Combining real life with computer-generated images, augmented reality is aimed at enhancing people’s experience of the real world……and that includes drinking cocktails. At City Social in London just pick your favourite drink from the ‘Mirage Menu’, and then sit back, relax and let technology do the rest.
Just in case the prospect of a delicious, creative, and interestingly garnished cocktail 24 stories up at one of London’s most stylish Michelin-starred restaurants isn’t exciting enough for you, there’s now an augmented-reality cocktail menu newly available at City Social, from the mad-scientist mind of a world-renowned celebrity chef.
Don’t worry the drinks are real enough, it’s just how they look through a tablet or camera that has changed.
The Mirage cocktail menu launched a couple of months ago at Jason Atherton’s City Social bar uses a custom-designed app to pair each of 12 cocktails with works of art, from Van Gogh’s paintings to Banksy’s street art.
As with Pokemon Go (yes we’ve actually mentioned it in an article about a Michelin Star Restaurant), after downloading the app, you simply point your phone’s camera at your drink, and it instantly appears on your phone’s screen as though it were surrounded by art. And much like the previously mentioned app (we can't name check it again) it has proved to be a hit.
Available to download on both iPhone and Android platforms it works by reading the mat drinks are served on like a QR code.
A sparkling cocktail called Sashay combines Perrier Jouët Champagne, plum wine, jasmine, and licorice, and evokes the flapper era with a vision of a woman reclining on a chaise longue.
Also a drink called Wheatfields with Fizz, a mix of a Dutch vodka, elderflower, bee pollen, lager, and egg white, is shown with references to Van Gogh’s best-known works including Starry Night, Wheat Field with Crows, and View of Arles.
These are just a sample of two of the options available.
For more information please head to City Social’s website here.
