Known for their elaborate escape rooms and interactive experiences, Secret City has teamed up with Netflix to bring to life Rian Johnson’s whodunnit film series Knives Out in the form of an immersive dinner theatre experience called The Perfect Bite. It’s an original mystery set at a dinner party where you’ll be served a four course meal and work with your table to solve the murder with the “help” of a roaming cast of characters/suspects. The latest version has just opened at the Hyatt Place in Mississauga. The food and performances vary in quality (the salmon’s pretty good, the cheesecake pretty bad) but the structure, detail, and overall fun of the show makes it a great new experience for anyone who likes to add a twist to a night out.

 

After our experience trying (and, cards on the table, failing) to knock the mystery-solving bit out of the park, we’ve compiled our best tips to try to help you do better than we did and make the most of your experience along the way.

 

1) Pick the Right Date

This is the best thing you can do to set yourself up for a great night enjoying Perfect Bite: bring the right date. You need someone enthusiastic who’s not going to nitpick or pretend they’re too cool for the activity. If you know someone with good logic/puzzling skills, sure, they may be an asset. But, honestly, the puzzles aren’t that hard. The hard part is staying on the right side of the fun- engaging without losing interest, not getting cynical when the performances are a bit amateur or the scenarios are a bit far-fetched. Bring someone fun, bring someone who will buy in, and if, like me, you can get a little shy around strangers (every table is for 4 people so you’ll likely be solving this crime with strangers) or, worse, actors (especially those improvising in character), bring someone who’s going to be comfortable talking to those people because you cannot play without that.

 

2) Follow Your Instincts

Our table failed to solve the mystery correctly. A few things led to this embarrassing outcome but I’d say the biggest comes down to not following our instincts. We guessed at the solution a few times throughout the evening but then lost faith in those guesses and ended up getting sidetracked. If something seems fishy, don’t just let it go.

 

3) Ask Everything, Carefully

The cast is a little loosey goosey about the 1-2 question limit so just keep prodding until they cut you off. They will cut you off, though, so be sure to ask the most important questions first. And watch your tone! We wasted a ton of time by accidentally offending the characters with questions that felt too accusatory.

 

And don’t limit your questions to just the Salty Six (the main suspects). Our table was near where the maitre’d stationed himself for much of the evening so we had a great time questioning him for bonus info (his tie is from Japan! We also learned other more useful things). At one point we also asked to see a piece of evidence and were told we’d have to wait.

 

4) Follow Through

Which brings me to… Follow Through! This might actually be the most important thing. We were told the piece of evidence in question would be on display later but then we forgot about it so, when they just put it out without actually announcing it’d be there, only the table closest to the display were able to take advantage of that info. We should have followed up on our initial request.

 

This also applies to clues and puzzles. At least once, there was a task that I was pretty sure I understood but felt pressure to wait and see if more info would arrive before I pursued the lead. Don’t do that, you will fall behind. Only one task actually requires the menu course it’s associated with to land in front of you before you can keep puzzling so see things through as far as you can at each stage.

 

5) Keep it on the Field

In the end, I ended up thrown off by the bad timing of running into the actors outside of the performance room on my way to the bathroom. They were still in character (one in particular never broke character for a second, no matter where you ran into them) but I took to heart something I saw one of them doing and it turned out to lead me down the wrong road. Anything that you witness outside of the main room should not be considered in evidence (unless you were specifically sent somewhere by the game). Think of the lobby/downstairs as “offstage” even if the characters won’t acknowledge that there’s a stage at all.

 

Godspeed. May the spirit of Daniel Craig be with you.