Wagamama Wows With New Ramen Selection

There’s no denying that Wagamama is one of the UK’s best loved Japanese restaurants, with a wide array of authentic, freshly cooked flavour-packed food to choose from, it’s a solid choice when eating out. There isn’t an evening when Liverpool One’s restaurant isn’t packed full of people enjoying Katsu Curries and Teriyaki noodles and the place is set to get even busier with their newly re-vamped interior and exciting additions to their already delicious menu. We went down to celebrate the wonder of Japanese food and try out one of their signature, best loved dishes, the Ramen.

Everything at Wagamama is freshly cooked to order so it’s no surprise ive never had a bad meal there before. Being an avid Katsu Curry or chicken Donburi fan, i’ve never ordered a Ramen before so i was excited to give them a go – because if Instagram is anything to go by, we were in for a treat. We were seated on their traditional, bench style seating and straight away were told about the Ramen’s we were going to try. From the way the noodles are cooked fresh there and then to the flavours inside each bowl. Apparently, the longer the noodles in your Ramen, the longer you will live, due to excessive slurping and oxygen intake.

So with this in mind, we slurped our way through a rick, beef brisket flavoured bowl, accompanied with a boiled egg and rice noodles, followed by a miso cod creation – the salty broth combined with the sweet flavours of the Miso was a creation to die for. For the Vegan and Vegetarians came a delicious tofu and mushroom dish with the fresh flavour of garlic and a hot kick of chilli. Swimming in the spicy broth were thick Udon noodles which added a nice amount of bite and texture to the dish. Our Ramen slurpin’ was washed down with sweet Sake sippin’, just as the Japanese would.

Once we’d enjoyed an array of delicious Ramen, it was time to pick a dish of our choice from the menu. For me, it had to be the Chicken Teriyaki Donburi – im a sucker for both the duck and chicken dishes. The Donburi is served in a deep bowl packed full of sticky rice, tasty teriyaki chicken and served with kimchi on the side (due to it being an acquired taste) – I personally think it makes the dish but i know of others that would disagree.

As a nice surprise, we were brought out side dishes to sample as we ate. We tried the flavourful chicken Gyoza with a light soy dip, Duck Gyoza’s with an amazingly sweet plum sauce and of course, all of the chilli and garlic Edamame – an absolute must if you visit Wagamama’s.

With new flavours and dishes, including a huge new choice of vegetarian and Vegan dishes, i really can’t see Wagamama’s getting old anytime soon. As well as the vibrant, bold flavours and totally Instagrammable meals, the extremely attentive staff are more than happy to fulfil any fussy eater requests (you know, the no mushrooms or chilli types) and will go above and beyond to create a dish you will definitely enjoy. Like a bit of something from two different dishes? Put a Pad Thai Sauce on a Prawn Teppanyaki – I dare ya.

Once we were so full, moving was difficult, we left Wagamam’s with a goody bag consisting of vouchers and even our own wooden Ramen ladle – so I guess I’ve got no choice other than to create that unbelievable Miso Cod on my own at home. Bring it on.

Laura Nicholson