The second course arrives. Both dishes are finger foods. The waiter hands the subjects plastic gloves.

A: Mmm-deep-fried banana-ish, apple-ish stuff. Great with beer.
D: I can't figure out what vegetable this is. Hey, you just ate the last piece!
A: Come on, there were only, like, four pieces.
B: We've got shrimps. Mine twitched! They're alive!
C: I can't get this damn glove on! Fuwuyuan! Help! I can't get the glove on!
B: I'm not ripping off no living thing's head in the dark. I draw my line here.
C: What's the point of having all this cutlery if we're just gonna be eating with our hands? [grumble] ... damn gloves ... [curses] ...

"B" and "C"'s third course arrives.

C: I'm not using my hands for this, I don't care if it's French fries.
B: What is this prickly thing? Feels like a sea urchin. [Tastes some]. It's sweet ... like yam ... it's sugared yam in a sea urchin shell!
C: Great. I paid 138 kuai for mashed taters.
B: I can give everyone the finger and they can't see. I'm mooning them!
C: The waiters have night-vision goggles.

"B" sits back down. The meat dishes arrive.

A: I feel tipsy. Eating with gloves is kind of fun. Hey, I've got a chicken leg. What have you guys got?
B: We've all got chicken legs. With a side of stuffed dates and more of that deep-fried stuff.
C: Eating stuffed dates in the dark is really unpleasant. That gooey texture gets incredibly magnified.
D: If I hear more of this elevator-Mozart, I'm going to go mad.

Awkward silence.

A: Oh, you can't see us nodding, can you?

Rice dishes arrive.

A: I've got pigs' trotters. Great. It's impossible to stab this thing with my fork in the dark!
C: My black-pepper beef tastes alright. It reminds me of GL cafe.
B: If they turned off the lights at GL cafe, it would be exactly like this.
C: If I turned off the lights and ate at home, it would be exactly like this.
D: They don't even need to pay electricity, can't they give us something a little more expensive to eat?
B: I'm mooning them again.

Jujingdu Dark Restaurant
Location: Shop 1037, 3/F, Building No.10, Jianwai Soho, No.39, Dongsanhuan Zhonglu, Chaoyang
Tel: 010-58694235/59000343

Related: Dining in the dark

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