Wagamama
You must have Javascript enabled to view this map.
Location:
South King Street
Visited:
over 2 years ago
Reviewed by:
Aoife Crowley
Rating:
There’s a certain snobbishness about chain restaurants. People seem to believe that food quality is a finite resource, and chains with premises all over the world must be compromising. Well, sometimes they aren’t.
Inspired by the ramen noodle bars in Japan, Wagamama is a dream. Yes, it’s a chain. Yes, you could be anywhere in the world. But sometimes that’s no bad thing. Sometimes it’s nice to step off Dublin’s grey streets and descend into the bright, airy cocoon under Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. It opens at midday. I know this because once, in my eagerness to be fed, I turned up at 11:30am and had to be told politely but firmly to go away.
The main menu comprises a wide range of noodle, soup and rice dishes. Prices on this menu are generally around the €13 mark, but there is also a €9.95 lunch menu which includes a choice of six main dishes, a drink including wine or beer, available Monday to Friday until 5 o’clock. Dishes can be modified to cater for vegetarians and those with other dietary restrictions, such as coeliacs. Green tea is provided free of charge.
My personal recommendations are Chilli Chicken Ramen, Yaki Udon (both €13.45) and the side dish Ebi Gyoza (€7.55). Chilli Chicken Ramen is stir-fried chicken and vegetables, in a mild chilli sauce with soba noodles. It is not overtly spicy, but has notes of lemongrass and ginger. Yaki Udon is a chicken and prawns dish, served with the thicker udon noodles. The thick noodles seem to soak up more flavour and are much more filling than their slender compatriots. Ebi Gyoza is six deep fried prawns, served with chilli sauce and a slice of lime. The only way this dish could be improved would be if there was more of it.
That said, the portions of the main dishes are ridiculously generous. On more than one occasion, I have had to ask meekly if the rest of my meal could be wrapped up. The staff are the most consistently pleasant I’ve encountered in Dublin, and they are very nice about doing this. They’ll give you your leftovers in a box in a bag, with cutlery and a napkin, so you can pretend that carrying around half your lunch for the rest of the day was something you intended to do. The leftovers reheat very well, by the by.
