A few weeks ago, my friend told me about a Dining in the Dark experience at Fable Diner + Bar. I’ve always been intrigued by these and I remembered when one Valentine’s Day, the (then) boyfriend and I tried making a reservation at Dark Table two weeks in advanced. I think they laughed at us — and rightfully so. We were cutting it pretty close for one of the most popular day of the year for dinner reservations.

Hearing about this event, the fiancé, my friend, and I made reservations and bought tickets for this dinner. Tickets were $80 each, but includes a starter, main, and dessert. The entire experience was pretty cool! Other than choosing between the “Vegan”, “Seafood”, or “Meat” menu, you didn’t have any idea what you’d be getting. Usually, Fable Diner + Bar offered regular eating experiences, but this was a special event. I had also never been to Fable before, so I truly had no idea what to expect.

!SPOILERS AHEAD ON WHAT FOOD WE HAD!

We arrived at around 7:10 PM, which was ahead of our designated time slot of 7:30 PM. They mentioned we had to get there early so they can assign us our proper colour coded candle (based on which menu you chose) and explain the setup to us. We very quickly checked in and got our little candles!

The restaurant itself was booked up for the event and everything was illuminated in a low light as we got to our table. When the event actually started, a hostess spoke into a mic and instructed us all to put on our eye masks.

It was such an interesting experience! My friend and I chose the meat option and when the dish came, we both caught a whiff of sweet and sour chicken sauce. But surprisingly enough, what we had tasted nothing like that. I loved trying to guess what I was tasting. What I found funny was that since the sauces and the item on your plate might not be properly mixed as you haphazardly try to spear food, you might end up eating a mouthful of sauce at one point. Turns out it was a beef shank croquette! It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside as we chewed. But it was hard to identify that beef flavouring and we initially thought it might be liver!

Our second dish was our main. I tried to fork something on my plate and then I ate what I managed to spear. I voiced aloud that it felt cornbready. At the same time, my friend who had the same dish was like “no, it’s definitely meat”. And I was thinking I was crazy. “If anything, it might be like…tofu?” I said, wondering if that’s what the crumbly-ness was. Then she eventually found the cornbread on her dish and I found the meat on mine. This second course was a delicious duck breast! The fattiness of the duck skin and the slightly gamey meat was so yummy! It also came with some braised carrots, which were a challenge to get on our forks without our sense of sight. I also ended up eating a forkful of mustard seeds at one point—which I’m pretty sure would have been nice if I brushed a bit of that onto my duck.

Our last dish was dessert. This was a wild ride. There were so many textures and flavours for us to go through! At one point I found a biscuit-like item and I was telling my friend that. But she had a bit of brownie, and then I took another bite and realized it was brownie. Only later did I realize there was indeed something biscuit-like again towards the end of my bites and I declared “these kind of taste like graham crackers?”. There was also a cold element, which we worked out was chocolate ice cream. But something fluffy and light was on top and I thought it might be whipped cream. The restaurant revealed it was indeed chocolate ice cream with brownies and graham crackers, topped with marshmallow fluff—a deconstructed s’mores if you will!

The experience was so interesting and there’s excitement to just letting your tastebuds try to work out what you’re having. Most of the time, I didn’t know if I had finished all the food on my plate yet or not, but the servers were super helpful in gently telling you your plate is now empty before taking it away.

I also snuck bites of my fiancé’s food too while we were blindfolded. He’d feel for my hand and then give me a fork full of whatever was on his plate. I did the same! He got the seafood option and had octopus to start, a lingcod for his main, and his dessert was lemon meringue.

This was a super fun experience and I am still dreaming about that duck breast. Hoping we’ll get to do this again in the future!