In mid-June, Townhouse Hotel hosted a special Dinner in the Dark – an ingenious sensory event presented by the well-known Hein Wagner of the Vision Trust. The purpose was to showcase to professional conference organisers (PCOs) how a venue of the calibre of Townhouse Hotel can host, with ease, an event of the uniqueness of Dinner in the Dark.
Hein Wagner from Vision Trust, who recently presented
the “Dinner in the Dark” event at the Townhouse Hotel
in Cape Town, with the ladies from the Institute for the Blind.
After a tour of the hotel’s adaptable conferencing facilities led by GM Jacqui Williams, the 50 PCO guests invited to participate in this dinner-with-a-difference were instructed to leave any light-generating objects (cell-phones, cameras, etc.) in safe-keeping, before entering the completely blacked-out venue where Dinner in the Dark took place.
“Townhouse Hotel is able to host this exceptional event, which requires a room to be blocked out allowing absolutely no flicker of light inside, with ease. We were very eager to work with Hein to create this very unique experience,” comments Williams.
Born blind, Wagner, who has achieved remarkable things in his life including IT management and extreme adventure sports, welcomed guests to what he laughingly referred to as ‘an enLIGHTening evening presented by Eskom.’
Drawing on his previous event experiences, Wagner explained: “In the dark, introverts become extroverts, and extroverts become party-animals deluxe. Dinner in the Dark allows one’s experience of taste and sound, without the use of one’s sight, to be heightened to the fullest, making the dining experience completely out-of-the-ordinary.”
Guests were treated to delicious entrées consisting of a delicate game patê-filled puff pastry followed by a selection of dim sum starters accompanied by dipping sauce – all easily eaten with one’s fingers.
Upon Wagner’s request to nominate a speaker for each table, guests commented on how great it had been to chat to fellow diners, and take in interests and personality through sound and presence, not sight or looks. They felt that it was a unique way of ‘seeing the world’ that gives the blind a distinct advantage over those who are sighted.
The main course, delivered by the ever-present sightless, yet skilled, waitrons, was once again chosen with meticulous intelligence – gravy in a small container so it could easily be found, vegetables encased in a sweet potato roll (no messy peas and carrots), and the tenderest lamb chops, all of which required absolutely no cutlery. Silence ensued while guests enjoyed their mains, to the folk songs and guitar skills of a sightless musician.
As dessert was served, and the lights about to be turned on, guests were allowed to touch, but not eat, their sweets so they would be able – before long – to see its creative presentation. Whether any of the diners cheated, or not, remains a state secret, but one thing’s sure: this special dining option is likely to become the cherry on the top of numerous functions held at Townhouse Hotel in the future.
To book a Dinner in the Dark event, which can be tailor-made to suit a company’s core values and/or goals, new product launches, important client-bonding experiences and staff motivational events, email dinner@heinwagner.co.za.
