Our winter mystery menu: an olfactory dinner in three acts
Written on 3.11.2026
From 20 November, Dans le Noir? Genève joins forces with MEMO Paris to offer a unique olfactory dinner in three acts. Before each course, discover a fragrance designed to awaken your senses and guide your tasting experience. A unique sensory journey exploring the connection between smell and taste, enjoyed in complete darkness.
Our winter mystery menu: an olfactory dinner in three acts
What if, this winter, you rediscovered the pleasure of dining through a sense you rarely pay attention to at the table? From 20 November 2026, Dans le Noir ? Genève, located in the heart of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel de la Paix, invites you to enjoy a new sensory experience in collaboration with the French perfume house MEMO Paris. On the menu: a winter mystery menu in three acts, with an olfactory discovery before each course. An invitation to explore the connection between smell and taste, and to experience a different kind of end-of-year dinner.
A sensory experience bringing together gastronomy and perfumery
Smell and taste are closely connected. Yet, when we sit down to eat, we often focus most of our attention on what we see on our plates. But what happens when sight disappears and our other senses take over?
The concept is simple: before each course, a fragrance is revealed. This olfactory discovery takes place before the corresponding dish arrives, inviting guests to explore a new dimension of their dining experience. Scents become the common thread running throughout the dinner. They spark curiosity, evoke different worlds and encourage everyone to pay closer attention to the flavours that follow.
It is a unique way to discover how a scent can influence our perception of food, bring back a memory or even change the way we experience a combination of flavours.
First act: awakening the senses with the starter
The dinner begins with a first olfactory discovery. Before tasting anything, guests are introduced to a scent that offers an initial glimpse into the aromatic world of the starter.
Without visual cues to guide their perception, they are invited to focus on the different notes of the fragrance, identify the impressions it evokes and imagine the flavours they might find on their plate. When the starter arrives, the game of connections begins. Initial impressions meet the flavours actually experienced. Some may feel familiar, whilst others may come as a complete surprise.
This first act offers an opportunity to become more aware of the role smell plays in our culinary experience and how it prepares our palate for the tasting to come.
Second act: exploring the connection between smell and taste with the main course
The second part of the dinner continues this discovery with a new fragrance, associated with the world of the main course.
Here, smell becomes a true guide. A fragrance can evoke a material, a season, a landscape or a particular feeling. It opens up possibilities for interpretation before the first bites complete the experience. In complete darkness, familiar reference points disappear. It becomes easier to take the time to distinguish textures, recognise ingredients and explore the different aromatic nuances.
The dialogue between the scent and the dish encourages a more attentive tasting experience. The fragrance discovered beforehand becomes a point of comparison, an initial impression that each guest can explore through their own senses.
Third act: ending on an olfactory and culinary note with dessert
To complete this three-act journey, a final fragrance is introduced before dessert.
This last discovery adds another dimension to the sensory experience, opening the door to new associations. Olfactory notes meet sweet sensations, textures and the aromas of the final course.
Dessert becomes the final chapter of an experience built around three encounters between perfumery and cuisine.
At the end of the dinner, the lights come back on and guests can finally discover what they have tasted. It is also the perfect opportunity to share impressions, compare interpretations and reveal the connections imagined between the fragrances and the dishes.
MEMO Paris: when fragrance tells a story
Built around the idea of travel, MEMO Paris creates a world in which each fragrance evokes a place, a destination or an emotion. The house explores raw materials and olfactory compositions to create perfumes that invite the imagination to wander.
This approach finds a natural connection with the experience offered by Dans le Noir ? Genève.
By bringing perfumery and cuisine together, this collaboration explores a shared territory: the emotions awakened by scent. A fragrance can bring back a memory, create a mental image or transport us to somewhere familiar or entirely unknown. In the same way, a flavour can evoke a season, an encounter or a moment in our lives.
The fragrance discovery workshop, woven into the dinner, offers a different way to explore these connections. It is not simply about recognising a perfume, but about taking the time to experience it, interpret it and relate it to the dish that follows.
An experience that encourages guests to rediscover their sense of smell and understand just how much it contributes to our perception of taste.
Dining in the dark in Geneva: a different way to share a meal
This winter edition retains the very essence of Dans le Noir ?: a meal enjoyed in complete darkness, accompanied by our guide-servers.
Upon arrival, our team welcomes you and accompanies you throughout the experience. After leaving your personal belongings and any luminous objects in the cloakroom, you enter the dining room, immersed in complete darkness.
Our guide-servers lead you to your table and explain everything you need to know to settle in and make the most of your dinner.
Shared tables are also an integral part of the experience. Couples, friends, families and solo diners have the opportunity to meet and chat with other guests. Without the usual visual distractions, conversations take on a different dimension and interactions often become more spontaneous.
This experience is also a human adventure. It offers an opportunity to discover the expertise of our guide-servers and gain a different perspective on visual impairment, whilst sharing a convivial moment.
An original idea for an end-of-year dinner in Geneva
As the festive season approaches, finding an experience that breaks away from the usual routine can be a challenge. This special edition with MEMO Paris offers the opportunity to share something different, whether as a couple, with friends or with family.
Whether you are looking for a romantic dinner, an evening with loved ones or simply an unusual experience in Geneva, this winter menu offers an alternative to traditional end-of-year dining.
The encounter between scents and flavours also provides plenty to talk about after the meal: which fragrances did you recognise? Did the scents help you identify the ingredients? Were your impressions similar to those of the other guests?
These are just some of the questions that will keep the experience alive long after the lights come back on.
Located in the heart of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel de la Paix, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Dans le Noir ? Genève welcomes you for this limited winter edition, designed as a sensory escape at the heart of the season.
Practical information and reservations
This experience will be available from Friday 20 November, on our opening days: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Close your eyes. Let the fragrances guide you, the flavours surprise you and the darkness carry you away. This winter, discover a different way to dine in Geneva.
Book your table today
Availability is limited for each service.