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Following the success of Inamo Soho this second branch of the pan-Asian restaurant and bar also features virtual menus navigated via table top projections.

About Inamo

The Inamo concept was created by a pair of Oxford University graduates who were frustrated at failing to get the waiter's attention for service, or to request the bill, when dining out.

There are over-table projectors for each seating area to display the menu onto your table and the restaurant design is much lighter than the Soho branch.

Here there's a nature wall/vertical Japanese Garden area and bamboo canes are used throughout to define the space. It feels more tranquil and there is ambient music in the background instead of funky tunes. The space-dividing screens can be moved enabling the restaurant to be re-organised for different events.

How It Works

Once seated, staff explain and demonstrate how to order via your table's projected navigation, and how to call for help.

We were advised to choose three small dishes each to to share as the food arrives as it is ready so you don't want to be waiting for each 'course'. Also, everything arrives within 15 minutes.

Each table seats two and there's a circular 'mouse pad' each to navigate the menu and options that are projected onto the table.

Inamo St James Review
I visited for a late lunch on a Saturday with friends and my four year old daughter. She instantly grasped how to navigate the menu and even without being able to read the descriptions was able to make decisions based on the projections that shows how each dish would look on your plate - literally, it looks like the dish is in front of you already.

She was so good at ordering we found her ordering extra dishes without us noticing! And once she knew how to call the waiter she did so every time a plate was empty.

Ordering is simple but, as before, I found myself wanting to touch the table-top instead of the mouse pad as we have so many touch-screens in our world but I do see how impractical this would be with plates and glasses touching and ordering by themselves. I did find the table was cluttered once all of the dishes arrived and we struggled to reach the controls to order drinks or call for service under all the plates.

There seemed to be a few more vegetarian options but still not as many as I would expect. The menu range is pretty wide though as there's pork/beef ribs, fish dishes and vegetarian dishes on offer.

As well as ordering food and drink you can change the 'tablecloth' - another projected image, and watch the kitchen on 'chef cam'. There are also games to play and local information. This was all great but I found it frustrating when I wanted to make notes and couldn't see my notepad on the table because of the projections so I would have like the option to turn off the tablecloth at times.

It can't all be about the technology and the food also needs to be good. We found the dishes all beautifully presented but some tasted better than others. Our favorite dish was actually a dessert: lemongrass and coconut sorbet.

Lunch came in around £20 a head with 10% service included.

The restaurant was quiet on a Saturday afternoon but we were informed they were fully booked for dinner. I expect when the restaurant is full the air-con would not have seemed so cold but we were all grateful to put our coats on at the end.

Conclusion
Inamo is a fun dining experience and Inamo St James is more spacious and peaceful that Inamo Soho. Good for kids of all ages as we all had fun projecting the dishes onto our hands. I'd recommend taking the family for lunch and taking your partner for dinner when the bar would be enjoyable in its own right too.

Address:
inamo St James
4-12 Lower Regent Street
London SW1Y 4PE

Tel: 020 7484 0500

Official Website:
www.inamo-stjames.com

Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary services for review purposes. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our Ethics Policy.