Wagamama - Victoria Square, Belfast

Wagamama was established in1992 and has branches in 17 countries across the world, so they must be doing something right with their food. Let this post, therefore, be mainly about what not to order at Wagamama.

We visited the Victoria Square branch last November as part of a group. The service was fast, although the staff got our order of Wagamama Ramen wrong and served us the Chicken Ramen instead.

Wagamama has the dubious honour of having the worst ramen I've ever eaten. The broth was thin and bland, as were the pieces of chicken breast accompanying it - some effort in marinating the chicken would certainly have helped. The serving size was also significantly smaller than the teppanyaki dishes that some of our group had ordered, a fact accentuated by the enormous bowl it was served in. The large bowl meant that there was a generous portion of soup, but was in this case an unfortunate turn-off with all of that tasteless liquid staring back at us.

Chicken karaage is another dish on my must-order list. While it's basically fried chicken and easy to make (theoretically at least; I've yet to try it myself), it's seldom found on menus outside of Asia. Hence, we jumped at the chance when we spotted it at Wagamama.

Sadly, the chef's hand must have slipped when preparing the chicken, as there was so much rosemary (which doesn't belong in karaage) that it overpowered all other flavours and had me spitting out bits of the dried herb. Wagamama also used breast meat instead of thigh meat, which was a tad dry after frying. Thankfully, our chicken gyoza was much better with a well seasoned filling, and the ebi katsu another of us had ordered was as crispy and as light as you'd get.

The dessert I had was delicious and the highlight of my meal - but unfortunately is no longer on Wagamama's website. It was a scrumptious tart with a tropical custard (mango or pineapple or both; I can't quite recall!) and raspberries, with dried coconut shavings that complemented the flavour.

The dessert E ordered is also no longer on the menu - and thankfully so. It was a taster trio of desserts, and a case of how less can be more. For example, wasabi does not add to the taste of chocolate fudge cake, ginger does not belong in a white chocolate cheesecake, and pistachio mousse doesn't really go with raspberry jam.

The dessert trio reminded me of Wagamama's sauce accompaniment to their gyoza. In place of the traditional vinegar + soy sauce combination, Wagamama had a chilli garlic sesame soy sauce version instead. So many ingredients, yet none of the 'extras' were really necessary and also did little to bring out the flavour of the chives. There is a reason why certain combinations exist in food, and being innovative or modern does not necessarily mean mixing up many different things.

I might still be persuaded to return to Wagamama though, as their teppanyaki noodle dishes looked tasty enough and seemed to be the more popular items too. I'll just stay well clear from the ramen!