Inamo Soho: Futuristic Dining

Entering Inamo, tucked away as it is on a side street in Soho, is like stepping into a futuristic dining portal – a vision of what eating out will be like in the year 3000, when (if you’ll humour my crude technological predictions) our children’s children’s children’s children will be using microchip mobile phones and gliding down the street on hover-boards.

And what makes Inamo worthy of such claims? Well, for starters, every one of the tables in the 60- cover restaurant has its own projector (disguised in a specially designed hanging ‘cocoon’) that beams all kinds of info-tainment fun onto a virtual tablecloth. On my visit, we weren’t alone in spending the first ten minutes in the restaurant in a silent, gleeful, childlike stupor, exploring the seemingly endless table-top possibilities.

The table surfaces are effectively touch-screen computers, through which you can change the ambience of your table (we opted for a charming illuminated Milky Way effect), watch what’s going on in the kitchen on the real-time ‘chef-cam’, and even look up what’s on in the Soho neighbourhood.

Ordering is also done this way, you just pick a dish from the pan-Asian menu, press the ‘order’ button, and within a few minutes your waiter or waitress-zoid will bring out your food. Certainly not one for traditionalists who like their waiters to be on-hand at every beck and call, though there is a button which you can press for table service, air-hostess style.

That’s all very well of course, and will hold favour with tourists and City folk entertaining clients – but does the food stand up on its own? The answer here is a definite yes, and the chef’s got form.

Anthony Sousa Tam was head chef at both Atami and Tsunami, following on from stints at the ever-trendy Nobu, Ubon and Hakkasan – and his hard work has paid off at Inamo. Dishes like the Shiso chicken wraps (£7), which came with Vietnamese herbs and a lip-stinging mooli, and the black miso cod (£11.95), which was sticky, sweet and melting, witness expertise gleaned at some of the capital’s best Asian kitchens.

Ditto the rib-eye beef (£15.50), which came thinly sliced, blazing red and still sizzling on a hot rock with three stunning sauces (chilli herb, yuzu soy, truffle) and sweet potato puree. Portions were small and relatively dear, but the ingredients spoke of a superiority that didn’t argue with the price.

There’s something ever so slightly faddish and gaudy about Inamo, with its unapologetic concept and over-the-top design, but ultimately, it’s good fun, has good food, and is well worth a visit.

Inamo
134-136 Wardour Street
Soho W1F 8ZP

Tel: 020 7851 7051