Sydney restaurant replaces menus with iPads

By Shayla
in Real World News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Shayla

Posted
Posted

919424-ipad-menu.jpg

THE iPad is already a tasty product among gadget lovers, but a North Sydney restaurant has become the first in Australia to replace their printed menus with Apple's new touch screen device.

Global Mundo Tapas in the North Sydney Rydges Hotel yesterday introduced a custom-made iPad application which allows customers to browse the virtual pages of the menu with a sweep of their finger.

Diners can peruse the dishes and see a picture of what the dish looks like along with tasting notes before compiling their order and sending it wirelessly to the kitchen.

The iPad menu can also suggest the best wines to go with certain dishes and suggest the best food pairings.

When ordering steak, users can even specify how they'd like the meat cooked and which sauce they'd prefer.

It will even ask them if they'd like fries with that.

Mundo's iPad menu app can also help keep track of stock levels so if certain dishes and wines sell out they will automatically disappear off the on-screen menu.

Craig Simpson, Rydges area general manager, says the new iPad platform will enhance the dining experience.

"We have something that presents really well, sells our food really well and is absolutely dynamic," he said.

Mr Simpson said the iPad menu would eventually make it possible to order food based on the weather or even match dishes to a person's mood.

While the waiters and waitresses of the restaurant will still be required to take the food from the kitchen to the tables, the iPad will mean they will have to work a little harder for their tips.

Source : News.com.au

Experienced

PsyOpWarlord

Posted
Posted

Interesting approach. I like how it updates the menu with inventory and places the order. It would be neat if there was enough of them so at least one could always be at each table with WiFi for surfing the net and news.

Only downside is preventing their theft (but a simple RFID chip in the iPads an a detector at the door would solve that, and the possibly of them being dropped or broken by customers.

Mentor

Billus

Posted
Posted

Hmm, can't say I'm a big fan of this. I like the personal touch when I go out to a restaurant. It seems to me that a waiter or waitress will only need to grab the iPads and ask if there are any questions. I'm guessing that the meal is fully described on the menu.

Grand Master

mokthraka

Posted
Posted

Good question, and are they durable enough to be dropped/knocked off the table? I know I wouldn't want to drop my laptop off a table more than once.

if its anything like the Iphone it is, I have dropped my phone in the middle of the street, a good 4 foot drop. I think I dropped my Iphone like 20 times, still works fine.

Grand Master

primexx

Posted
Posted

Interesting approach. I like how it updates the menu with inventory and places the order. It would be neat if there was enough of them so at least one could always be at each table with WiFi for surfing the net and news.

Only downside is preventing their theft (but a simple RFID chip in the iPads an a detector at the door would solve that, and the possibly of them being dropped or broken by customers.

if they did leave one at each table, they could just chain it down, maybe even weld the cable into the aluminum casing?

Nice idea but how they gonna stop people stealing the iPads? they aren't cheap to replace and relying on good faith of the customer is a huge risk!

they could count how many they bring to & back.

Wonder who rate this topic 1 star?

Probably iPad fanboys :shifty:

lol =p

the iPad: it's about as useful as a glorified menu XD

if its anything like the Iphone it is, I have dropped my phone in the middle of the street, a good 4 foot drop. I think I dropped my Iphone like 20 times, still works fine.

yea but this thing is so much larger = pressure distribution is totally different.

Grand Master

M_Lyons10

Posted
Posted

Hm... Interesting idea, but with the cost of these things, I'm a little surprised a restaurant would give them to its patrons... I mean, if one got broken... Or stolen... ? I can appreciate that it likely is a great menu, but it would have to be a heck of a lot cheaper for me to make that particular gamble...

Grand Master

carmatic

Posted
Posted
Mundo's iPad menu app can also help keep track of stock levels so if certain dishes and wines sell out they will automatically disappear off the on-screen menu

i've been waiting for a feature exactly like this

the number of times when i ordered a meal , just to wait 5 minutes for the waiter/waitress to come back from the kitchen and tell me they havent got any left...

imho in commercial settings they should use a specially customized ipad, not the plain common variety which everyone else has... i think it should at the very least be waterproof against spills in the restaurant, next thing would probably to be putting their own logo at the back of the device... maybe it wont really look like an ipad anymore, it would probably have one of those 'phone protector' things with the rubbery grip that goes all around the edges, but it would be an off the shelf solution which should still give good value...

Grand Master

TrueMonolith

Posted
Posted

Hm... Interesting idea, but with the cost of these things, I'm a little surprised a restaurant would give them to its patrons... I mean, if one got broken... Or stolen... ? I can appreciate that it likely is a great menu, but it would have to be a heck of a lot cheaper for me to make that particular gamble...

They're probably insured.

Its also North Sydney....which is a much more affluent end of town. I've been to this particular restaurant before as well (i think i'll have to pay another visit sometime soon). The Banzai Potato's are amazing (if they still serve those).

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval

      By ad47uk · Posted

      Do you live in the U.K? Do any of the people here that are against the UK leaving the E.U, live in the U.K? If not then why are you bothered? If you do live here then it is a different thing . Brexit was a good idea, should have done it years before, it was done badly, but the idea was good. You are saying the same thing as remainers do, oh we did what Putin wanted, we listened to the lies and Farage. I hate Farage and never believed most of what he said, certainly did not believe the £350m a week for the NHS. But we did pay a lot of money to the E.U and yes some of it came back, but what is the point of paying it out for only some of it to come back? Get out of the E.U, no money to them and in theory we can use the money to do things in the country. I said in theory, but our governments are a total and complete waste of space. No matter what colour rosette they wear. You and others say it was a mistake and yet the two main parties in the U.K are not looking at rejoining the EU, I wonder why that is? I was not tricked by anyone. Makes no odds now, we are out and have been for 10 years, what we need is a decent government to run the country. All they do is shout at each other like a load of kids and seems to do nothing and make this country more into a police and nanny state. Getting more like China all the time.
    • 4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q, 2TB T-Force G50, and 2TB WD My Passport SSDs drop to great prices

      By Fiza Ali · Posted

      4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q, 2TB T-Force G50, and 2TB WD My Passport SSDs drop to great prices by Fiza Ali Prime Day may be over, but there are still worthwhile storage deals available, including discounts on SSDs for shoppers who missed the event or are looking to upgrade their storage solution. Particularly, 2TB Western Digital My Passport, 2TB TEAMGROUP T-Force G50, and 4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q SSD are selling at great prices with up to 23% off. The 2TB TEAMGROUP T-Force G50 is an M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD with sequential read speeds of up to 5,000MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 4,500MB/s. The drive has an endurance rating of 1,300 TBW (terabytes written) and features a DRAM-less design. The company specifies a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 3 million hours. The drive includes an "ultra-thin" graphene heat spreader that helps dissipate heat without significantly increasing the drive's thickness. It also supports S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, allowing compatible software to monitor drive health and operating status. The SSD is rated for operating temperatures from 0°C to 70°C, with a storage temperature range of -40°C to 85°C. The drive is backed by a five-year limited warranty as well. 2TB TEAMGROUP T-Force G50 SSD: $269.99 (Amazon US) The TEAMGROUP MP44Q is an M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD that delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 5,900MB/s. It uses 3D QLC NAND flash memory to provide 4TB of storage capacity for games, applications, media files, and other data. The drive has an endurance rating of 2,000 TBW and an MTBF of 1.6 million hours. The SSD features a DRAM-less design and supports TEAMGROUP's S.M.A.R.T. monitoring software, allowing users to monitor drive health, temperature, and remaining lifespan. For thermal management, the MP44Q also includes an "ultra-thin" graphene heat spreader. It is designed to operate at temperatures between 0°C and 70°C and can be stored at temperatures ranging from -40°C to 85°C. The SSD is also backed by a five-year limited warranty. 4TB TEAMGROUP MP44Q SSD: $478.99 (Amazon US) The 2TB WD My Passport SSD connects via a USB-C port using the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface. It delivers sequential read speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 1,000MB/s through NVMe technology. In terms of security features, the drive includes password protection with 256-bit AES hardware encryption. The SSD is also designed to resist shock and vibration and is rated to withstand drops from heights of up to 6.5 feet. The recommended operating temperature range is 5°C to 35°C, while the non-operating temperature range is -20°C to 65°C. This drive is also backed by a five-year limited warranty. 2TB Western Digital My Passport SSD: $279.99 (Amazon US) Good to know This Amazon deal is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Why Delta Chat is the best decentralized messenger you have probably never tried

      By Nas · Posted

      Yeah... The root of my comment, ostensibly, is how to spin the story via the actual technical merits of the solution! * Decentralized (aka federated) solution with built-in encrypted ephemeral message transport, * Transport via Relays (intermediary servers) with no message archival, * Second configurable pathway are actual email servers (if DNS records are programmed accordingly) via IMAP protocols carriage, * "Chat-over-Email" is the design pattern adopted; it can either leverage full-blown Email Server (must use the INBOX folder) to exchange all received messages/edits/reactions (so be weary of notifications overloads) [best practice is creating a separate email acct used explicitly for federated chat purposes!] or leverage its built-in Relay Server mechanism which actually resides on-device (by default but can be configured otherwise), * By virtue of be a decentralized/federated model, all other intermediary servers who may pass-along messages (while the recipient's final relay/device is inaccessible) cannot snoop on the messages due to the encrypted nature of contents. The intermediaries may, however, analyze the metadata due to the simple fact that routing mechanisms require hints for relay destinations. Unfortunately, whomever is posting about DeltaChat across socials are misleading with "zero metadata" claims -- especially when the Relays (according to their own technical documents) mandate the addition of chat-version metadata and other decorations in order to actually transport any message. -- Based on this summary, I'd prefer if they'd better dual-path message transport (email server add-in, federated relay engine) rather than patch-on email protocols to existing federated social media frameworks. They're frankensteining something rather than extending widely-deployed technology stacks.
    • You've tried DuckDuckGo and Brave Search, now get serious with SearXNG

      By Fleet Command · Posted

      Decentralized search result anonymization...
    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval

      By ad47uk · Posted

      Russia invaded Crimea, so not sure what you are getting at. Are you saying that the E.U is like what the USSR was? What is wrong with wanting control over your own country? i bet Trump would not stand by and allow Canada to control the U.S.

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      493
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      225
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      148
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!