| Everyday Restaurants

Computer Geeks at Inamo

I have a confession…
I am a total computer geek.
Oh yes, behind the ‘glamourous’ exterior there lies a total nerd.
My dad is a computer programmer and growing up our house was always full of computers and the latest technology. No exaggeration, I started using a computer when I was about three years old and I’ve never stopped my love affair with technology since.
So when I heard about Inamo, a restaurant the unites my two loves, computers and food, I was down there like a shot with my bestie, Anna, alongside.
Inamo also serves my favourite cuisine, sushi!! I think I may be overdoing the sushi to be honest, I’ll have to rename the blog SushiSpoon. Actually, Inamo is Asian fusion and the menu is also influenced by Chinese and Thai cooking but what make the restaurant totally unique in the computerised ordering system.
The table cloth is actually a projected image which can be altered to customise your dining experience.
I wanted to text this photo to my mum to tell her I’d got a tattoo, but I didn’t want to give her a heart attack!
The food and drink menu is projected on to the table cloth and we used the interactive mouse pad to select our dishes.
A image of the dish is then projected on to the table.

 

I thought this was great, we all eat with our eyes and it’s great to see an image of the food first. Otherwise I’m craning round to see what the table next door is having!
Cocktails first, I had a prosecco topped with plum liquor while Anna chose the classic passion fruit martini.

 

The menu is divided in small and large plates and we kicked off with two small plates of sashimi…

 

As we didn’t want everything to come at once we made sure we didn’t enter the whole order into the computer system at the same time.
Meaning we had the chance to enjoy our bottle of house wine, and each other’s company, slowly.
Next up was seafood gyoza.
I must say, I found the plating of this dish slightly odd and the three dumplings looked a little lost on the long plate. A bamboo basket would have probably suited this dish slightly better. That being said, I certainly couldn’t fault the flavour of the cod and prawn dim sum and the tangy yuzu sauce.
For our final small plate we chose crispy soft shell crab rolls with avocado.
A perpetual favourite of mine, Inamo’s pillowy rice rolls and crispy crab and smooth avocado didn’t disappoint.
The bamboo forest interior of the restaurant follows the Asian theme with a Japanese garden and water features at the end. It’s all very zen and relaxing!
For our first large plate we chose a chirashi.
Fresh sashimi with salad, pickles and a yuzu dressing. The flavours of the dish were spot on but I was a little disappointed with the lack of a sashimi. As a ‘large’ dish I would have liked to see a little more protein in my portion.

 

Our other choice was one of my favourite Japanese classics: black cod. Inamo’s version melted gently into slices and the delicious spicy miso marinade wasn’t overly sweet.
Finally the desserts! I have to say, I found it a little odd that there was only three choices on the dessert menu: ice cream, sorbet or creme brulee.
We chose to share ice cream and sorbet, again served on rather long platters rather than in bowls. They tasted great but it would have been nice to have the option of something a little more exciting.
This was a very minor niggle as Anna and I had an awesome time, we loved the fun and unique concept that I’d not seen anywhere else in London. In fact, we were enjoying our night so much we decided to have a final glass of wine nestled among the bamboo in the bar!
The computerised ordering system definitely satisfied my inner geek, thank you Inamo for a lovely night!
Inamo St James
4 -12 Lower Regent Street
London
SW1Y 4PE
020 7484 0500
Disclosure: A fabulous interactive experience at Inamo was complimentary for the purposes of the review.
Inamo St James on Urbanspoon