‘Blind’ dining experience coming to Parksville

CHEK

WATCH: Popular in places like Berlin, London, Toronto and Vancouver, dining in the dark is coming to Parksville.

A former ice cream shop in Parksville will soon be transformed into a one-of-a-kind dining experience on Vancouver Island.

“People come to have an experience and also you know we have very decent food there too,” said the owner of Dark View Restaurant Lazare Hounnake-Adele.

Hounnake-Adele is 100 per cent blind and wants others to experience the same thing when they eat.

It might sound strange, but it’s a proven concept in some of the biggest cities around the world. Hounnake-Adele used to work as a server at a similar restaurant in Vancouver. All the servers at Dark View will be blind as well.

“The dining room is going to be all black, pitch black like you can’t see things, so then that’s why the servers have to be visually impaired because they are in their world already,” he said.

Customers will choose from a menu in a lighted foyer before they are escorted to their table, but part of the experience is how their sense of taste improves in the dark.

“People say ‘Oh I hear better. People say Oh I taste better,'” said Hounnake-Adele.

His friend Deb Tutty is helping renovate the old ice cream shop and once took her kids to eat in the dark in Vancouver.

“You couldn’t see anything, it’s absolutely pitch black,” said Tutty. “I was wanting to experience something with my kids that was full engagement, so no distraction, no cell phones or anything like that and the experience was incredible.”

Dark View will offer two and three-course meals ranging around $42.

The meat will be pre-sliced for customers.

Dean StoltzDean Stoltz

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