Wagamama - trying to keep on plan

Chicken Teriyaki Donburi

Unless you've been away in space you're probably aware it's back to school this week. We were hopelessly disorganised, the scourge of the chicken pox being mostly to blame and so it was that we found ourselves heading into Nottingham on the day that all other children had gone back to school. Our school in their infinite wisdom, maybe deeming 6 weeks not long enough, had granted us an additional inset day. 

Katsu!

Shopping with Lauren usually consists of her consenting to go and then, as soon as we get into the Victoria Centre she asks when we are going home. In the first shop she has a paddy and tells me she's hungry, we go for lunch. After lunch she buys some stationery and we go home, never having achieved what we actually went for. You can only imagine what happens if I forget myself and look at something I'm interested in! I have edited out all the moaning about aching legs because we've walked the length of the shopping centre, but I think you get the picture. We only go when it's absolutely necessary, as choosing clothes whichever shop we go in, will always result in tears, so we are queens of the online shop. This day though was not like that, we couldn't get haircuts to her delight as she still has a spotty head! It turns out chicken spots also mean no being measured for any undergarments! We did get measured for shoes, her feet have stayed the same size, she liked the same shoes she had last year but the shop didn't have them, typically. (When we got home we cleaned last years and realised we could save ourselves £57.99 by making do!!). We wanted to get 5 pairs of leggings from Primark but they only had one, millions in all other sizes, but we did get a coat. We went to M&S but ended up just having a coffee except that miraculously I found a dress for my upcoming trip to Portugal - gala dinner and all that! In between all the madness we decided to have lunch.

As always Lauren requested Yo! Sushi, but I find it supremely stressful eating with her there, I sit and wait patiently for a plate of duck gyoza to come past and when I turn around Lauren is already on plate 8 and our budget has been blown.

However, when we went to Halifax in May we discovered Wagamama and loved it, so i suggested we go there instead.

I've always thought of it as a noodle bar, but it is more than that. They do a range of Japanese style food but not sushi based. Donburi, gyoza, hirata steamed buns, soba noodles, ramen bowls, udon and of course Katsu. Usually you sit on benches, integrated with the other diners, but in Nottingham they do have some seats and booths around the edges for a bit of privacy. We sat in the window (for privacy!!). Lauren had Katsu curry her definite favourite, I couldn't even tempt her away from it with Pad Thai. It smelled divine when it came out but it's a hefty portion. I chose a chicken teriyaki donburi and I managed to eat 90% of it with chopsticks! It's a rice bowl topped with teriyaki chicken, spring onions, grated carrot, pea shoots and sesame seeds, really tasty and filling. It comes in at 9 syns. I'm glad I used my Slimming World app to check before ordering as I thought ramen bowls would be low syn being it's just noodles and stock, but because the noodles are fresh its at

Banana Katsu

least 35 syns depending on the protein. As it was the last treat of the holiday we went for it with a dessert. Lauren had the chocolate layer cake, I've tried a little bit before it's extremely sweet but so chocolatey. I had the lowest syn pudding Banana Katsu with salted caramel ice cream at 16 syns, making my whole meal total 25 syns. I loved the ice cream, smooth and sweet, but the bananas were odd like they weren't freshly prepared, so the texture was weird - but maybe that's just bananas - they are generally a bit odd.

Overall it wasn't bad value our main courses were around £10 a head and the puddings about half that. I would recommend it if you want to get away from burgers and steaks for a change. The service was great, the staff extremely friendly and not over bearing, just the right amount of attention.

Here's what we had in Halifax...teriyaki soba, duck donburi, bang bang cauliflower, katsu curry, salted caramel ice cream, coconut and fig cheesecake and chocolate layer cake.