Inamo

Trying to be a new technology sushi place. Sit in ur seat and don’t bother with a dining experience apart from some basic interactive entertainment. Great for the restaurant i imagine and quite novel with inflated prices although the food was reasonable. I will leave this place for all the newbies to go to and probably will be giving this a wide birth in the future.

We were very excited about going to the new Inamo, when I told to my daughter about the art tablet-​based ordering systems and interactive animated table-​top projections she couldn’t wait to go to Covent Garden and try it, she was pushing for it all week long.
This hidden restaurant is spread over 3 floors, providing plenty of space for family, groups, and larger Corporate meals as well. Has a sumptuous décor with glowing onyx panels, clusters of bamboo, and a stunning lighting system, most of them subtly adjusts to match the interactive table projections. Some tables were even able to project dishes on the plates, it was nice to see this virtual menu presentation while we walked into the place.
Overhead projectors offer a few different options, a «Chef’s cam» that shows the pass area more than the big deal fire meal preparation thing, then you could play sort of «Pong — 80’s Atari Arcade» game while you await your order, and the most attractive thing, redesigning your table top with nice virtual Japanese tablecloths collection. I cannot say that this technology surprise me at all, I better say that I took me back right into the 80’s, like Back to the Future movie, it was fun, my 8 years old daughter loved it.
The team was very attentive and looked after us every single minute, there were very nice and kindly continuos asked us if everything was ok. They explained Inamo’s concept and how to order through the tablet, It did not satisfied my expectation, I thought that I could order direct from the interactive table, they said it was better this way, I do not know if something wrong happened with the system, but the thing is we ordered from the tablets, which is nice, you scroll up and down through the menu, choose whatever you would like to order, and once you finish it, must click where is says «Send Order», and wait for the acceptance from the waiter/​tress, they will double check it with you and that’s it, Otherwise I believe it would be a totally caos. So after we placed the order, we asked them to bring the food as it comes, for me is the best way to enjoy a Japanese meal, I love Kaiseki and Izakaya styles, and they told us, this is our way to serve, I couldn’t be more excited.
They brought the salty edamame like always, I cannot start a meal without them, then, some nice and oishii (delicious in Japanese) ebi kushiyaki or grill prawns, I was expecting to enjoyed this Nihon tapa with the amazing frozen Kirin Ichiban, unfortunately the foam was more like CO2 crushed ice than a real cream, except for that important little detail the beer was nice and cold. When I ordered the gyoza I asked if they were home made, otherwise I wouldn’t eat it, the next dish was exactly that, seafood gyoza, I must tell you, the filling taste was amazing, not the gyoza no kawa (dumpling wrapper), it tasted and felt like if it spent too much time inside the fridge or were frozen without cover them, they were totally hard dried.
When the placed the «7 mouth-​watering slices of crispy pork belly, glazed in Korean BBQ sauce, served with tropical mango and fresh daikon» on the table, I literally said «Sugoi» (cool in Japanese), but it was not tender and juicy at all, maybe if the pork were cooked less this dish could be one of the signature ones, there is no doubt about it, was more like good intentions and knowledge than cooking skills. I loved the gently braised baby pork ribs in Inamo’s rich rib sauce, it’s a totally must.
Regarding the sushi, we ordered a 5 pieces crispy soft shell crab maki, with avocado and chives, a Scottish salmon sashimi (5 pieces), and a nigiri moriawase (assorted nigiri) plate, there were no doubt about the freshness and presentation, absolutely great, however, most of the restaurants does not knows that the most important ingredient for a good sushi is the rice. I’m sorry, in this case the rice was not right, the temperature was colder than it should be, I couldn’t taste the vinegar and salt on the rice seasoning, and I could not feel the rice spreading on my palate, it was more like a compacted rice mass on my mouth, so, Presentation :) Freshness :) Quality :) Skill/​Technique :(
it was very very nice to see the dishes with the lights and projections…
I will try it again soon, hope I can see some improvements to share them with other Sushi Lovers.

I went to a drinks reception at Inamo in Covent Garden last night. The restaurant is spread over 3 floors, providing plenty of space for family groups, couples, and larger Corporate lunches/​dinners as well. Our event was in their downstairs bar space, which was dimly lit as such spaces tend to be. Inamo had taken this and made the most of it, as a number of the table tops became play areas! Overhead projectors offer a range of options, from spying on the chef preparing the meal with the chef cam, to playing games while you await your order, to redesigning your table top virtual tablecloths. What fun, and how typical of Inamo to take advantage of technology. I was told the games at table were a good way to keep the children entertained while awaiting their food — it works on adults too, ha ha.
Events Manager Canthip Jiwnarai and her team really took care of us all, and we were all able to mingle freely and enjoy cocktails, sparkling wine and tasty canapes. Inamo specialises in sushi, and very tasty it was too. A friend and I stayed on for a bite after the reception, and we shared a couple of plates. I especially enjoyed the Thai Red curry with rice, which is about the best dish of that name I have tried in the UK — absolutely delicious. I liked that we could review the menu via tablet (supplied at each table) and even call the waiter over using that technology, although we didn’t need to as the service was so attentive that the staff were there when we needed them. The prices were very reasonable too — we ordered a la carte, but there is a set menu where prices start at £20 for 4 courses. 4 courses!
An excellent night out, and a lot more fun even than I had anticipated it to be.

I was there ⁰⁵⁄₂₀₁₄ and it was a experience to eat here ;) We went inside and we had luck that we get a table you should reserve one :) The project the food on your table and you could order about that. We had a very funny night there :) The cocktails were very delicious too. You should absolutely try the steak on the hot stone it was my favourite there :)

With only a few outstanding dishes but marked up prices for the interactive table that no longer functions to its full capacity, Inamo was quite disappointing.
I miss the old Inamo and how you were able to project your food items on your plate, see the prices before making an order. If I remember correctly there were a better selection of games and it was cool how you can order a taxi to pick you up at the end too. Now most of the ordering is done on a tablet. You can no longer project your food on the table to see what your dish will look like when it’s served, it was so difficult to navigate with the new mouse instead of touchscreen. The changing of the wallpaper seems to be rotational rather than by choice and the one game that was there was pathetic. The gimmick of having this ‘interactive’ table is pretty pointless and a waste of money. They might as well stick to the tablet and invest the money on improving their food quality.
Service was good though although I thought the concept was suppose to cut out the service from staff. Water was refilled regularly and we were made to feel comfortable and welcome. There were a few times when the staff didn’t notify us that the dish we ordered was all sold out and after some confusion of the long wait for our food and asking the staff, they apologised sincerely and gave us a complimentary vegetable tempura dish without any question or fuss. That was nice. Sadly we were still charged for one of the sold out dishes but that was quickly corrected too.
So the review of the food:
Sweet Mango Pork Belly.
It had nice savoury flavours and the mango added a refreshing juicy touch. However we would have preferred the pork to be thicker or cooked less so it could be more tender and juicy.
Beef tataki
This was far too citrusy masking all the taste of the beef. But then again the beef wasn’t the highest quality, lacking flavour and incredibly chewy. I’ve had a lot better.
Ponzu salmon ceviche.
Same problem as the beef. The salmon was drowning in ponzu making it far too citrusy for my liking. I miss the taste of the salmon.
Tuna tartare
The one dish worth ordering and was my favourite dish of the evening. The tuna tartare was beautifully mashed with truffle miso sauce. The sweet miso and truffle was amazing, complimenting well with the tenderness of the fresh tuna. Incredibly morish on rice. You can’t waste the sauce!
Wakame salad.
Faultless and everything I expect a wakame salad to taste like.
Seared tuna sashimi.
This was really disappointing seeing how good the tuna tartare was. It was uninspiring, lacked flavour and poor quality. The high price mark doesn’t justify it.
Seared salmon maki
I would have expected these to be served at a conveyor belt sushi joint, not a high class restaurant if you can call it one anymore. The salmon was tasteless and the whole construction all very bland.
BBQ vegetable noodles
I actually enjoyed the cold bbq vegetable noodles. It is something I also expect to find on a supermarket lunch shelf though as it was quite a gimmick with the generic bottle bbq sauce and rehydrated egg noodles. But I enjoyed the textures and the fresh vegetables coming together. Not worth £10 though.
Korean lamb chops
Looks like they can produce some good dishes. Meaty and tender lamb chops, full of flavour and cooked perfectly. A bit fatty but that helped marbleise the meat. The kimchi cabbage and daikon was paired very well with it too.
Thai Chicken Green Curry
We wouldn’t have ordered this in a Japanese restaurant if it wasn’t so hyped up. But I totally agree this was one good green curry. It was thick and creamy, full of depth and flavour. They ruined it a little by adding cherry tomatoes which were too overpowering in flavour to eat with the curry. The sweet potatoes were also slightly undercooked. Other than that it was delicious.
Vegetable tempura (complimentary)
Other than the undercooked sweet potato the rest were fine. The batter was pretty good, light and airy and the dipping was seasoned well. It was generous of them to give this away without us complaining or asking for it.
After this visit I don’t see myself going to Inamo again. It’s lost it’s magic and sometimes it’s that magic that can compensate for the poorer dishes. But for the prices they are charging you can get some really high quality Japanese food and not the lower end dishes they have. I would avoid.