awards in recent years, including there Best Restaurant by The Good Food Guide last year.
Even famous celebs love it. Daniel Craig, Gary Lineker and possible next James Bond Aaron Paul have been spotted there.
But the much-loved restaurant on Faversham Road has now just dropped from five to two stars in its food hygiene score following a visit by Canterbury City Council.
The inspector reported several problems in the gastropub’s kitchen including “dirt and mould” on the ceiling and walk-in fridge.
They said: “Mould was also inside a door within an under-counter refrigerator”.
Site owner Shepherd Neame said they “took immediate action” following the disparaging report.
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