Pettiness makes the world go round. Despite being good mates with my brother, nothing is better than countless, petty victories against him, and no victory is as great and petty than beating him at video games. As kids, we warred over Mortal Kombat, he broke controllers after I destroyed him at Super Smash Bros, and I lied and told my mum he hit me when I lost at Mario Kart. But now we're adults… well, it was time for a rematch. And the only suitable battleground was pan-Asian restaurant Inamo Soho; specifically, in their private hire Games Room.
Venue and Experience
You’ll find the Games Room in the basement of the space-age restaurant. The space is a long, dark room, with a private bar at one end (with our lovely bartender doubling up as our games-setter-upper), minimalist art one wall with seating below it, and, of course, the main event opposite. Taking up nearly the entirety of one wall are the double projections that span more than 150 inches.
The double projection meant you can play two games at once, and with two PS4s, two Wiis, and an Atari Gold for the retro games. We put it to good use. Fifa was discarded immediately – I can’t think of anything more boring and, quite frankly, I invited him, so I got to veto. Despite my angelic voice, we politely decline Singstar. Instead, it was Mario Kart and a very old tank game from the Atari on the other screen. The image is clear, it's easy to get going, ad it rules having two gigantic screens to play on.
With Bowser as my avatar, I lost the first race, and brought it back in the last three despite three blue shells hitting me in a row I swear to the video game gods it only ever happens to me whenever he’s in the lead it never happens. As we battled it out, we both enjoyed some cocktails: a delicious Shangai Ice Tea (£10.95) made from Absolut vodka, Beefeater gin, Blue Curacao, Grenadine and lemonade, and a refreshing Orenji Bloom (£9.95) made from Absolute vodka, Cointreau, lime and blueberry juice. In the end, my brother managed a marginal victory against me in Mario Kart, the cheater, and I won the Atari game. So we decided to call it a draw and head upstairs to get some food.
That's neither me or my brother but enjoy this visual representation of two people have lots of fun. We did that.
Food
If you’re the type to share those crap memes on Facebook about how the world's ruined because people use phones now, you’re going to have a bad time at Inamo. After walking away from the gaming wonderland downstairs, we were sat at their technological tables. We’re in the future here, folks, because through the table you can control the colour of the table cloth, order your food, spy on the chefs in the kitchen (if that’s your thing I guess), order the bill (every restaurant needs this), and… play games.
We ordered our food and got stuck into a game of Battleships; The Decider. We started off with salt & pepper squid (£9.95), Korean BBQ Ribs (£9.95), and beef tataki (£9.95). The squid was predictably delicious, and the ribs were the kind of moreish that could lead to the decimation of the pig population. But the beef tataki was absolutely amazing, served cold on a chilled plate, the rare beef was tender and the ginger and ponzu sauce was to die for. Definitely the dish of the night.
It's basically like any Sci-Fi film you've watched with slightly less evil dystopian government.
I secured the first hit on one of his ships, but guessed the wrong square on my next go. My brother destroyed two whole battleships in a row. Things were bleak for my armada, swiftly resembling a fishing boat collection than a military force. Time to order some sushi. We opted for a California Roll (£13.95), coming as six maki pieces with creamy avocado, crispy soft shell crab, and a nice dot of sweet mayo on top. You can expect these are a step above your standard sushi, but it was the tuna sashimi (£9.95) which impressed us. The four slices of tuna were wonderfully fresh, and I’d recommend that for sushi lovers.
But once the dust of the food settled, my brother launched his final attack, obliterating all of my ships while I had only destroyed two of his. Despite all these years, all those video games, I still lost to my older brother. Pettiness could not achieve me victory this day. At least I had food.
Technological stuff aside, the Asian tapas is pretty good.
Summary
Inamo Soho Games Room offers video games, cocktails, and great sushi. What’s not to love? I lost to my older brother 2-1, which was humiliating, but like a great warrior I will train and train, and when my birthday rolls around, we might just have our final battle with all my mates as an audience.
