Wagamama Edamame with Salt

Wagamama edamame with salt cost £5.10 and carry 280 kcal, young soybeans steamed in their pods under flaked salt, the oldest ritual starter in Japanese casual dining and the menu's most deceptive nutrition story. Vegan and gluten free marked, and quietly carrying 24 g of protein per bowl.

The ritual is the point of order one: pod to teeth, beans squeezed free, pod discarded, repeat until the bowl of empties outweighs the bowl of full. It occupies hands and bridges the wait for mains better than bread ever managed, and the salt on the pods seasons fingers and beans alike without a gram of it entering the pod.

The protein figure deserves its double take: 24 g per serving beats the gyoza plates, the bao pairs and most starters in the building, because soybeans are the legume protein serious kitchens respect. At 280 kcal the arithmetic makes edamame the strongest light order on the menu for anyone counting both directions, and the reason vegan and gym orders alike anchor here.

At £5.10 published, the how much are edamame question sits comfortably; the chilli garlic version beside it carries this site's estimate instead, wagamama publishing only the plain price, and the choice between them is purely about how messy the fingers are allowed to get.

One habit worth borrowing from izakaya practice: order them first, always, and let the bowl land with the drinks. The kitchen fires them in minutes, the table's hands settle, and the mains arrive to people who are pleasantly occupied rather than starving, which improves every dish that follows.

They open anything, being the menu's least opinionated plate, and they rescue the buldak and firecracker tables as the refuge food between fires. A pot of green tea beside them makes the oldest pairing in the izakaya book, available here without ceremony.