The Whale's Stomach in Beijing

The Whale's Stomach (Jingyu Du), Asia's first dark restaurant, has opened in upscale Jianwai SOHO area in Beijing, near the World Trade Center. It is totally dark inside the restaurant. It is claimed that when one's eyes are deprived of sight, other senses are sharpened, as touch, sense of smell, hearing, tasting and imagination go into overdrive to help one decipher the environment.

Customers have to be led to their seats by waiters, who wear special night vision glasses. Even the floor is specially built to assist people who are deprived of their sight. Diners eat their whole meal in pitch blackness and have to rely on the waiters' guidance if they need to go to the bathroom.

Dark restaurants in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian and Hangzhou will open after the Spring Festival from February 18 to 24, and preparations are underway for others in Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore. There will soon be 30 dark restaurants in Asia, including 15 on China's mainland.

The world's first dark restaurant was opened in a former chapel in Zurich, Switzerland, on 17 September 1999, by a blind priest. Since then, dark restaurants have caught on in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Russia.

The Blind Cow Restaurant (www.blindekuh.ch) in Zurich offers up a different dining experience: guests eat in complete darkness and are served by blind or visually handicapped waitstaff. The restaurant gives them a way to make a living while giving the guests an appreciation for what it feels like. The restaurant's name in German, Blindekuh, comes from the Swiss equivalent of the children's game Blindman's Bluff. Smoking, flashlights, matches, cigarette lighters, luminous watches and mobile phones are banned. Much of the staff at the Blind Cow Restaurant is sightless. Hugely popular Blind Cow is generally booked months in advance for the evening meal and for most lunch hours.

"Blind" dates are a hit at the Blind Cow, and several dating agencies arrange for people to meet in the darkness of the restaurant where they can ask questions and be themselves without seeing the person opposite. Later, if they choose, they can reveal themselves in the lighted lobby.