Eating out is usually about more than just the taste of the food. But for two restaurant owners in the south of England, this lack of1 is unacceptable. They want their guests to concentrate on the food in front of them.2 , they set about achieving this in completely different ways.
Would you be happy to eat something if you couldn't3 it? Edouard de Brogile, the owner of the new London restaurant "Dans le Noir", hopes so. He believes that your sense of taste is4 if you are not distracted by what you can see. "Dans le Noir" is French for "in the dark" and it is a blackened-out restaurant, where blind waiters and waitresses serve your food. Some critics claim that diners will lose out on the social side of dining. Others5 that the darkness brings an added sense of closeness. De Broglie, who set up the original, and very successful, "Dans le Noir" restaurant in Paris, said that his interest was in the6 not the social aspects of dining. "The assumption of what food tastes like because of how it looks is7 , "he said. "All your other senses are suddenly awoken and you taste the food like you have never tasted it before. "
Heston Blumenthal, chef and owner of the famous restaurant "The Fat Duck" near London, has long been known for his adventurous menus and experimental cooking. He,8 , was the one who brought us bacon ice-cream. But even his most extraordinary dishes will seem9 compared with his latest creation—seafood served with an iPod.
No, diners will not be expected to eat the music player, but instead to listen to the noise of crashing waves as they eat. The dish, entitled "Sound of The Sea", will be part of the tasting menu at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant. The10 dish looks like a picture of the seashore. It is presented on a glass-topped wooden box containing sand and seashells, and consists of what looks likes and but is11 a mixture of fried breadcrumbs(面包屑), fried baby eels(鮼鱼) and oil, topped with different kinds of seafood and three kinds of eatable seaweed. The final 12 -resulting from Blumenthal's experiments exploring the relationship between13 and the experience of eating—will be the iPod, so that diners can listen to the waves while they eat.
Both of these restaurants seek to intensify the sensation of taste while you are eating. The first does so by14 other sensory input altogether. The second does so by15 it. So which eating experience would appeal more to your senses?
