Wagamama Oyster + Shiitake Mushrooms Bao Buns

Wagamama oyster and shiitake mushrooms bao buns cost £9.30 and carry 577 kcal, the vegan pair on the bao list and the cheapest way onto the page. Oyster and shiitake mushrooms with panko aubergine and vegan mayo inside the steamed buns, and the name needs saying clearly: oyster mushrooms, no shellfish anywhere near it.

The build is cleverer than it reads. Mushrooms alone would slide around a bun; the panko aubergine gives the pair its structure and its crunch, playing the role fried chicken plays two lines up. The two mushrooms split the flavour work, oyster bringing the soft meaty body and shiitake the deep savoury note it is famous for, and the vegan mayo rounds it into something that eats far richer than its ingredients list.

The pair lands at 577 kcal with around 15 g of protein, modest but honest for a plant pair, and the sugar at 10.6 g is the lowest on the bao page by a distance, since nothing here is glazed. The salt sits mid table. Wagamama marks the pair vegan and publishes the price, no estimates involved.

They solve the mixed table problem the bao line was built for: a vegan can order the same format as everyone else rather than a different category of food, and the pair holds its own in a spread of gyoza and small plates. Committed mushroom eaters sometimes order two pairs as a main and regret nothing.

For how much are the vegan bao buns, £9.30 is the published answer with the usual location shift. The pulled shiitake donburi extends the mushroom argument into a full bowl, and a power juice keeps the order green from end to end.