Will diners in restaurants everywhere one day pick up their food from a continuous conveyor belt? Will they be able to pour themselves tap water from a tap on the table, rather than having to beckon a waiter over?

Your Local Guardian:

The world of tomorrow: Today

I do not know, but stepping into Richmond’s Yo! Sushi certainly felt like zooming a few decades into the future.

For efficient dining, there is nothing quite like having your food silently glide past you ready to be whisked off the conveyor belt on to your table.

The dishes are colour-coded so you know what type of meal you are getting and how much it costs - from the green £2 plates to the yellow £6 dishes - and hot food can be made on demand by the cheerful chefs always visible in the open-plan kitchen.

To begin with we sampled the spicy pepper squid and popcorn shrimp tempura. The batter was light and fluffy and the fish very flavoursome.

The gyozas - Yo! Sushi has both duck and chicken - were crisp and perfectly fried with a well-seasoned filling.

Creating good sushi and nigiri is an art form requiring deft handiwork and fresh, high quality ingredients, and we were not disappointed.

The salmon was fresh and succulent, as was the beef tataki and prawn nigiri. We were told to try the albacore tuna, referred to as the "chicken of the sea" because of its subtle flavour and versatility, and found that too to be excellent.