Nox – Dine in the Dark

Have you all dine in the dark before? We all heard a fair bit about the concept of dining in the total darkness, haven’t we? I think NOX need no further introduction.
NOX is located along the shop houses of beach road occupying 2 level of shop space.
The service staff welcomed us into the lounge and gave us a drink menu to choose upon. The moment I sat down, the plushy sofa seat reminds me of Gold Class Cinema lounge, quite similar in a sense. Servers explained there is no food menu to choose from, rather there is a secret menu at $ 88++ per pax that consists of 12 dishes spreaded into 3 courses, appetizers, mains and desserts. Restaurant menu will be change every 6 — 8 weeks and should you have any dietary preference, e.g. vegetarian, please highlight to them.
Mocktail
A citrus combination of orange with a bittersweet finishing taste from a pomelo. Its more sour than sweet per say with grapefruit, lemon juice, simple syrup and Grenadine that give a tart and sweet flavour to the naturally sour fruit.
Grapefruit Spritz — $ 14
The zesty and minty flavours make this quencher such refreshing. Out of 3 drinks tasted, I rate this the best. Ingredients were close to other drinks with passionfruit, simple syrup, lemon juice, lime juice, fresh mint leave and ginger ale.
Virgin Passionfruit Julep — $ 14
Being described as not the ordinary strawberry milkshake, it really make me wonder how does it taste like. Drink was milky pink served with little ice cubes and a strawberry. It was more of sweet and less of the sour taste with fresh milk, vanilla syrup, simple syrup, lemon juice and Amaretto Almond Syrup.
Strawberry Shaker — $ 14
Starters
We were served with the starters with a vegetarian on the left and 2 mini cones on the right for the non vegetarians. The fried vegetarian had a pleasant scent of truffle oil smell and looks good with its creaming sauce at its base.
Starters for the non vegetarian was miniature. Raw salmon was served in the tip of the ice cream cone biscuit added with caviar. The presentation which depicts some plants on the soil had totally taken me away.
Before Proceeding into the darkness
We was told not to bring any of our belongings to the dining area and had them kept in the given lockers, not even our handphones or watches with illumination /​glow in the dark function. Instagrammers, sorry! For those who needs to go toilet, its best to have the «passage» clear before entering into the darkness.
Entering the Darkness
We were quite excited while the door to the dining area swung open and we were greeted by the service staff. Have you wonder how to walk up a flight of steep stairs in total darkness? Well, we conquered the first stage by having 1 hand tapping to each other shoulder in a line and walk up the stair and into the dining.
Dining in the darkness
It all started with uneasiness, getting ourselves up at the dining area. When we reached our table, we were led to the back of the chair and have to figure ourselves to take a seat under the clear instructions of course. We were briefed to locate our cutleries (spoon and fork) and the position to place our drinking glass on the table. With every course served, we was told to lean backwards to our chair as these visually impact servers placed the dishes onto our table accurately.
Each course consist of 4 dishes served in a wooden tray and placed in a «t» shape. The rule to dine is to start with the dish nearest to ourselves at the «6» needle base on a analog clock and go clockwise.
It was a challenge as well as fun locating the dish and place our spoon correctly into our mouth without dropping off the food, afterall this was my 1^st time ever dining under such environment.
I vividly remembered that our appetizers consist of rocket salad, foie gras, fried calamari, chick peas, lentils etc. While the mains were duck confit, wagyu beef cubes, cod fish. Meat was tender and tasty. Desserts was lava chocolate, popcorn ice cream, lemon sorbet and strudel.
Finishing the meal
We stood up and walk a few meters on the carpeted ground using the same «tapping shoulder method» in a line before heading back to the stairs. Luckily the stairs were dimly lit and we could see and walk down under the shades of light. As we proceed back to the lounge, our eyes were tired and as though we had just woke up.
We were told to fill up a questionaire to recall and guess what we had eaten. After which, the person in charge will come with an ipad, showing the pictures and naming out the 12 dishes we had. We were surprised by our guesses as it really gave our taste buds a good test.
Conclusion
All in all, it was a good 1.5 hours session of experiencing the life of a visually impact human, coping with darkness in their moves. We took our 5 senses daily for granted and being in such environment really gave us a good reminder of how lucky we are to be able to see, h

A very unique dining experience and something you have to try at least once. You will enjoy a total of 12 dishes per person from the mystery menu and they were all really good. The waiters are all blind and the service they provide in the complete dark dining room is truly amazing. After the meal you will get to guess what dishes you had before they reveal pictures of the food. We had a blast and will definitely be going back!

Very cool and unique experience! Was taken for my birthday. Started off with some drinks in the downstairs lounge while waiting for our reservation time. Drinks were modern cocktails but I’m sure you could also ask for a refreshing beer. When it’s time to dine you are introduced to your server, who is visually impaired, to guide you upstairs and to your table. It’s simply amazing, no matter how hard you try to focus and let your eyes adjust you cannot find any hint of light anywhere. I did experience a sense of slight anxiety having such an important sense taken away but took some deep breaths and focused on enjoying the experience. I don’t want to give the meal away because that’s part of the experience but I can say it was well thought out and delicious! Our server was courteous and willing to explain how he enjoyed working at Nox. Enjoyed the meal and great service! Highly recommended!

Dining in a pitch black room, served by blind waitstaff. When I heard about this from a friend I met in Thailand who just happened to be going to Singapore the same time I was, we made plans to do this and I’m so glad that I did because our travel partners were super lame and not adventurous enough to try this. This was undoubtedly one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done, let alone dining experiences. You’re seated in the lobby with a menu to decide what you want; we did the «ultimate NOX experience» and I would highly recommend it. You start off with a small appetizer and cocktail downstairs. When you’re done, you are led up a staircase and into a room with your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you, hoping you don’t bump into anything along the way because you literally can’t even see your hand in front of your face. Once you’re seated, your appetizers arrive along with your first glass of wine assuming you do the wine pairing. I’m not a wine-​o by any means, but I was glad to have splurged for the pairing. You get a glass with each course, the first cocktail and coffee or tea at the end. Your server will describe where everything is on your table so you can feel it out. About by the time we were done with the first course, I think we had pretty much got the hang of eating in the dark. Muscle memory I guess, you just remember where you left your fork, water/​wine glass, etc. So unless there is some other offerings, I think the standard is a three course meal consisting of 4 plates per course and you eat in a clockwise fashion starting from 6 o’clock to 3 o’clock. It really makes you use and appreciate your scent and taste buds since you can’t see what you’re eating and guessing what you’re tasting/​smelling really makes you question how refined your palate is or how far off you are from reality. Our waiter told us a little bit about himself and how he lost his sight and his story was pretty inspiring. At the end of the meal, you are led downstairs to find out what each dish was and it’s fun to talk about why you thought something was what it was (or wasn’t) with other people you were eating with. I enjoyed every dish, some of which I didn’t like having had them before; I won’t say what because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. This was extremely enlightening and I would suggest it for anyone whose never tried such a thing and are adventurous enough to not know what’s coming your way.

Food was good (you’d expect that at this price). Service was slow (full house on a Saturday night). We went as a group and sort of became an annoyance to the dinner date table next to us. It is a fascinating business model and you gain tremendous appreciation, but not sure it is a restaurant to «repeat». Fun to try in a group (quietly) if you have not dined in the dark!

Really enjoyed the dining in the dark experience, as it was a complete novelty although more than a little disorientating… We definitely spent a lot more time ‘thinking’ about and concentrating on the food we were eating, which made me realize how much I rush through my everyday eating experiences. It also did make my boyfriend and I giggle quite a bit as we tried ‘toasting’ in the dark as well as pouring water.
Unfortunately I haven’t given the restaurant more stars because I think it is overpriced for what it is. The 3-​course menu is $ 88++ per person, add wine pairings (3 ‘small’ glasses including a sickly sweet moscato at the end), plus 2 cocktails (as you spend 30 minutes in the bar prior to your dinner seating) and our bill was just shy of $ 370… Eek!!! Rather extravagant for a meal that I would call ‘good’ but definitely not ‘fantastic’.
I did like the quiz side of things at the end… something I was convinced was fish, then possibly chicken, turned out to be duck… and then they had one complete curve ball in there as well. Apparently they change the menu every 5 – 6 weeks so you don’t have to worry about repetitive meals… having said that, I think this is something great to do once in your life but I wouldn’t feel the need to return.
My other suggestion? Update the music! It was like a 90s cocktail bar…

When my friends first spoke about trying out this restaurant, it sounded really interesting although the inital idea of dining in the dark sounds rather daunting. We decided to take the plunge and met up for an early christmas dinner at NOX.
We were very excited about this dinner and we prep ourselves that this would probably be one of our messiest dinner. Well, we were glad that we proved ourselves wrong as we left the restaurant as clean as when we got there. :)
This got to be the most interesting restaurant concept that I have been though the price is a little steep. The tasting menu is good (The chef was previously from Ember and Private Affairs) but what stands out from other restaurants is that this dining concept teaches us a life lesson on appreciating the finest things in life without sight.
Having «surrendered» our phones and any light illuminating gadgets to the lockers provided within the restaurant prior to the dinner service, it is back to the good old school conversation that is sorely missed. Finally, a gathering without having the camera to grace our food before we partake our meals and also no distraction of Facebook, what’s app and another other social media to distract us.
Not to forget that the guide who is visually impaired did a great job with the dinner service. He taught us how we can navigate around our new found surrounding and making us feel ‘at home’. He shared with us how he turned visually impaired yet he is still very optimistic about life.
We spent most of the time pacing ourselves with our friends and guessing the ingredients and dishes since there is a «pop quiz» at the end of the dinner. We looked forward to moment where the hostess revealing the «secret» dishes. We were very excited that we got 70% of the dishes correct! :)
It is not a restaurant that I would visit everyday but it is definitely a good experience and I do encourage everyone to check out this place at least once to see a different side of life.

Very cool and enlightening dining experience. The downstairs staff are so friendly and professional as are the waitstaff. The waitstaff are your guides who help you walk up the stairs into the pitch black dining room, help explain where all your utensils, food, etc. are and also help you with anything you need. You really do make a «transfer of trust» to your guide, and this in itself is a very illuminating experience.
As for the food, very unique! At $ 78 per person it does seem a bit steep, but they do serve quality food and it is fun to try and guess what you are eating. There are three courses, but each course comes with 4 different dishes (which also means 4 different desserts, a big plus if you have a sweet tooth like me) so a lot of food to try and my husband and I were definitely full afterwards.
Eating in the dark also raises your other senses so I could hear everything very clearly, and relying on just your taste to experience food is definitely very different from when you can clearly see what you are eating (and maybe even unconsciously judge food just based on the appearance).
I was also trying to be extremely careful not to knock anything off the table. I am normally a bit of a messy eater so eating in the dark didn’t help that, and I did end up with some chunks of food on my lap ;)
The menu changes every month and a half, keeping the novelty and surprise alive. We would definitely return! They can also accommodate different dietary requirements.
One of the highlights was at the end of the meal when they take you back downstairs and you write down what you think each dish consisted of and they reveal what it actually was and also show you the pictures of each dish. It was quite surprising and funny to see how wrong we were on some dishes and satisfying when you are right. The hostess pointed out an interesting trend about how what you end up guessing right typically indicates what type of cuisine or food you normally eat. For example, most of the food I guessed right was geared towards veggies, seafood, etc. but my most inaccurate guesses were the meat dishes.
All in all, my husband and I had a very wonderful time at Nox — Dine in the Dark, and it was a novel and enlightening dining activity to experience with each other.