LONDON -- Want to see what a food looks like before ordering?

An Asian-themed restaurant in London is projecting images of dragon rolls, black cod, and other dishes directly onto diners' plates.

Ready to place your order? Tap the touchpad.

Entrepreneur Noel Hunwick says he came up with the idea for the restaurant, named Inamo, several years ago while eating at a busy pizza parlor with his friend and future business partner, Daniel Potter.

"We were desperately trying to attract a waiter's attention," Mr. Hunwick said. "We thought: Wouldn't it be great if we could press a button and get our food?"

A projector above each table beams down icons for browsing the menu, ordering food, and checking up on the bill.

The plate stays blank until customers use a touchpad to open the menu and click on items.

Once a dish is chosen, the order's sent to the kitchen.

Customers waiting for their food can play games such as battleship, and those wrapping up their meals can order a taxi or browse the interactive subway map.

Charmaine Mok, a freelance food critic who dined at a branch of Inamo, in London's Soho neighborhood, said she found the experience "rather depressing after the initial novelty wore off."

"Sometimes I feel like you do want some human interaction -- a bit of banter, a few questions about what's on the menu, what recommendations your server might have," she said in an email.

But Jakub Kiss, Inamo's head waiter, said the system lets staff be more social, saying that ditching pen and notepads gave waiters "free hands to actually give more true service to the guests."