Wagamamas – Asian food inspired by Japan | Restaurant Review

You know when you are just craving ramen, and you just want to eat some right then and there. Normally, when Dann and I go to Wagamamas, we order a bunch of little bites and split them, as you might notice from most of the places we go, but this time we wanted to get some tasty, tasty ramen! We both got a couple of small items, different ramens and a dessert. Wagamamas is an interesting restaurant, as everything just comes when it’s ready, but the food is always lovely.

Edamame & Kimchi

As a bit of an opening, we got the chilli and garlic edamame and a few bowls of kimchi. Edamame is a must when it comes to eating Japanese inspired food. I really love the chilli and garlic covered ones, though these were very salt heavy! I wish there were more chilli and more garlic – and that the edamame was tossed in the seasoning, but it’s a great started either way! We both order an ungodly amount of Kimchi. The kimchi at Wagamamas is so good, not too vinegar in flavor, not too spicy. It’s perfect.

Tantanmen Beef Brisket Ramen

When it came to my ramen, I ordered the Tantanmen Beef Brisket Ramen which boasted some of the delicious kimchi, as well as bbq Korean beef, a tea-stained egg half, menma, spring onion, coriander (which I pulled out quickly) and chilli oil. I added my own chilli oil as soon as I got it, but the chicken broth was pretty chicken forward and quite delicious. In both of our ramens, we found the noodles to be slightly chewy, but this was easy to get over. I really loved my ramen – the beef was tender and flavorful, there was plenty of toppings, and I found it to be a great meal!

Shirodashi Ramen

Going for something slightly different to me, Dann got the Shirodashi ramen and didn’t add a bunch of chilli oil to it! His ramen had slow-cooked pork belly, pea shoots, menma, spring onions, wakame and a half of a tea-stained egg. His broth was lighter in flavor, being a chicken, miso, dashi broth. He quite liked the tea eggs and the broth, though it was a bit light in flavor for me – his pork, we both agreed, was delicious.

Yuzu and Lemon Tart

For dessert, we both got our own yuzu and lemon tarts, with mint and a raspberry compote. This tart was light, refreshing and the compote was simply perfect. I am not normally a big dessert person, but I love tarts! It was such a nice end to a great meal out.

The service at Wagamama was a bit slow and clumsy this time, it was hard to get people’s attention and it took quite some time to order dessert. When we did, only one came out, as it had been put in incorrectly, and it took quite a long time for the second to come out too. I am guessing it was like that due to the new COVID restrictions and how busy the place was – Wagamamas doesn’t take pre-booking, meaning there is just a like outside, which is something to consider when going out! Regardless, we do enjoy this restaurant and am glad to be able to go back to it!

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