What my incredible experience dining in the dark taught me
I had the privilege to spend an evening dining in the dark at Noir in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where I learned how inclusion and empathy deliver exponentially superior customer experiences.
On a balmy evening in Saigon I dismounted the back seat of the two-wheeler of my work colleague in a well lit alley. The sounds of the city engulfed our walk to this majestic tree covered in lights. It was beautiful. We stood outside a building that looked like a bungalow. We were at Noir. I did not know what to expect. I did not know I was going to walk out a different person, all from a restaurant and a dinner.
We were greeted warmly by the host and checked in. We found ourselves comfortably seated in a well lit lounge. I observed that other than the host, the other staff members had visible disabilities. We each chose whether we wanted a meat, seafood, or a vegetarian experience. Whether we wanted a wine pairing or not. I was one of 2 who chose the vegetarian experience. We were offered a welcome drink. We were not told what it was, just to drink it and experience it. It was a little on the sweeter side for my taste, but still refreshing.
The host brought out a game for each of us that included a blindfold and 9 different shapes. They let us see the game and then asked us to put on the blindfolds. This was orientation and onboarding activity. The shapes were removed from their designated area and we were asked to race each other in putting the shapes back to where they belonged. It was a game to help us find things in front of us and feel through shapes. It was incredibly fun and I highly recommend it. I however did not fare well. I was last to finish. But it already immersed me into the evening. My excitement kept growing. The orientation was teaching us empathy and we were immersed in an inclusive space.
They walked us to the courtyard of the front house which was the gateway to the restaurant. At the entrance we were greeted by a gentleman who is blind. He called out our names one by one and asked to stand in a specific order. I stood closest to him and had to hold his shoulders. The next person had to do hold onto mine and so on. We formed a joyous train. We were asked to talk softly for the remainder of the evening. We entered the restaurant.
I will intentionally exclude any photos for the rest of the story to allow you to imagine and give you a unique experience as well.
The only thing we could see was a red “EXIT” light in a corner. The ambience was filled with soft instrumental music. We could hear the quiet chatter of other patrons dining. We walked in a train and were taken to our seat one by one. Once we were seated, the waiter held our hand to show us where our glasses for water and wine were and our silverware on the table.
My group was incredibly excited and had to remind ourselves to be quiet a few times. We did not bring phones or watches. We had to practice deep listening as we talked with our colleagues in complete darkness. While we waited for the first course, we sipped our wine and cocktails and just bonded. It brought us closer. We were not told what the drinks were, we tasted and guessed. We had to keep mental notes.
Our first course arrived. The waiter placed a plate in front of us and guided us to the fork. I felt the plate, it had slots for 4 bowls. Each bowl had some food in there. I was glad there was someone else in the group who selected the vegetarian experience as well. We discussed what we thought we were tasting. The food was incredible, we talked about the texture and tried to guess the ingredients. We did this throughout the entire evening. Sipped on the wine and went back and forth on what we thought we were experiencing. It felt more than consumption of food. This experience lasted for an hour over 3 courses.
Till this date, Noir has been the most impactful and memorable meal I had the honor to experience. We bonded, learned about each other, and experienced empathy for each other, the food, the people serving us, and for ourselves. We felt the power of inclusion.
At the end of the meal we held each other’s shoulders and walked back to the beautiful reception area. We thanked the waiter. We were immersed back in the lights. We were able to see again. As we settled our bill, the host brought the menu to us with pictures to show us what we ate and what the ingredients were. We all felt excited to see if we had guessed it correctly or not. I got all the wine wrong- that was a sobering moment. I got most of the ingredients correct, but it was incredible to see the meal we ate. It rounded the experience as we left as better people since we had entered their establishment a couple hours ago.
This experience was designed around inclusion and empathy. We got to experience an evening without the sense of sight. The business employed people with disabilities and created an enhanced experience that could match any of the fancy restaurants I have had the privilege to visit. What I learned is that if we create products and services with intentional inclusion we can deliver a vastly superior and differentiated experience.
I am unable to stop talking about this and want to take more people to that restaurant. We were able to empathize and experience the impact of inclusion. When empathy is foundational in products and services, we understand our selves better. We are able to leverage empathy to authentically understand our customers.
As business and product leaders, we want to deliver authentic experiences and if we leverage empathy and lead with inclusion we can earn fiercely loyal customers that love us.
Learning empathy is not just for leaders. It is mission critical for every person in our organizations. We need to work to reverse the empathy deficit and create a community driven by intentionality of inclusion, social impact, and empathy.
