Cava Bodega with Torres Wines will host a fun ‘Dine in the Dark’ evening on Wednesday 30 April. Diners will be shown to their dimly-lit table, blindfolded and presented with a 5-course tasting meal, along with accompanying wines.
We gain 55% of all the information we process by what we see. The rest of the senses account for 45% of that knowledge: hearing 18%, smell 12%, touch 10%, while the flavour left behind by something, the aftertaste, accounts for just 5% of that information. The Torres Blind Dinner aims to emphasise and reactivate those senses that normally remain locked in the background of our experiences. The absence of vision principally opens our sense of taste (concentrated mainly around the balance of flavours), sound (the silence, or conversely the creak of the table, or pepper being grinded) and touch (the structure of the food itself, and the way it is presented). All this combined creates a fountain of new sensations, while the wine, and its relation to gastronomy acquires a whole new significance and importance.
Jp McMahon says, “We have carefully designed the menu so the focus is on texture, taste and smell. It’s our first time holding this type of event, and we’re looking forward to some fun – both with the diners and with the food.”
The menu consists of five courses, with each course theme centred around one predominant ingredient, its textures and tastes. Menu highlights include textures of beetroot and scallops to start, a nose-to-tail pork and chicken dish, and two dessert options. There is a very interesting ‘textures of cream’ as a second desert. If finding your fork is proving too difficult, eating with your fingers is encouraged!
The accompanying wines are an important part of the experience – Torres have carefully selected a wine match to each course. Wine, in particular, takes on a new dimension without the use of sight, as we rely so much on our eyes: would we confidently distinguish between a red and a white wine blindfolded? Even the best sommeliers has been tricked into believing red is white and vice-versa.
Torres export manager and sommelier, Toni Batet comments: “We are delighted to be partnering Cava Bodega Restaurant for this exclusive sensory event, and we hope that diners will embrace the intensity of their senses of smell, taste and hearing to discover a new world of sensations through the wines and food”.
Tickets for this event are €65 per person, which includes dinner with wine, competitions, and spot prizes. Proceeds on the night go to the National Council for the Blind. Space is limited. Booking essential.
Please contact 091 539 884 to book or email [email protected]
