Eat like a geek

The food photography you usually see in high-street food outlets wouldn't win many awards; it generally consists of yellowing images of burgers or takeaway chow mein encased in a greasy laminate. But I'm in the unusual position of gazing at a gorgeous image of a Thai beef salad that's being projected onto my plate from a gizmo mounted above my table at Inamo, a restaurant on London's Wardour Street. It closes the sale to this particular diner, so I order it direct from the kitchen using an iPhone-like touch panel which is also projected down onto the table. While I wait, I can enhance my mood of calm control by choosing a projected tablecloth of an idyllic rural scene; Inamo's waiters remain a discreet, uninterrupting presence, while passers-by press their noses to the window, intrigued by the activity inside. I click for a beer; it's brought to my table in less than 30 seconds. And for a magical moment, it feels like a futuristic dining utopia.

Inamo opened in the summer of 2008 in a difficult economic climate which would eventually drive many restaurants out of business. But by contrast, Inamo has performed surprisingly well: it now serves more than 200 customers per day; another restaurant opening is due later this year, and 900 reviewers on the restaurant website toptable.com give it a healthy average mark of 7.6 out of 10. A restaurant is nothing without good food, of course – and Inamo doesn't fail on that score thanks to signature dishes like yuzu mussels and cinnamon chicken – but it's the patented technology that's making gadget fans' mouths water. And the unlikely brainchild of two rookie restaurateurs is starting to hit paydirt, with other restaurants now set to license the technology that's kept Inamo buzzing throughout the recession.

Noel Hunwick, Inamo's managing director, recalls the moment where he and business partner Danny Potter, a fellow Oxford graduate (one classicist, one physicist) came up with the concept. "Five years ago we were at a venue for a friend's birthday party, and the service was pretty poor. And we thought how great it would be to get what we wanted by tapping the tabletop. We spent a year working on the idea with an industrial designer, and eventually had a software architect build a test unit in his bedroom for us to play with." Aside from Potter having spent three months chopping vegetables in the kitchen of the Ritz in Paris, the pair had no previous restaurant experience, but they nevertheless chose a high-profile – some might say high-risk – location for their launch after buying up an old trattoria, Luigi's, in the heart of London's West End. Fortunately their gamble paid off; an idea that could have been seen as a gimmick ended up being a hit with London's diners.

drive from www.independent.co.uk