Wagamama

spaceraider69

Great nosh! 23rd September 2008

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Wagamamas is a bit of a bizarre experience for the uninitiated, most high street restaurants don't seat you on long picnic benches next to complete strangers and don't write on your place mat! However thats what is to be expected at this chain of restaurants. The big difference with the Windsor one and others is that you seem to get more space even on the benches as there are gaps between them. The food however is great and there is a massive choice, as long as you like noodles and rice you will be fine. I can recommend the chicken curry, its delicious. Quantities vary massively between dishes though

Lacrimosa

Speedy noodles on the go 7th September 2008

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For the uninitiated, Wagamama is a chain of what might be described as Japanese-style fast-food noodle bars. I've never been a huge aficionado of them, perhaps because I like to take my time over my nosh and would rather not find myself sitting at a long, refectory-style table with a bunch of people I don't know yelling in my ear. I'd never been to this one in Windsor before, though, so was happy enough to try it one Friday night. Positioned underneath Windsor's Harte & Garter Hotel opposite the castle, it can be a little tricky to spot - look for the doorway down the side of the hotel, just before the Jubilee Arch.

Firstly, I was pleased to see that Wagamama Windsor is spacious with most tables, each with a bit of a gap between them, seating just four people. While the restaurant is semi-subterranian, there are some pavement-level windows along one side which stop it feeling too cave-like. The kitchen is reassuringly open to the view of diners, with a good number of oriental faces among the chefs, but you might like to sit well away from it unless you enjoy the sound of clanging woks. We ordered miso soup with pickles, green tea, plus a portion of edamame (hot salted beans in their pods) to share while we waited for person number four to arrive.

Upon ordering our main courses, all four bowls of fresh, hot, tasty Pan-Asian food arrived at a speed so fast it made our wigs spin.

All was very fast, very delicious, very good value, very impressive... all but one thing. NO SAKE! A Japanese restaurant that's sold out of sake? We could hardly contain our shock and horror. The plum wine, which we tried instead, was bloomin' awful. Served with ice and mineral water, it tasted uncannily like Bulmers cider... no, even worse.

Nonetheless, we can thoroughly recommend the real fruit ice lollies for dessert, and the bill, which included a bottle of wine, came to a very reasonable £16 each - great value for such good food.