Back and have far too many review notes from New Zealand - a lot of work ahead!
Back and have far too many review notes from New Zealand - a lot of work ahead!
Member since:23.05.2007
Reviews:113
Members who trust:166
INTRODUCTION
We all know Wagamamain the UK but did you know they've expanded abroad? I bumped into this branch in Antwerp when visiting the city last year and vowed that I would be back to try it another time. My opportunity came this year and here is what happened.
WAGAMAMA FOR BEGINNERS
After posting this elsewhere I realised you don't all know Wagamama! Well, it's kind of a Japanese noodle bar chain. You get dishes like stir fried rice or noodles or a big bowl of soup with noodles, known as Ramen. And apparently you should slurp such as dish as sucking in oxygen with it makes it taste better. One thing I could recommend is any dish with soba noodles, which are very tasty, thick buckwheat noodles. They also say that dishes arrive when they are ready, which gives them a ready made excuse when your seafood noodles arrives 10 minutes after someone elses chicken fried rice.
THE RESTAURANT
The restaurant is located in a big building housing a cinema and sushi bar next door. It's quite close to the central station. It's a couple of minutes walk from there. Just follow the main road into the shopping area and you're there.
It looks very much like any other Wagamama, with the expected long tables, which you end up sharing with lots of other groups of people, chopsticks which are default unless otherwise specified by yourself and slate flooring. Above were some purple strip lights which added some ambience.
The restaurant was pretty empty when I visited it mid afternoon on a Sunday. You have to take into account that for 3 out of 4 Sundays the shops are closed and this was one of those occasions. It really suited me to be honest that it was empty; I can't imagine being a lone diner on a big bench crushed up against other groups having conversations can be much fun.
THE FOOD
The menu is pretty much identical to that you would expect in the UK with the usual mix of noodles, rice and ramen dishes as well as a couple of specials, sides and desserts. They even write the number of your order on the table like you always see at home.
I ordered steamed but got fried gyoza, which I wasn't too upset about as they were nice; crispy but not greasy fried pastry parcels full of chopped prawns and vegetables.
As a main I ordered Chicken Katsu Curry which was very good. The sliced chicken fillet was arranged round the edge but the rice was in a big ball as usual. It tasted pretty much identical to than in the UK; sweet, with a slight kick to it, plentiful in amount and thick in consistency. You could say the curry is a very much like the stuff you get served with chips from a takeaway. It also had the pickles on the edge and a bit of salad. It was a nice big portion, the rice being quite sticky but not overly so as some grains separated.
As a drink I had an orange and apple juice which was slightly cloudy but nice.
Feeling greedy I also went for a dessert. The cheesecake with ginger and chilli was really really nice! Sweet, dense and with a little bit of chilli kick to it. Fabulous.
To round it all off I had a small cappuccino with the usual small chocolate served on the side, Benelux style. This was nice, too.
The toilets were in good order; clean and well maintained.
At about 30 Euros for this little lot, I can safely say that I got good value for money.
CONCLUSION
If you want the usual Wagamama experience, you won't be disappointed here. The food is as good as at home, the service fine and the price comparable. And sometimes it's nice to have something that reminds you of home.
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
