Wagamama Gochujang Tamarind Pork Ribs

Wagamama gochujang tamarind pork ribs cost £9.90 and carry 599 kcal, bones and all the mess that implies, under a sticky gochujang tamarind sauce with crispy onions and coriander cress. They are the plate on the big flavour bites page most obviously designed for the middle of a table and a stack of napkins.

The sauce is the education: gochujang brings Korean sweet heat and tamarind answers with the sour, almost cola dark fruitiness Southeast Asian cooking prizes, and together they make a glaze that is sticky, bright and deeper than either alone. Over slow cooked ribs that pull cleanly off the bone, with crispy onions adding texture the glaze would otherwise smother, the plate eats far bigger than its size.

The numbers say proper food, not nibble: 599 kcal with a serious 31 g of protein, the best on the bites page, and a sugar figure around 27 g that belongs to the glaze. The salt asks moderate respect. As a starter it needs splitting; as half a main for one with a side, it works honestly.

The published price of £9.90 tops the bites page alongside the fried chicken trio, and the how much are the ribs question lands well against pub rib pricing anywhere. The corn ribs beside them on the menu carry the identical glaze for two pounds less and no meat, a fact vegan tables have long since noticed.

Order them with something crisp and unsauced, the chilli squid plays well, and keep sweet mains away; two glazes at one table is one too many. A cloudy lemonade or the ginger beer meets the tamarind on its own sour sweet ground.