Restaurant Review: Noir. Dining in the Dark

Soon after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, I was texting back and forth with my dad. (For those who don't know, I definitely inherited my food obsession from him, and not from my mom, whose favorite food is toast.) He is always ahead of the game when it comes to different foods and restaurants to try. Sometimes he even asks where we're planning on eating and then, after checking out their menu online, offers advice on what we should order. It may sound crazy to some, but I love him for it. 

Anyway, that was how we heard about Noir. (Full name: Noir. Dining in the Dark.) He hadn't been himself but heard about it from a friend. I Googled and ended up on TripAdvisor (sigh...), where I saw that it is #1 of 2,000+ Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. As if that wasn't enough to convince us that we needed to check it out, Noir is a dining experience totally unlike any other Mike or I had ever had... you eat your three course meal in total darkness. 

So, we made a reservation for the following night. This is how it goes when you dine at Noir: 

Upon arrival, you're greeted and led to a table in their casual lounge area, which is dimly lit. They offer a welcome cocktail, asking "alcohol or no alcohol?" 

"Alcohol!" - Mike and I in unison.

Then, things get really fun. You're brought a game that looks like it's for preschoolers - a wooden board with nine indentations in different shapes and nine blocks in corresponding shapes. You put on a blindfold and try to complete the puzzle. Doing so is a brief but helpful training session on using your hands when you can't see what you're doing. 

The only task left before entering the dining room is to pick which menu you want, east or west. You don't get to select based on specific foods (because that would ruin the surprise), instead it's based on flavors. Wary of fish eyes and snake meat and who knows what else, we chose west. (Given how weird some of those foods ended up being, I'd say we made the right choice!) 

Now, there's one more really interesting element that I haven't mentioned yet. All of the servers in the blacked out dining room are blind. Read more about the restaurant's dedication to hiring and empowering local blind and visually impaired people here.  

At the transition point between the lounge and the dark room, you meet your server and line up with hands on shoulders so he or she can lead you in to your table. 

The entrance is a short maze through thick, black material. It's crazy how quickly you're enveloped in total darkness! Almost immediately, you can feel that your other senses have heightened. Everything sounds louder, each smell is stronger and lingers longer. It's surreal. 

Mike and I giggled as we sat there, unable to see each other or anything around us. We talked about what we were feeling and seeing in a way we never have after sitting down in a normal restaurant. 

Your heart starts racing a bit when they set the food in front of you. My first thought was, "Surely all food doesn't smell so strongly?" The waiter instructs you on which order to eat. Each course was actually four separate small dishes, all served in bowls, making eating a bit easier. 

The bowls all sit on a single tray, with indentations for each bowl. I noticed with a small smile that its design mirrored the game we played before entering the dining room. 

There are also no knives required, and no knives on the table, because duh. 

For someone who considers herself to be well-versed in food, I took my first bite and had no idea what I was eating. As the meal went on, other tastes stood out as more familiar, while there were some that completely stumped us. Those were the most fun, even if we didn't like the taste, because we had little debates in the dark about what they could be. 

After dinner, you exit the dining room and head back to the lounge, where another restaurant employee brings over an iPad to show you what you just ate. This was really cool - there were some that made sense and others that were completely surprising. 

Feeling blind, even if only for an hour or so, was very interesting. While the overall experience was fun, it was also enlightening how helpless we felt without one of our most-used senses.  

Although it was the most expensive dinner we've had yet on this journey, it was also the most memorable. We'd definitely recommend dining at Noir for anyone looking for something different or celebrating a special occasion. 

Sampling the Local Cuisine: Game Meat, Biltong, Curries & Pizza

During our first few weeks in Africa, we tried our fair share of game meat, including oryx, kudu, springbok, crocodile and even zebra. In case you’re wondering, the best are kudu and oryx - both tender red meat similar to fine cuts of steak. The worst was crocodile, which we found to be like chewy chicken with a slightly fishy taste. Needless to say, not appetizing. Although some crocodile sausages we tried later were actually very good. 

“African food” will be different depending on what country you’re in, but at least in southern Africa, it’s usually a basic meal of meat and vegetables, the starchier the better. Potatoes, in their many forms and variations, are very popular. If you don’t love meat’n’potatoes, get ready to eat other rich, heavy foods like pasta, stew and curry. While the food isn’t very fancy, it’s always very filling. Unlike the eating habits of Americans, it seems like African people eat to nourish their bodies and celebrate with their families, not because food is their favorite hobby. (Mostly calling out myself here. No shame.)

Meat is even a popular snack food here, in the form of biltong, which is what we call beef jerky. Biltong can be found in almost any store, from the gas station to the classiest grocery store (Woolworth’s). According to Mike, who has eaten much more Biltong than I have, biltong is essentially the exact same thing as good quality beef jerky sold in America. The difference here is that it’s more popular and thus they’ve created it in countless flavor variations and with not only beef but also game meats and even tuna (we didn’t try that one, though)!

Another very popular food here is curry. Closest in taste to Indian curries, many of the curries we’ve had were distinct in flavor profile with slightly different spices (although I couldn’t tell you what they are). You find all kinds of curries at buffets and on menus - chicken, beef, fish, prawn, red, brown and even yellow. 

As you get closer to Durban, the curries become spicier and more Indian-tasting. Sometimes curries are even called “Durban curry” and you know that means it will be very similar to a classic Indian curry. We’ve been told that more advanced palates would be able to tell the difference, but to us it tastes just like our Indian favorites. 

While I rarely if ever order a steak back home, Mike and I both love curry, so we’ve enjoyed eating that whenever possible and trying as many new and different foods as we can, when we have the option. 

One of the foods we were surprised to be eating a lot during our first month in Africa was pizza. 

Now, some of you may be thinking, “Pizza?! Why are they eating food they can get in America! That is so lame.” A guy we met in Soweto told us he “refused to eat pizza in Africa.” Well, good for him and no offense intended, but when you’re on the road for months and months, visiting more than a dozen new countries, you can’t afford to be super picky and only eat high-quality food at nice restaurants. You want food to be three things: filling, cheap, and, most of all, safe (meaning it won’t make you sick). 

We quickly realized that pizza is a budget traveler’s dream food in this way. It’s generally cheap, filling and consistent. As any college student will attest, even bad pizza is good. You don’t have to worry about getting sick from unwashed (or washed with bad water) veggies or meats. When you sink your teeth into a piping hot slice and immediately burn your tongue because, yes, you should have waited but you’re just so hungry, you know it has been cooked long enough for any bugs or bacteria to die a hot, fiery death.

But it’s not just the taste and temperature that’s consistent. Pizza is extraordinarily easy to find. Even in small towns in Namibia or on remote islands in the Indian Ocean, there’s a pizza place. Honestly, we probably ate more pizza in our first month in Africa than we would have in the U.S. Not that we’re mad about it - we like pizza as much as the next kid from New Jersey. But let this post show anyone who has ever said, “what do they even eat in Africa” (or “I could never go to Africa, I’m such a picky eater”) the answer is pizza.

Note: in most of Africa, or every part off the beaten tourist path, the answer is actually maize, or “mealies” or ”pap," which we also tried a few times, but found quite bland with the consistency of too-dry mashed potatoes… or play-doh. 

Now, it’s important to say here that this post was written before we spent much time in South Africa, so it mostly applies to our time in Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Seychelles ad Lesotho. Once we arrived in South Africa and spent time in big cities like Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and many of the towns along the Garden Route, we ate more of the food that we’re used to back home: Italian, Thai and even sushi (much to Grace’s delight). Although we still snacked on plenty of biltong. 

What We Ate: Seattle

Sampling new and unique cuisine is one of my favorite things (if not my very favorite thing) about traveling. This is especially true when visiting a foodie paradise like Seattle. On the drive in, I was already reading articles on Eater, Thrillist, Buzzfeed and others about Seattle’s best, essential restaurants. Though we’re sticking to a budget (or at least trying to), we were still able to enjoy a range of delicious Seattle eats - more about each of them below! 

Marination Ma Kai in West Seattle was the perfect first stop for us, thanks to both an incredible view and easy parking. (If you can’t find a spot in their parking lot, there’s ample street parking in the area.) You can eat Hawaiian fare while overlooking the water, taking in the awesome city skyline and watching ferries come and go. How “Seattle” is that? Better yet, low prices mean you can sample a decent portion of their menu. For $22, we tried the miso ginger chicken taco, kalbi beef taco, SPAM slider, kimchi quesadilla with kalua pork and hawaiian mac salad (with SPAM). If you haven’t already guessed, SPAM is what they’re known for. The slider was salty but surprisingly tasty! I read that Marination got its start as a food truck but became so popular that they were able to expand to two storefronts (including Ma Kai, where we ate) with another opening soon. After eating there, we totally get it. We’d definitely recommend this place!

After spending the greater part of our first afternoon looking for parking, we finally met up with our friends Nicole and Lance, who just moved to Seattle, at Elliott’s Oyster House's Cafe 56. A few cold beers and fish & chips was just what we needed to de-stress and satisfy my seafood craving. This place checked all the right boxes with good food, a great location and even better company. (Thanks again for dinner and letting us crash at your place, Nicole and Lance!) 

Mike had read about The Wurst Place, a Belgian-inspired bar known for frites. It was our first stop while riding the Ruckus around downtown and we were not disappointed. It was just before noon in Seattle but 5pm somewhere, as they say… No matter what time of day, cold beer with double-fried fries, plus tater tots and creative dipping sauces (we had basil aioli and honey mustard), is a righteous pit stop. Seems like it would be a great choice for happy hour, too!

Sorry about the photo quality - it was dark in there!

After our beer and fried potato indulgence earlier in the day, we weren’t hungry until late in the afternoon, which is a sort of awkward time to eat. Luckily, Nicole and Lance were in need of a packing break and Lance suggested Pike Place Chowder. Stoked to eat more seafood and even more stoked to explore Pike Place Market, we accompanied Lance on the food run. Pike Place Chowder's sampler, with four 5oz cups, was just the right amount for sharing. We tried the seafood bisque, new england clam chowder, market chowder and southwestern chicken and corn chowder and they were all delicious. I also love that they aren’t shy about giving you as much sourdough bread as you want. (I would dip my bread into bread if i could...)

On Saturday night, we were looking for casual food at a casual place not too far from Nicole and Lance’s new apartment. I stumbled upon an article that called The 5 Point Cafe out for being one of the best, grittiest dive bars in Seattle and, after taking a glance at their menu, knew we had to try it. While some of us were super happy with our meals (the hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes that I ordered probably weighed about five pounds and I ate the entire thing), two of five in our group ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich and were served the wrong thing twice. I guess even though they have a buffalo chicken sandwich on their menu, they don’t actually know what it is? So, this one seems to be hit or miss.

It’s hard to pick a favorite because we ate so much yummy food in Seattle but I think the brunch we had at Oddfellows Cafe + Bar may have been the best. The recommendation came from the lovely Mina, a 6+ year Seattle resident, who met us there. We sat in their charming back patio area, where there are only a few small tables, and filled up on homemade biscuits with eggs, cheese and bacon as well as a huge piece of french toast covered in raspberry compote. (To be honest, it was more like a cake than french toast, but I wasn’t complaining.) 

Din Tai Fung popped up on a few “best restaurant” and “Seattle staple” lists. Mike and I both love dim sum, so we penciled it in for dinner. But, since we had eaten such a big brunch, we kept it light, ordering the sweet & sour spare ribs, potstickers and the pork XiaoLongBao dumplings, Din Tai Fung’s most popular. (We were also able to side-step the hour-long wait by snagging two seats at the bar, which is full service!) The food was well worth it but the location was kind of odd (in a corporate shopping mall), so we’d recommend checking out one of the other locations. 

On our way out of town, we stopped at Husky Deli & Catering, a gourmet food store that’s also known for their homemade ice cream, which I discovered easily by Googling “best ice cream Seattle.” There was a line when we got there but it moved quickly and within 10 minutes we were happily monching rich, creamy ice cream. Mike got coconut and coffee oreo, I got swiss chocolate orange and “husky chip” (a classic vanilla with dark chocolate shavings). Hands down, it was some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. This one is a must if you’re in the area. (We also heard great things about Seattle ice cream chain Molly Moo’s but never had a chance to check it out!) 

Honorable mention: Cherry St. Coffee. Would you believe me if I said I didn’t drink Starbucks once while in Seattle? Well, it’s true. The only coffee shop stop was Cherry St., where we picked up morning joe for everyone on our first full day. While we only grabbed coffee and didn’t eat there, the smell of everything bagels combined with super helpful staff was as welcoming as it gets. Plus, I guess it means something for a coffee chain to be able to survive on Starbucks’ home turf? 

PS. we were loving the food in Seattle so much that we forgot to take photos before we devoured most of it! We’re working on that for future posts…