The last place we went out to eat before the lockdown in March 2020 was Wagamama at Cribbs Causeway.
We had thought that places might close or be restricted, so took a final opportunity to go out and eat.
Though we have eaten out since that visit, wanting to go out and eat for Father’s Day my children decided that we would go to Wagamama. The fact that we couldn’t book a table didn’t seem to deter them…
We drove up to the Mall, and like on our recent visit a few days earlier the M5 was rather busy.
However we did mange to get their okay. We had decided to eat at 2pm, so we could miss the lunchtime rush. Despite that when we got into the Mall there was quite a long queue for Wagamama. Though I prefer not to queue, this time I knew there were very few alternatives around and my children had their heart set on going there, so we decided to wait. The queue actually moved quite fast and we took the time while we were waiting to peruse the menu.
I was really torn about what I was going to have. I did think about having the cod mokutan soba which I had back in 2019 and despite the initial dish being burnt the returned dish was much better. Interestingly back then I said
It was the kind of dish I enjoyed, but probably wouldn’t have it again on another visit.
I did quite like the idea of having it again this time, shows what do I know about what I like!
Another dish which caught my eye was the grilled duck donburi.
tender, shredded duck in a spicy teriyaki sauce. mixed with carrots, mangetout, sweet potato and red onion on a bed of sticky white rice and topped with a crispy fried egg, cucumber and spring onions. served with a side of kimchee
Or the teriyaki sirloin steak soba.
grilled sirloin steak with soba noodles cooked in curry oil with mangetout, bok choi, red and spring onions, chilli and beansprouts in a teriyaki sauce. garnished with coriander and sesame seeds
In the end after much consideration and flip flopping I went with the shirodashi ramen
slow-cooked, seasoned pork belly on top of noodles in a rich chicken broth with dashi and miso, topped with pea shoots, menma, spring onions, wakame and half a tea-stained egg
The rest of the family went with their choices, yaki soba, chicken raisukaree, gluten free chicken ramen and chicken and rice noodles.
As is typical at Wagamama for me, everyone else’s dish arrived well before mine, and I was waiting for while for my food. The others trying to be polite wanted to wait, but I didn’t want their food to go cold. Anyhow I can eat quite fast, so was okay with them eating.
This serving as food as soon as it is ready, does mean that you get your food fresh, reality is that unless you don’t mind eating your dish whilst others have none, it strikes me more as lazy planning than “serving food as soon as it’s ready”.
Finally my food arrived and though not quite as good as the pictures on the website it did look nice.
I had anticipated the slow cooked pork belly to be tender and soft, but actually was crispy, which I wasn’t expecting.
I did enjoy the ramen and it was very tasty and delicious.
I did think about having a beer with my ramen, but in the end went with a jasmine flowering tea – flowering lily and jasmine green tea.
It looked great and tasted nice, it reminded me of the flowering tea I had at Tea Monkey in Bath back in 2012.
I wasn’t going to have desert, but was persuaded to by everyone at the table, and it was Father’s Day. Though I did think about cheesecake, I went with the smoked chocolate caramel cake.
For some reason I wasn’t expecting to get a slice of cake! But I did, the cake was layers of smoked chocolate mousse, salted caramel crushed biscuits, chocolate fudge brownie and chocolate ganache, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Not as rich as it sounds and the ice cream added freshness and balance.
Overall we all enjoyed the meal, and the service was excellent.
Nice to be back.
