Shine OnEat restaurant in NYC offers silent meals
A trendy bistro in Brooklyn, New York that serves local, organic fare has started offering silent dinners once a month for a $40 price fixe, four-course meal. That's right, patrons are not allow to talk while ordering and eating.
Eat head chef Nicholas Nauman says he was inspired to launch the silent dinners after spending time in India, where Buddhist monks eat their breakfast without exchanging words.
"The purpose was to teach people to focus on the taste, texture, and nutritional value of the food," Nauman tells Yahoo Shine. "When you do so, the entire eating experience improves.”
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The first silent dinner took place in August, its popularity proven by the fact the October session was at maximum capacity. Diners range from those who consider their silent dinner a form of meditation, to the curious, to the stressed New Yorker looking for a sanctuary among the craziness of the Big Apple.
Patrons order from the preset menu by filling out their dinner preference on a card sent to the kitchen -- "S" for seafood or "V" for vegetarian.
Nauman says aside from silverware clinking, coughing and people furiously texting under the table, diners adhered to the rules.
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"It's just an opportunity to enjoy food in a way you might not have otherwise," he tells the Associated Press. "There's such a strong energy in the room."
The idea of experiencing sensory deprivation during a meal is not a new one. Restaurants serving meals in pure darkness without lighting have popped up in Toronto, Montreal, Paris, London, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Moscow.
O.NOIR restaurant in Toronto aims to fire up the imagination and stimulate the senses, all the while hoping customers gain an appreciation for what it is like to be blind.
What are your thoughts on the trend towards sensory deprivation and dining out? Do the two experiences go well together? Tell us in the comments below.
