Wagamama – Boston

We first discovered Wagamama in London.  The Foodies lived together during our semester in London and there was a Wagamama location across the street from our posh flat.  There was another location near our school and we regularly visited each one.   Fancy ramen noodles for dinner? We are there!

Wagamama opened in Boston’s Faneuil Hall after we graduated college and I was so excited to have a taste of London in my city.  I then moved to the North End and once again lived across the street (sort of) from the best (only?) noodle house.  Now, I live near Harvard Square and still have a Wagamama within walking distance.  And no, I don’t pick my home based on proximity to Wagamama – but that’s not a bad idea!  This week, I had the opportunity to dine at Wagamama in the Prudential Center, completing the Boston area Wagamama tour.

Wagamama hosted the Boston Food Bloggers for a family style dinner Tuesday evening.  I arrived a bit late and missed a few of the appetizers.  The bloggers were enjoying chicken dumplings, chili calamari, suribachi chicken wings, and wagamama glazed ribs when I joined them.  Since these were all meat items I didn’t really miss anything.  A server warmly welcomed me and immediately offered me a cocktail.  I chose the mango sekkai, described as freshly muddled mango, basil and lime, blended with rum and served over ice.

I’d never ordered a cocktail at Wagamama and was excited to try something new.  This mango sekkai was full of real mango and tasted truly fresh and delicious.   I snacked on some edamame with red pepper flakes while waiting for more vegetarian dishes to arrive.

The server brought me a special order of yasai dumplings, Wagamama’s vegetarian dumplings.  I’ve had these dumplings several times and I enjoy them each time.  I also enjoyed my staple dish, yasai yaki soba.

This dish is described as teppan-fried whole wheat noodles with egg, bean sprouts, peppers, white onions and scallions, mushrooms and garlic, garnished with fried shallots, pickled ginger, sesame seeds and cilantro vinegar.   I love that this dish of noodles, vegetables and fun flavors is simple enough to fall into the comfort food category yet has so many ingredients I’m not likely to make it myself at home.

For a new-to-me dish, I tried the marinated yasai noodle salad.

This salad has marinated and grilled eggplant, mushroom and zucchini combined with caramelized red onion, roasted sweet potato, asparagus, diced tomato and mixed leaves, served with whole wheat noodles and garnished with pickled red ginger and sesame seeds.  The noodle salad is another simple yet sophisticated option.

Wagamama was very generous with the menu offerings this evening and brought out several other meat dishes which everyone around me enjoyed, but as usual I’m focusing on the vegetarian options.

My table shared a glass of raw juice, a mixture of carrot, cucumber, tomato, orange and apple. an all-round high-nutrient and high-energy drink.  Well, we asked to have this glass divided into four servings after it was presented with four straws.  No cooties here!

The juice created a vibrant orange color and the drink looked like a regular smoothie.  I couldn’t taste any vegetables – which is a good way for me to eat vegetables! I have a hard time eating enough vegetables so putting them all in one drink works great for me.  I won’t say I’ll try this at home, but I would definitely order it again.

After we stuffed our faces, servers came to take our dessert order.  If a menu lists chocolate cake, it’s hard for me to resist.

Wagamama’s chocolate fudge cake did not disappoint.  The fudge frosting was like eating pure fudge.  I couldn’t even taste the cake.  I love fudge so I loved this cake.  Some whipped cream would make this cake a little happier.  I was asked if the cake was worth eating, and it definitely is.  I’m the first to admit when a dessert is not worth eating.  I don’t waste calories on bad chocolate, so believe me this is a rich indulgent fudge cake.

Thanks to Rachel and Boston Bloggers for organizing and to Wagamama for hosting this delicious dinner!

Have you been to Wagamama yet? What’s your favorite dish?

Disclaimer: Wagamama provided all food and drinks free of charge.  I was not obligated to review the restaurant.  All opinions expressed are my own.