Eating out: London - Inamo

Having heard rumors that there existed a restaurant that integrated both a nerd's love for technology and food, i myself was quietly thrilled. Inamo, located in the diners district of Soho, London serves up a pan-Asian cuisine drawing from Japanese/Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese influences. Nothing to out of the ordinary, but the major draw card to this restaurant is the unique virtual interactive dining experience that has generated all the buzz.





The interior styling of the restaurant is futuristic-digital, with Oriental themes underlying the modern decor. For most part, the venue is dim and moody but gleaming with red/green/blue hues from the radiating tables. The tables serve as a interactive screen, where the diner conducts the various functions of ordering food and drink and settling of the final bill. But it's the other additional components of changing your virtual tablecloth, previewing the menu selection and playing a game of battleship with your fellow diner that add that to the interactive experience. Not content, you can even eye the chefs activities through "Chef Cam"!



So does all this technical wizardry detract from the food quality served? In a way yes! The menu does not really consist of anything profoundly innovative and consists of slightly tweaked traditional dishes from the Asian influences. Quantities are minute and often laden with oil based sauces. I'm not a major food connoisseur but the dishes we ordered failed to excite the palate. This included chicken betel leaf, tuna tataki, seafood gyoza and salmon and avocado cerviche. All this plus drinks wounds upward of 30 pounds - not exactly a cheap meal.

All in all, it was a fun experience and is a novel concept to your regular dining. The inner geek is surely to be entertained especially if your accompanied with a like minded troupe. Now if only they could arrange for Jolt cola to be added to the menu.