Veganuary At Wagamama

You should all know by now that one of my regular and all time favourite places to eat is Wagamama so when they invited me to their Colchester restaurant to enjoy some of their vegan dishes for Veganuary I of course jumped at the chance!

If you've never been before then you should know that Wagamama is one of those amazing restaurants which caters for everyone and all dietary requirements so well. It's always our 'go to' option and if we haven't been for a few weeks we undoubtedly end up getting cravings!

This January Wagamama are running a new mindfulness campaign to raise money for the mental health charity Mind. 25p from every 'power' and 'super green' juice will be going to Mind. As a mental health advocate myself this is a cause very close to my heart and it's so good to see such a big chain restaurant like this promoting mental health awareness. 

 

I never usually go for the juices when I'm dining at Wagamama so I was really looking forward to giving one of their featured Mind charity juices a try and I have to say they're absolutely delicious! Most green juices I've tried in the past haven't tasted as nice as these, they were so refreshing and felt like a little health kick in a glass. 

Wagamama have so many amazing and delicious veggie and vegan dishes on the menu, it often makes choosing what to eat a real dilemma!

Whenever we eat at Wagamama we always without fail order their mixed mushrooms + panko aubergine hirata steamed buns. These really are little buns of joy and so unbelievably tasty! They make the perfect starter / side dish to the meal and they're seriously more-ish.

Other great starter / side dishes for vegans include the vegetable gyoza's and edamame. These dishes are also perfect for sharing between two of you or a group which I always love doing when at Wagamama's as it means you get to sample more different dishes. 

If I had to choose an all time favourite Wagamama dish it would probably have to be their yasai katsu curry. It's been my favourite for years and it's a dish I will never get tired of. In my opinion it's the best katsu curry around and I haven't tried one yet to rival it. The sweet potato, butternut squash and aubergine coated in crispy panko breadcrumbs is such a great combo. This is however a dish I only tend to go for when i'm feeling really hungry because it's just so filling! It's also a perfect winter warmer for January.

Wagamama also offer a vegan friendly 'vegatsu' curry option too which is made with seitan. I've never tried this as I always tend to prefer vegetable based dishes opposed to mock meat but I know it's a real hit with a lot of other people so it's well worth checking out if you prefer something a little meatier.

If I'm not feeling hungry enough for a katsu curry then another dish I love is the yasai yaki soba. This usually comes with egg noodles for vegetarians but for vegans you can easily swap these for udon or rice noodles. Again, this has been a favourite of mine for many years! I usually prefer this as a lunch option as it's lighter than the curry. I really enjoy the flavour combinations in the yasai yaki soba as it comes with a mix of vegetables including mushrooms and peppers and is topped off with fried shallots and pickled ginger. It's so tasty! 

My husband has grown very fond of the kare burosu dish over the past year or so and this has become his go to favourite.  Another great option to warm you up, this dish comes with shichimi coated silken tofu and grilled mixed mushrooms on a bed of udon noodles with a curried vegetable broth. I've never really been a fan of ramen type dishes but I have to say whenever he orders this it looks and smells so appealing.

My husband and I are creatures of habit when it comes to eating out and we often stick to our favourites but a new dish we branched out and tried this week was the yasai samla curry. If you like coconut style curries then this one is for you! It has quite a Thai taste about it, probably due to the lemongrass, and comes with tofu, peppers, shiitake mushrooms and baby plum tomatoes and is served with a side bowl of rice. Again it was very warming, filling and flavoursome! 

This meal felt like a real treat being able to enjoy so many of our usual favourites and trying some new dishes out too. We really didn't have much room left for anything else but the waitress persuaded us to try their pink guava and passion fruit sorbet and we didn't take much convincing!  

There are two vegan friendly desserts and sorbets on the menu, this one and also a lemongrass and lime flavour too. I think this was the first time I've ever had dessert at Wagamama as I am usually too full up but it's great to see that they're offering some vegan friendly options on the menu. After all the different food we had tried it worked as a nice palate cleanser and the flavour was so refreshing.  It was the perfect end to our meal! 

If you do decide to pay Wagamama a visit this month be sure to check out their Mind charity campaign and have a go on their new mindful placemats as they're pretty addictively calming and an enjoyable way to pass the time whilst waiting for your dishes to arrive!

What's your favourite Wagamama dish?