Restaurant puts virtual food onto diners’ plates
Founder Noel Hunwick calls up a dish as he demonstrates the interactive menu projected onto the table in an Inamo restaurant in central London.
AP Photos Staff members Alix Leonard-Morgan, left, and Andea Smuts use the interactive menu projected onto the table in an Inamo restaurant in central London. Want a virtual bite of what you’ll eat before ordering from the menu? An Asian-themed restaurant in London’s theater district is giving its customers just that, projecting images of dragon rolls, black cod, and other dishes directly onto diners’ plates.
AP Photo The interactive menu is projected onto the table and dishes are seen in an Inamo restaurant in central London.
LONDON — Want a virtual bite of what you’ll eat before ordering from the menu?
An Asian-themed restaurant in London’s theater district is giving its customers just that, projecting images of dragon rolls, black cod, and other dishes directly onto diners’ plates.
Ready to place your order? Just tap the touchpad — your sashimi will be with you shortly.
Entrepreneur Noel Hunwick says he came up with the idea for the restaurant, named Inamo, several years ago while eating at a busy pizza parlor with his friend and future business partner, Daniel Potter.
“We were desperately trying to attract a waiter’s attention,” Hunwick said. “We thought: Wouldn’t it be great if we could press a button and get our food?”
The idea had legs. Hunwick, who spoke at a table across from Inamo’s onyx-topped bar, explained how the system worked: A projector above each table beams down a virtual, interactive tablecloth, with icons for browsing the menu, ordering food, and checking up on the bill.
The plate stays blank until customers use a touchpad to open the menu and click on items, when the projector beams down images of, say, crispy pork belly or Thai beef salad.
Once a dish is chosen, the order’s sent to the kitchen. A waiter will greet a customer before a meal, but the next time he or she makes an appearance it’s to bring the food.
The concept is a high-tech, high-end take on picture menus long common to Asian restaurants. But Hunwick, a 29-year-old Oxford graduate, said the addition of a click-to-order menu has had several big benefits since this branch of Inamo opened six months ago.
Having customers compose their own orders meant the restaurant could cut back on staff, while not having to rely on waiters running to and from the kitchen shaved about 15 minutes off the length of an average meal. And Hunwick said the system encouraged customers to make spur-of-the-moment orders.
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