Photo: David Geraghty
If I had to place my vote as to which restaurant in the world was the most “geeky” or most technologically advanced, it would definitely go towards the “Pearl” restaurant in downtown Richmond. This Australian-based establishment, headed by Chris Lucas is in the process of moving over the restaurant’s entire menu-system to iPads. As you may gather, the Pearl will make use of it’s own specialized iPad app that will let people browse food and drink selections like never before, giving them deep and interesting options in choosing their meal.
But that’s as far as it goes. According to Lucas, there is still a very important part reserved for the waiter/waitress in actually placing the order. Keeping the customer from directly ordering the food ensures that the “cheap” fast food feel doesn’t creep in — at least that’s what I’m picking up. In the end, a restaurant where you can sit down, pick up an iPad and drill down into your meal with vivid pictures and explanations is pretty mouth watering.
For now, the Pearl only has four iPads on hand, though eleven more are on order. Cost is undoubtedly high — 15 iPads and over $40,000 in development costs on the “Pearl app” alone with more iPads obviously needed. Talk of iPads, development costs, and business models aside, this is cool — very cool….
Fark > The Australian
