Foodie nights out

This week, I have been lucky enough to eat out twice at two very different but equally fabulous venues.

Monday night was more of a gimmick than anything else, my dining companion wanted to try a funky place in Soho called Inamo - mainly because you order your food via a touchscreen table. Having got very excited about the prospect of this, I was a little disappointed to find it wasn't actually the whole table which was touchscreen, but rather a small corner of the table worked like a mouse pointer on the rest of the table. After 10 minutes of faffing about with it (and ignoring each other - don't go here on a first date!) we finally plucked up the courage to click and order some drinks, followed by thin cut beef with garlic, tempura, spring rolls, black cod and rice. Everything was delicious and the evening flew by, although we could only have the table for an hour and a half which was a shame, as we could have done with maybe 20 more minutes.

The advantage is that you order what you feel like when you want it, so no waiting around or trying to attract attention, and the dishes are brought to the table within 15 minutes of ordering. Highly recommend this place, but more than 2 people and I felt it would have become overly complicated to try and organise all the ordering.

My second evening out was at the lovely 1901@Andaz which is right next to Liverpool Street Station, although once you are inside, it could be as far away as you like. I have been here before, but I'd happily eat here anytime. The atmosphere is relaxing, you aren't too close to the other tables and can hear each other talking, and the chairs are more comfy than my sofa at home.

We ate on the Toptable £21 for three courses deal, but where the bill creeps up here is the wine. There is a book with about 20 pages of wine inside it. If you don't know what you are looking for there is also a helpful Sommelier. Use him, he knows his stuff. Our table happily munched through salmon or wood pigeon starters, but we all immediately went for the braised rib of beef for the main. Delicious and falling to pieces, it was perfect. Trying to behave like proper grown ups, we ordered a dessert wine which the girls weren't that keen on (I think I was a bit tipsy at this point and described it like tasting shoe polish), but the boys seemed happy enough to drink.

I'd happily eat here any time, probably for a special occasion so we could have a half decent bottle of wine, and with the toptable deals the food really is worth the money, so worth watching out for one of them.

All in all, I have spent this week happily stuffing my face. What could be better than that?