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Dine in the Dark Bangkok, Thailand; My Review

My Dine in the Dark Bangkok review. Bangkok is my favourite big city in the world (Chiang Mai remains my favourite place though!), and I’ve been to a lot of them! It offers so much to locals, to ex-pats and to tourists but too often people pass through in a drunken blur of Khao San Road and seedy ping-pong shows, declaring that it’s not for them as they move on to the islands or East to Cambodia.

But take a second, do a little bit of research, and you’ll see just how awesome Bangkok can be, both to live or to use as a base to explore central Thailand.

 

Ticked off another bucket list item tonight with @bemebedelicious ✅✅ ‘Dine in Dark Bangkok’ where you eat a 4 course meal in PITCH BLACK 🙈 you literally can’t see anything, the staff are all blind too which is a great way to employ people with disabilities in the developing world too 💪🏻👊🏻 The food was amazing and the experience was really fun, massively recommend this to anyone in Bangkok ❤️🇹🇭 #Dineinthedark #sheraton #onestep4ward #DID #bucketlist

A post shared by Johnny Ward 🌍🌎🌏 (@onestep4ward) on May 3, 2017 at 6:53am PDT

What is Dine in the Dark?

Dine in the Dark Bangkok is basically an evening where you and your partner/friends/group visit a special venue where you eat in complete darkness. 100% pitch black. Whether you open your eyes, or close them, it’s the same sensation, you honestly can’t see your hand in front of your face.

Why? I hear you scream. For a start, it’s something different, a fun new experience. Secondly, it heightens your senses. No longer can you pre-judge your meal, expecting to like or dislike particular things. Now you just eat and judge solely on the taste and texture. Pretty cool.

The venue, the food, and the service and the whole experience is pretty lush, to be honest. It’s hosted in a 5* hotel, the food is quality and the staff are impeccable. It all turns out to be a brilliant evening, quite high-end, and great brownie points for date night!

Finally, and perhaps the best part of the whole thing, is that Dine in the Dark staff is all blind or visually impaired. This is an awesome initiative to hire people with disabilities, and super progressive for a developing city like Bangkok. Knowing that they’re helping out with this kind of thing makes me want to spend my money with these guys even more.

Dine in the Dark; The Food & The Experience

Top-notch, verging on fine dining. I spoke to the owner of Dine in the Dark in Bangkok, and I promise him I wouldn’t reveal to you guys what the food is that you eat. Here’s how it works…

When you get your briefing before you enter the darkness you get a choice of 4-course options – Asian, Western, Vegetarian or Surprise. They’re all the same price. I would massively recommend going for the ‘surprise’ option. That’s what ‘DID’ is all about! Guessing what your eating, the trepidation etc. Also, during the briefing you can explain about any food you don’t like, any allergies, religious restrictions etc which is really cool too, so don’t worry about that.

During the experience then, your blind waiter will take care of you – walk you to the table and deliver your courses, remove your old dishes, serve drinks etc (water is included, alcohol is billable). 4 courses of amazing food. Then after the 90-minute experience, you go back to the light, sit at the bar, and another staff member unleashes the iPad and talks you through what you ate, this bit is really fun as you see if your guesses were right or not. I was awful at it, to be honest, I even misjudged what kind of meat we were eating! My girlfriend nailed it though.

So to keep my promise to Julien, the owner of DID Bangkok. Here’s a pic of the food:

How Much Does Dine the Dark cost?

In local Thai currency, it’s 1499THB++, so that means you have to add on 10% service and 7% tax. So that means the actual price per person is 1696THB. That equates to $56 per person.

4 courses, in a 5* hotel, supporting blind staff, coffee when you finish and a new experience. Money well spent.

Where is Dine in the Dark Bangkok?

Here’s a google map below. But basically, it’s in the basement of the Sheraton Grand Hotel, beside Asoke BTS station, opposite Terminal 21 shopping mall (5-minute walk from there).

Super easy to find. I would recommend taking the public transport SkyTrain (BTS) to get there, stopping at Asoke station on the BTS line, or Sukhumvit station on the MRT line. It’s REALLY close to there. Taxis are easy and cheap too, but Sukhumvit road, where Dine in the Dark Bangkok is located, is a nightmare in the evenings and you’ll be stuck in traffic for ages.

My thoughts on Dine in the Dark Bangkok

I love trying new things. Movies, dinners, coffees, I love all that stuff too but it gets old. But what makes Bangkok special is that it carries a kinda crazy x factor, it offers stuff that other big cities don’t. If you don’t embrace them when you visit, then what’s the point in being here! I loved the experience, aside from being super-freaked out for the first 5 minutes of the pitch darkness, I soon got used to it and really enjoyed it. The food was great, Max our waiter was a superstar, and it’s yet another reason why I love this city. If you’re in Bangkok, give it a shot. It beats just another night on the booze, I promise.

Other things to do in Bangkok?

For a start, don’t forget to check out the Airplane Graveyard in Bangkok, or an amazing couple of days exploring Kanchanaburi, a day trip to Ayutthaya for awesome temples in Thailand’s former capital, the floating markets, the temples and of course the unreal food that Bangkok can offer.

The street food is something to savour of course, but if you’re looking for something to do in the evenings, for a new experience, something that doesn’t (necessarily) involve getting drunk and partying in Bangkok, maybe even a date night, then check out Dine In The Dark Bangkok.