Dark dining experience Dans Le Noir? gets a stately home spin…

Staffordshire’s Swinfen Hall Hotel – a 250-year old country mansion set in 100 acres – is keeping diners in the dark through March 2022 as Dans Le Noir?, the world-renowned “dine in the dark” experience, pops up there for a month.

With restaurants in Paris and London, it’s the first time they’ve done the pop-up thing. Well, the surprise loses something when you can’t see it…

Food wise, things should be rather fine, whether you can see them or not. Swinfen Hall, under Chef Ed Dutton, has held three AA rosettes for over five years and there are several food-themed events planned this year (most of which you’ll be able to see).

The concept of Dans Le Noir? follows the old theory that if you remove one sense, the others are heightened. After placing your valuables / shiny things in the safe, and after being led to your table by your blind guide, your meal – gourmet creations of the finest seasonal and organic ingredients, free-range and outdoor reared meats, and the specially curated wine menu – will be served to you in the pitch black. There are then two options as far as we can tell. There’s the one where you indulge your other senses, experience the aromas and textures, even temperatures, in ways you’ve never experienced in the light. Or there’s the one where you end up throwing it down the front of your shirt. On the plus side, nobody’s going to know if you do…

For booking details and booking, take a look at the Swinfen Hall website.