After a hard week of testing Mark and I decided to get
something to eat at Inamo.
Inamo is a restaurant where “the control of the dining experience” is placed in
the diners’ hands. Instead of customers being given a traditional paper menu
and ordering with a waiter or waitress, they use an “interactive ordering
system” to browse and select what they want to eat.
The menu is projected onto the table and is controlled using
a trackpad on the right side of the table, which could be a problem for some
left-handed diners (although Mark didn’t complain). Admittedly having a touch
screen on the table would probably cause problems when the food and drinks
arrived.
Browsing through the menu is easy and quite fun. There are
different categories (starters, mains, desserts, etc.) and you can flip between
them to shortlist different options. It is really easy to change your mind and
remove things you no longer want, so it is great for indecisive people like me.
One problem with this, however, is that you can’t browse everything at-a-glance
as with a paper menu. Making your choice relies on viewing the options
one-by-one rather than quickly scanning a long list. Nevertheless, the ability
to shortlist does go towards overcoming this.
One of the best parts is that when you are choosing different
options from the menu an image of the dish is projected onto your plate, which
helps you get an idea of what it will look like. This is also useful if you want
to show your fellow diners what you’re going to order.
While we waited for our food we used the interactive system to change the colour of our table a few times. We also saw our food being made using the “chef cam” which shows live streaming of Inamo’s kitchen. When our food did arrive it was almost strange to see a waiter bring it out as we hadn’t spoken to him before, we half expected the orders to drop down from the ceiling. Maybe in the future!
There are also lots of things to do on the interactive
system once you’ve finished eating. You can find things to do outside the
restaurant, such as bars and shows, or you can play games. Mark and I played
Battleship (I let him win). You can even look at a floor plan of the restaurant
and find out where the toilets are. These extras are probably great for parents
trying to keep kids happy and quiet and also for people eating alone.
Once you’re ready to go you use the interactive system to
get your bill (so none of these problems). The interactive system even lets you order a taxi to take you home.
Overall the food was nice and I enjoyed using the interactive
menu. I did like the concept but more for its novelty factor and I don’t see it
as the way forward for restaurants. At least I really hope it’s not. I think
that an important part of the eating-out experience is interacting with the
waiters: hearing the specials, asking for recommendations, being told that you
made a good choice. The interactive ordering system seemed to make the dining
experience a bit impersonal. Inamo is
definitely worth a visit but I hope it stays unique and these interactive menus
don’t become a new trend. Can you imagine going to a cute little French bistro
and having “control of the dining experience”?
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