My guest and I had just finished work on a Thursday evening and were both very hungry. We were in the center:mk and in need of a good meal. For a quick, tasty and fresh meal, you could do a lot worse than head to Wagamama or ‘Waggas’ as as my friend calls it.

Situated close to Marks and Spencer the establishment is based on Ramen bars that have been popular in Japan for many years. Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish consisting of a meaty broth, noodles, and shredded vegetables and meats. Wagamama pride them selves on positive eating and positive thinking.

Décor

We had a good start, we were seated straight away. When you walk into the restaurant it might remind you of a canteen. We were seated at our bench with a couple to our left and another couple to our right. You can quite easily take a sneak preview of their dishes and whilst it can feel strange being sat so close to someone it does add value to your meal. And although you are close, you are probably no closer to your dining companions than you would be in most restaurants; but you are often sat on the same table which takes a little getting used to. On your table there are paper place mats which are used by the waiters to scribble your orders on. This is also something new to most people yet to visit ‘Waggas’ but its a brilliant system to help the waiters communicate and if it is noisy, you can at least relax in the knowledge that they have taken your order correctly. The open kitchen allows you to watch the chefs cooking your meal.

Atmosphere

Watching chefs do their work adds to the ambience in the restaurant. Music is not played but with a busy kitchen, waiting staff flying back and forth, and a restaurant that is normally heavily populated, you’re sure to enjoy the occasion.

Service

The staff are very efficient and turn their tables around very quickly. Drinks are prompt and your food will arrive as soon as it is ready rather than leave you waiting for all the dishes to be cooked at once. This is great if you like your food hot but not so good if you are in a party and want to eat together from the start. Our waiter was fast but they were in such a rush that no personality came across.

Food

The menu itself is divided into sections with headings such as coconut based soup, chilli men (noodles in a spicy sauce) and teppan (noodles cooked on a hot, flat griddle). The prices are reasonable ranging from about £5.50 to about £9.00 for a main course. There is also a choice of 10 side dishes that are said to be "not starters but a perfect complement to your meal". These may be different types of gyozas (dumplings) or miso soup. Do not be surprised or disappointed if your side order does not arrive before your main course. We sampled the duck gyoza - five deep-fried duck and leek dumplings, served with a spicy cherry hoi sin sauce. We shared these as five is possibly too much for one and they were delightful when dipped in the hoi sin sauce. There was a heated debate about who would eat the third dumpling which leaves you asking why five and not six?

We have been to ‘waggas’ a number of times and my guest always orders the chicken katsu curry. The chicken is deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs, served with spiced sauce and sticky white rice, garnished with a combination of mixed leaves and red pickles. The curry sauce is fantastic; there is a generous helping, full of flavour and lightly spiced. The chicken is always cooked well leaving the batter light and crunchy. The rice too, is always the same, sticky and generous.

Yaki Udon sounded great on the menu so I ordered this as soon as I saw the ingredients. Teppan-fried udon noodles with curry oil, my favourite shiitake mushrooms which are full of flavour, egg, leeks, prawns (a tad on the small side), chicken, chikuwa, beansprouts and green and red peppers, garnished with spicy ground fish powder, mixed sesame seeds, fried shallots and pickled ginger.  I like my food to be quite spicy so I added some chilli oil to my meal. I was hooked to every mouthful.

After our meal we were both feeling full but still decided that there might we had enough room left to share a dessert. We decided on a chocolate fudge cake with wasabi and white chocolate filling. The wasabi concerned me a bit because I have this with sushi and it blows me away every time. It’s spicy and clears any locked nose, but by now I was a complete convert to ‘Waggas’ and as such found it hard to believe anything could be wrong with the food at Wagamama. How right I was! The chocolate fudge cake was lovely - very rich and flavoursome.