Chicago’s new hot pot restaurant offers a futuristic experience that fuses unique Asian cuisine, immersive technology, and thematic soundscapes to “engage all five senses.”
The evolution of the digital age has been relentless. Today it’s not rare to find ourselves using gadgets that wouldn’t have entered our wildest dreams a decade ago. Virtual reality has become part and parcel of the modern world, almost anything, including augmented universes, can be accessed via our phones, and in the blink of an eye, we find ourselves living within the narrative of a sci-fi film.
Well, get ready for even more immersive digital experiences because a new dining experience has come to Chicago’s hospitality scene that offers yet another jump into the future.
Now open at 1147 S Delano Court East inside the Roosevelt Collection Shops, The X Pot, features robot servers, HD 360 projections, 5D interactive animations, and “an interactive light show that displays directly onto guests’ dinner plates.”
According to co-founder David Zhao, who opened a similar dining experience with Haibin Yangin in Las Vegas last year, said “Our main goal is to bring interactive dining to the next level. With light projections and robot servers, we will be able to achieve that. Once The X Pot Chicago has officially opened its doors, the atmosphere and aesthetic will be unmatched. From guests’ first steps into the restaurant until their last, they will be fully immersed.”
While projections are displayed on dinner plates the walls around the restaurant will also change taking guests on journeys to various different landscapes. The experience fuses unique Asian cuisine, immersive technology, and thematic soundscapes courtesy of million-dollar content curation and technology. One minute you might be dining next to a blue whale and then next within a glittering field of crystals.
In addition to the robot servers, there are of course human waiters and waitresses on hand providing a mix of authentic and futuristic custom.
A Chef’s Tasting Menu at $128 per person features the purebred A5 Wagyu Feast with beef flown in from Japan while a voluminous À La Carte Menu offers guests a wide range of Japanese, Korean, and Sichuan classic hot pot selections, seafood, meatballs, nigiri, meat platters and desserts as well as some unique rotating signature plates.
Though the menus predominantly feature meats such as A5 Wagyu beef and Iberico pork, there are several vegan options including tofu and seaweed-based dishes.
More information can be found at thexpot.com or by following the X Pot Chicago’s Instagram page.
[Featured image provided by NXT Factor]