ON LONDON Archive

The other week, I returned to an old favourite, Inamo Restaurant in Soho. I will say this right now, I have been here several times and never once had a bad experience. Everyone I have brought here has loved it too. Apparently the menu was created by the same person behind Nobu and Hakkasan, but he might have left. That might add a little glitter to their reputation, but its not really that important. What you need to know is the food is great, the cocktails are original, and its just a lot of fun.

From start to finish, there is a lot to enjoy here.

Normally, I would start with the cocktails menu, only this time there isn’t one.

There are no real menus, in fact, nor are there any real waiting staff. All the ordering is done using a touchpad built into the table and food and drinks are brought to you as soon as they’re ready. A projector mounted above the table projects your virtual menu onto the table and this is where the fun starts. It may sound really gimmicky, but there is something a bit exciting about scrolling through the menu options and seeing each dish beamed down onto your plate.  It sparks conversation too; you’re each talking about what you want to order, who gets to order which dish, in what order you want them to arrive, etc. Changing the decor of the table is as simple as a few clicks. As soon as you’ve made your selection, the whole menu rolls up into an inobtrusive little circle on the table. It’s great to have some fun with it, but don’t let yourself get carried away. Changing the decor with a few quick clicks? Keeps things fresh and fun. Watching the crew at work on the “Kitchen Cam”? Blurry and pretty pointless. And a game of battleship? You’re in real trouble if you have that little to talk about that you resort to this. The whole system can really ‘bring something to the table’, but don’t let it detract from the enjoyment of everything else, especially your company.

With the novelty wearing off, we started off with a couple cocktails. The drinks are delicious and they really think of some interesting creations. As with everything else, fusion is the name of the game here. Your standard mojito is now a sake mojito. Fresh fruits make their way into most, if not all of the martinis: passionfruit, lychee, lemongrass and melon, to name a few. Their signature drink, the Inamo, is a refreshing and spicy blend of mandarin puree, spring onion, vodka and chili syrup. Careful, I ordered a Thai Sapphire expecting a manly drink, only to get an extremely fruit and pink conconction. It was still pretty refreshing, but not my kind of drink.

Over to food. Normally I go straight for the Berkshire pork neck with apple confit and chocolate sauce (you people who can’t mix your sweet and savouries can shove it…this is my favourite thing on the menu) but this time I’d come with a vegetarian who still eats seafood. Side note: I really dislike the word floating around for this, pesca-aqua-whatever. At least this meant we could still get the black miso cod, my second favourite dish. So we went through the interactive menus and ordered the following:

• Spinach and Mushroom Parcels: I really don’t like mushrooms in anything and I thought these were delicious. Wrapped up little gifts from the vegetarian gods.
• Tuna Tartare (pictured): Really nicely presented dish of “chopped tuna, sesame, herbs, truffle and soy” with a raw quail’s egg on the side which we mixed in right away. I imagine it improved the consistency, but I didn’t try it without it.
• Black Cod: Instant classic, and from what I’ve heard, very reminiscent of what you’d find at much more expensive restaurants like Nobu.
• Sashimi Platter: Larger than I expected, 15 sizable pieces of fish and an AMAZING wasabi dressing.
• Edame Beans and Crunchy Green Salad: I’ve lumped these together because they were both just side vegetable dishes. They are pretty standard fare, but the Green salad has a really nice sesame dressing and I think it goes well with everything else.

There’s not much else to say, really. I’ve worked my way through a bunch of the meat dishes, some of the seafood, and even a curry or two. On the meat side, the aforementioned Berkshire Pork Neck, the Hot Stone Ribeye, and the Wagyu Bavette could each get me to return. Everything just tastes very fresh and unique. It is so easy to get the whole fusion concept so terribly, terribly wrong, but this is a terrific and inspired menu that really shows that the genre can deliver.

Of course we had dessert and the European influence here is obvious. Apparently there’s a French pastry chef in the kitchen. We had the Vanilla Creme Brulee (see banner photo) and it did not dissappoint either. Extremely creamy and velvety. I would order it again on my next visit, but I am too curious to try the other dishes like the Thai Basil Pana Cotta.

I will close by saying that after one bite, there is no way you could mistake this place as just a restaurant with a good gimmick. As interesting and cool as the whole ordering/interactive dining experience is, it is the food that will keep you coming back. The prices aren’t cheap, but I always walk away feeling like I got good value for money. There isn’t much to say about the service, because they tell you up front that dishes will come about 15-20 minutes after you order them, and that pretty much holds true. That said, you can always flag down a waiter if you need anything else.

Tip: PINCHITOtapas, WC1 (I don’t need any convincing, I’m practically a regular at the EC1 branch)

Tipster: Anthony, Manager