If you are new to veganism then let me first start by saying that Wagamama’s will be your best friend while you get to grips with eating out whilst vegan. Their menu is now 50% vegan, meaning that you are truly spoilt for choice when it comes to what meals and sides are available to you when dining out. Plus, if you were a fan of Wagamama’s before going vegan, then you will not have to give up your meaty favourites because they do offer vegan versions of their best sellers. Including their ramens, the katsu curry and their gyoza. Their food is always of a really high quality, always tastes delicious and I personally always find their portion sizes to very generous so always have good value for money.
They recently did a shake up of their menu and have added a number of very yummy looking options to their vegan menu. Including, their vegan chicken kare lomen. It consists of udon noodles in a coconut broth, with beansprouts, cucumber, coriander and teriyaki chicken pieces. Now first off this dish looks gorgeous when it’s brought out to you. The broth is a lovely deep yellow colour and all of the colours of the vegetables just jump from the plate. Now the broth does have quite the chilli kick to it. Now I like chilli, but am still quite the pansy with it so my mouth was very tingly by about half way through the meal. Not a bad thing at all, because it really did taste wonderful, but just a heads up that it does pack quite the punch.
The udon noodles are nice and hearty, as they are the thicker noodles. I personally really like thicker noodles (as compared to the thinner, glass noodles for example) and they soaked up the broth really well. The vegetables added a lovely freshness to the meal, and a very welcome crunch every so often that also helped to break up some of the heat of the broth. All together the flavours worked great together and made for a very satisfying meal.
The chicken was also very good. The teriyaki was the right balance of sweetness and again helped to offset some of the spice and the heat from the broth. The chicken itself is quite chewy, although if you leave it to soak in the broth a little bit that also appears to soften it up. Personally, I quite liked the chewier texture as it went well with the very soft noodles and the crunchy veg, but it’s just something to keep in mind if you are not a fan of overly chewy meat alternatives.
I always find Wagamama’s to be really good value for money. My husband and I went for a date night meal out and two mains and 2 drinks cost us around £35. Which I think is very reasonable indeed, especially when the portions sizes are very generous. Even though the portions are generous though, I never feel like it is too much food. I am always left feeling satisfyingly full, but not like I’ve just gorged myself on food. The food is also of a very high quality and I find that every meal with Wagamama’s is consistently lovely.
Taylor Talks Vegan 