FISH AND CHIPS? JUST PRESS PRINT!

We’ve all marvelled at 3D printers in the fashion and manufacturing worlds, but we had no idea what to expect when we heard a seat had come up at the table of the world’s first 3D restaurant. Fast-forward a few hours, and I’m at Food Ink in East London (of course), sitting down (on a printed chair) to a nine-course meal that has been sent from a computer to a printer via a digital file. And the ink used? Fish, potatoes, avocado and chocolate. This is straight-up science fiction food – only real.

I watch in disbelief as puréed fish and chip ingredients are squashed into a syringe and set to print. Any design can be programmed to come out of the printer (rather like a piping bag) and everything comes out the texture of foamy Play-doh but tastes as it should. The tomato and avocado salad is delicious, and the choc dessert is in the shape of a Banksy.

‘In five years we’ll be seeing 3D printers in restaurants and people’s homes,’ Food Ink founder Antony Dobrzensky tells me as I nibble a digitally-made olive. I love the food but unless I’m able to print money I’ll be sitting this high-tech revolution out, as the meal came with a £250 price tag.