Soho’s Inamo

The future often has a very immediate way of presenting itself to you. You’re going along in your daily life, doing things in the way in which you’re accustomed and then boom, it all suddenly shifts and you’re left trying to work out how this newfangled stuff really works.

I had this experience upon visiting Inamo, the restaurant in which you place your order for food and drink through your table. Using touchscreen technology with a traceable cursor, you can peruse through the menu and wine list, change the appearance of the table or even play a game or too if you’re busy waiting for food to arrive.

The technology is very intuitive and easy to use. I also ensured that there are strict parameters for the cursor so that you can’t cross over to your companion’s side and order something horrible while they’re not looking. Just checking and all.

However, whilst the technology is impressive, is the food worth the hype about cutting out the waiter?

My companion and I both took two small dishes and one large one. My small dishes were the seafood gyoza (£4.50) and black bean tuna (£7). The gyoza were dumplings served with a yuzu dressing – light and with a good depth of flavour to the filling. The second dish of black bean tuna, seared tuna coated in black bean and wasabi that was served on pickled mouli. The tuna was exquisite and heightened by the slightly sweet crust.

My companion ventured for the tuna benito maki (£8) which was five pieces of tuna and mango maki wrapped in smoky flavoured benito flakes, all very well put together and with the tuna and mango combining well. The pick of the small dishes was the truffle marbled beef (£7.95), thin slices with truffle vinaigrette and crispy garlic and mixed cress. The quality of the meat was clear in its appearance and its taste superb.

For our large dishes, my companion and I plumped for the sake salmon in cedar wood (£13) and duck with pancakes (£16.95). The roast duck was served with hoi sin sauce and salad, allowing us to make our own fun-sized pancakes. The salmon wrapped in cedar wood, baked and served with ginger butter sauce was no more than decent, lacking any real potency or zest.

To finish up, I went for the Thai basil panacotta (£5.25) while my companion chose the homemade ice cream, which changes on a daily basis. On this occasion it included sesame and caramel. The panacotta was pleasant enough with the basil flavour kept well restrained. The ice cream was charming with the sesame proving to be unexpectedly enjoyable.

Going out for food in London is often described as an experience and Inamo certainly provides that. While the food may not always be amazing, they should certainly congratulated on making dining a lot more fun.

Inamo
134-136 Wardour Street
Soho
W1F 8ZP

Tel: 020 7851 7051