Wagamama Chilli Squid

Wagamama chilli squid costs £9.90 and carries 411 kcal, the longest serving seafood snack in the building: crisp fried squid dusted with shichimi, a chilli and coriander dipping sauce beside it. It predates most of the current menu and survives every redesign because tables refuse to let it go.

Good fried squid is a timing exam and wagamama's kitchens sit it hourly: seconds too long and squid turns to bands of rubber, right and it stays cream soft inside its crisp shell. The shichimi dusting does the seasoning a salt shaker cannot, citrus peel and sansho prickle over the heat, and the coriander chilli sauce underneath is brighter and greener than the usual sweet chilli bottle.

The plate runs lighter than its fried reputation: 411 kcal with under 2 g of salt, the second lowest on the bites page, and modest sugar beside its glazed neighbours. Protein lands 14 g. Those numbers make it the rare fried order that leaves a full main entirely plausible afterwards, which is exactly its job as the page's opener.

At £9.90 published, level with the trio and ribs, the how much is the chilli squid question mostly measures nostalgia against newcomers, and the squid holds its ground. Molluscs on the allergen sheet rule it out for shellfish sufferers, shared fryers included.

It opens against anything, its great virtue, though it doubles best with plates that contrast rather than compete: the ribs for sticky against crisp, the cucumber for cold against hot. A crisp lager or the sparkling water keeps the shell the loudest crunch at the table.