Inamo to launch second interactive restaurant

London interactive restaurant Inamo is to launch a second outlet in the site formerly occupied by Italian restaurant St Alban in Mayfair.

Pan-Asian Inamo, which opened its first restaurant in Soho in 2008, is based around an interactive ordering system, which allows diners to order their meal from an illustrated menu projected onto a touch-screen on the table. Alongside this, customers can view the restaurant's kitchen in real-time and browse information about the nearby area as well as local business services.

Inamo's second site, which is scheduled to open in December, will be a 300-cover venue including a destination bar, restaurant with two private dining rooms and sushi counters. It will be housed in Christopher Corbin and Jeremy King's former St Alban restaurant, which closed last Christmas.

Noel Hunwick, who founded Inamo together with business partner Danny Potter, said the new site offered remarkable potential and complex challenges in equal measure.

"Naturally we're delighted with the success to date of our first Inamo but understand that this is a completely new project, irrespective of certain similarities, and the scale of the restaurant is not to be taken lightly," he said. "We've worked hard, however, to put together a talented and experienced team in the kitchen, bar and front of house."

The kitchen at Inamo St James will be overseen by head chef Sebastian Francis, who previously worked at the Sanderson Hotel. The entire operation will be managed by general manager Anthony Lyon, with assistant general manager Stephan Venter, restaurant managers Bartek Rusicki and Martin Tarnoczy, and bar manager Rudolph Garland supporting him.

Interiors at Inamo St James will feature Japanese-inspired natural elements such as back-lit semi-precious stones and a Japanese garden with water feature.

Corbin King to close St Alban on Christmas Eve >>

Is mobile ordering the way forward for restaurants? >>

The IT challenges of opening a new site >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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