Sherman's Food Adventures: Dark Table

Dark Table

They say that when one of our senses is compromised, the remaining ones are heightened to make up for it.  Well, that theory was about to be put to the test as Viv and I decided to finally see what all the fuss is about Dark Table.  You see, the whole premise is to eat in complete darkness, where one needs to be pretty careful with their drinks and where they stick their fork.  After being greeted by the host, we ordered first before going in.  We were led to our table by our server (who is either blind or visually impaired), who would take care of us for the meal.  I decided to forgo taking any photos (even in the kitchen), so that I could get the full experience.

After hilariously trying to butter my complimentary bread, our starter arrived.  From what we could gather (it was a surprise dish), it was a Salad comprised of endive, arugula, watermelon, frisee, walnuts and feta.  The vinaigrette was very light and due to the ingredients, the salad had this bitter, peppery and herbal quality to it.  I would've liked to see more walnuts and feta as it seemed a bit sparse as a starter.  For my main, I had the Beef Tenderloin with peppercorn sauce, potatoes and green beans.  I asked for it to be medium-rare and since I didn't get a chance to actually see it, I could only judge it by texture.  In that respect, it was far too tough for a tenderloin.  In fact, some parts were sinewy.  The peppercorn sauce was nice though being creamy with only a bit of pepperiness.  The steak was already cut up a bit, but it was comical as I tried to cut it down some more in the dark.

For Viv, she had the Peppered Garlic Prawns with citrus risotto and seasonal vegetables.  There were only 4 prawns in the dish, but they were prepared nicely exhibiting a buttery snap.  They were more garlicky than peppery, yet well-seasoned nonetheless.  Unfortunately, the risotto was not very good as it was underdone and mealy.  Rather than the typical creaminess, we had sticky and gooey.  We did get the citrus hit as well as plenty of veggies.  For our dessert, it was also a surprise and we surmised it was a Chocolate Banana Cake with a cream which we thought was spiked with booze.  I thought it was Kahlua, but it could've been something else.  The cake itself was a bit firm, but not dry while the cream was quite sweet.  As you can ascertain, the food was not the main draw here.  Rather, the novelty behind the experience can be considered something worth trying.

The Good:
- Something different and novel
- Not overly expensive
- Wonderful server

The Bad:
- Food is below average
- Not sure if this is necessarily a "return visit" place

Dark Table on Urbanspoon

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Great pictures, looks delicious :)

Raymond Zeng said...

Wow, what an interesting restaurant. Seems like you must be very careful while eating in order to not make a mess!

Sherman Chan said...

@Raymond Yah, I had to be real careful!

Anonymous said...

LOL - good photos as usual Sherman ;)

Sherman Chan said...

@parkerpages Thanks! I think the lighting was particularly awesome.

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