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“It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the future of law enforcement,” declares Dick Jones – senior president of Omni Consumer Products, plus the main villain in director Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 classic Robocop – during his presentation to a boardroom of executives in the film’s opening scenes. “The ED-209!”

Spoiler alert: it isn’t. And the heavily armed robot malfunctions, guns down a board member, and lays the foundation for one of science fiction’s great sleeper hits.

While writing this review, I thought often about ED-209. And the softly spoken HAL 9000 of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame. And Skynet from Terminator. And the unchecked growth of ChatGPT. And other not-so-happily-ever-after tales of artificial and sentient intelligence.

Yet at the same time, I also reflected on the advent of refrigeration, online booking systems, plus Rosie the robot maid from The Jetsons: three (mostly real-life) examples of how technology has enriched the dining experience.

But perhaps I’m overthinking things. When Mark Sun and Vincent Lim were fine-tuning their plans for Hello Spice, I don’t think “advancing food technology discussions” was part of the business plan. Rather, this low-frills eatery that opened at Canning Vale’s Market City in May was about providing customers with nutritious food at accessible prices.

Or to quote a press release that was being distributed around its opening: “[Hello Spice’s] concept [was] to develop a loose change meal that people can afford to buy.”

Two factors underpin this ambitious premise and promise. One: Sun is a go-getting businessman overseeing multiple interests including, crucially, vegetable wholesaler and manufacturer Sunlong Fresh Foods. (Hello, competitive pricing for produce.) And two, despite its modest appearance, Hello Spice leans hard on technology to feed guests. A key bit of kit in this mission is an automated, custom-built machine that manufactures, boils and drains (up to four) bowls of freshly made noodles. Freshly made noodles that, I should say, boast surprisingly pleasant bounce and bite.

True, these lengthy shoelaces of wheat, gluten and water don’t boast the spring of the pole noodles served at Vic Park’s Yip, or the tensile give of Perth’s better house-made pastas (ciao Lulu La Delizia!). But when you consider that, approximately three minutes before they were wound around your chopsticks, these noods were just flour in a hopper waiting for a chance to shine, their transformation is remarkable.

Note also, the noodles’ remarkable price tag. A bowl of “dry” noodles slicked with lush spring onion oil or a spicy Sichuan-inspired dandan sauce costs just six bucks ($5.98 to be precise). If you like, lunch can be bulked out via additional proteins – fried chicken ($4), perhaps, or unctuous braised pork with tofu ($7) – but the base bowl is filling enough to ensure you’re eating a meal and not a snack. Modular, build-it-yourself noodles aside, all-in combinations such a chicken laksa ($9.98) humming with spice, a flash of coconut milk richness, plus gravy-hoovering cubes of fried tofu also deserve considering.

Consider, also, the K-Box: a high-performing automated cooker that feels like the kitchen equivalent of Adventure World’s Goliath. Order some kung pao beef udon ($10) and staff will insert a box of raw ingredients into the machine which will automatically heat, rotate and spin the box according to a pre-programmed recipe. While the finished dish is saucy rather than smoky, there’s enough savour in effect to tick the box for Asian comfort.

While not produced onsite (yet), dumplings chime with Hello Spice’s big value prospect. Shanghai-style soup dumplings (xiaolongbao) the size of a fifty-cent piece (10 for $12) are juicy and meaty in all the right places, as are gyoza dumplings (six for $6; 12 for $10) that are available stuffed with vegetarian and non-vegetarian fillings. Slices of firm, poached chicken thigh sit at the heart of the “Shanghai chicken rice” ($10) featuring fluffy, short grain rice gently perfumed with garlic and chooky essence.

Naturally, serving food at this price point requires some concessions on the part of the diner. You order through a touchscreen and collect and clear your own bowls. Ingredients also do double- and triple-duty across the menu. The chicken rice chicken, for instance, also appears in the laksa. And like dating app profiles, some of the dishes you get served don’t always correlate with their picture online. But as far as taste goes, Hello Spice’s renditions are on the mark. As long as you don’t get spooked by technology.

A thought: anyone that buys processed food from the supermarket is almost certainly eating food manufactured using highly automated machinery. Sun and Lim are simply being transparent about the means to their end and displaying their hardware for all to see (and saving us a few quid at the same time). While I will always admire, respect and – when possible – support those producing handmade foods, gatekeeping and thou-shalt-not pontificating in food circles is so played out: doubly so at a time when living costs continue to grow.

Hello Spice isn’t perfect, but it shows promise. Think of it as Sun and Lim having the corner pieces for solving the affordable food puzzle in place.

Eating food is one thing that every human, regardless of colour or creed, has to do to survive. It’s one of the things that separates us from the robots.