The rest of the night was my favorite part of KL. While I love doing outdoorsy activities, these were experiences I have never had before and they were unforgettable. Sarah and I dressed in the nicest outfits we had brought (shorts and a cute top for me). I put on make up for the first time this trip. Wow, what a difference that made, haha. We took a taxi over to Heli Lounge Bar, which was a bar/lounge on the 34^th floor of the Menara KH building. You go in and you order a drink. We came during happy hour (5-9 pm) so prices were a little bit cheaper but not much. It’s expensive for Malaysian standards, but compared to cocktails in the states it was on the cheaper side. I ordered a fruity cocktail and Sarah ordered a coke (she doesn’t drink at all), but they were almost the same price. I’m not a big drinker, but I figured it was the right occasion.

Once we paid for our drink we were able to go up to the roof. Someone had the brilliant idea of turning an old helicopter pad into a rooftop bar at night. It is such a perfect idea. They had the edges roped off and there were numerous tables and chairs for people to sit at. Some were reserved but the others were first come first serve. It was pretty crowded by the time we got there (6:45 on a Saturday night) so Sarah and I just pulled together two chairs that weren’t being used and enjoyed the night. The building is situated perfectly so every night the sun sets behind the KL’s tower. We witnessed a really pretty sunset and I was thankful that it wasn’t rainy or super cloudy that night. They had music going and servers to take food and drink orders. Sarah and I had dinner reservations later so we only shared some fries.

We made reservations at KL’s Dining in the Dark. I was surprised we were able to get reservations on a Saturday night considering we had made them a few hours beforehand. I have never heard of this dining experience let alone done it before. It was also going to be Sarah’s first time. Jill had told us about it since she went earlier in the day. There are some experiences similar in other cities. Pretty sure Los Angeles has one and New York. It was definitely cheaper in KL. It’s a nice dinner in complete darkness. You’re just supposed to use your other senses to enjoy the meal. Around $28 for a fixed dinner menu, that includes four appetizers, two soups, three main dishes, and five desserts.

We were both a little nervous because we didn’t know what to expect and we both are a tad picky when it comes to food. Actually, Sarah is the pickiest person I know. She pretty much only had chicken the whole trip and was over Asian food before we even landed in Asia. She is the worst to dine with and it would take us forever to find a restaurant where she could find something she liked. She was so nervous that she had looked up reviews on the restaurant earlier that day, but we only saw 4/5 star ones. The reviews said that most of the servers were visually impaired and one even said they use echolocation to communicate. When Sarah read that one out loud to me we started busting out laughing. Echolocation – are they serious?

We get there and they seat us in a lounge first and prep us. They gave us a non-alcoholic drink and we were supposed to guess the main ingredients. Sarah claimed she was going to be really bad at this part, but of course, she got 2/3 correct while I was clueless. Then they blindfolded us and had us feel around this bucket full of rice for paperclips. This seems simple and it should have been simple but it was so hard! I for real thought they had forgotten to put paper clips in my bucket, haha. Sarah, of course, found hers. We leave all our stuff, bags, and phones in the lounge and our server comes out to greet us. His name was Yous (not exactly sure on the spelling) and he seemed to be fully blind. He had us put our hands on his shoulders and he led us into this dark room.

They are not exaggerating when they say it is in complete darkness. I thought my eyes would have to adjust at first but after 90 minutes I still could not see my hand in front of my face. Somehow Yous guided us around other tables in this abyss and sat us at our table. As soon as he left to get us water, Sarah and I reached out for one another. It was mind-blowing that she was right in front of me but I couldn’t see her. We could hear other tables nearby but I had no idea how close or far they were. Yous explained where everything was at on the table and then he started bringing us our dishes. He always cleared our dishes and dropped them with such ease. Sometimes he would walk away so quietly I would wait a minute and ask Sarah if he was still in front of us, hahaha. Weirdly people were celebrating birthdays there. It was a cool experience, but I’d rather be able to see during my birthday dinner. Funny story: after we got our bearings and laughed about how dark it was, we started to notice strange sounds. I kid you not the servers were using echolocation!! WHAT?! We could not believe it. We for sure had thought that review was a joke. They were using popping and shhh noises. So crazy!

I won’t get into too much detail about the dishes because some of them I can’t even remember and also I could write a whole novel on them, but it was hilarious eating them. I would lift the dish up to my mouth and spoon whatever it was into my mouth, trying not to spill anything into my lap. I tried to be very adventurous and eat everything. Sarah and I mostly had the same stuff, but she asked for no seafood so we had like two dishes that were different. Most of them were delicious, a couple of them I couldn’t finish. I could not wait until we got to see what we were eating. One very memorable moment was when we were eating one of our main dishes we both agreed that it was chicken. It was funky tasting chicken, but I noticed in Asia that their meat cuts are different than ours. Earlier that day I had ordered chicken for lunch and it still tasted different than chicken I would get in America. So I just assumed it was something along the lines of that. Sarah loved that dish. She was pinching through the bowl with her bare hands to make sure she ate all the pieces. (I couldn’t see her hands, but she told me that’s what she had done, haha).

When we were done eating Yous miraculously led us back through the dining room without hitting anything. After our eyes took a minute to get adjusted to light again we were shown the menu. Wow, I would have never guessed half of it – my taste buds must be out of whack – and other items I would never eat if I had known what they were. The chicken that Sarah loved so much was not chicken at all, but rather duck. Now all of a sudden she hates duck, hahaha. It was really fun and I would try it again. After Googling, I found out one just recently opened in Vegas but it is only a vegan menu apparently. I do like seeing my meals though, so it probably wouldn’t be a regular dinner spot for me. I would definitely recommend trying dining in the dark, even if it isn’t in KL, try it somewhere else. My brain is still having a hard time understanding just how dark it was. It really makes you appreciate your eyesight.