Wagamama Signature Seafood Ramen

Wagamama signature seafood ramen is the flagship of the wagamama ramen menu, estimated at £16.40 (est.) and carrying 974 kcal, the biggest count of any ramen the chain serves. Butterfly king prawns and tender squid are marinated in gochujang and miso, then charred and set over ramen noodles in a yuzu broth with clams, salmon fillet, crispy onions, chilli, pea shoots and samphire.

No other bowl on the menu stacks four kinds of seafood, and the yuzu broth is what keeps that from turning muddy. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus somewhere between mandarin and grapefruit, and its sharpness runs through the broth so every prawn, clam and flake of salmon lands clean. The samphire doubles down on the coastal idea, snapping salty and green against the soft noodles, and the crispy onions on the salmon give the bowl its one dry, crunchy note. Char from the grill sits on the prawns and squid the way it does on good yakitori, and the gochujang and miso marinade underneath it is what separates this bowl from a polite seafood soup.

The numbers deserve attention before ordering. The signature seafood ramen calories come to 974 kcal, and it is the most protein dense bowl in the section at close to 70 g. The salt is the highest on the ramen list, well past the 6 g the NHS suggests for an entire day, and the menu carries a small bones warning for the fish. The allergen sheet lists gluten, wheat, crustaceans, egg, fish, molluscs, soya and sulphites, so this is the wrong bowl for any shellfish allergy, full stop.

Wagamama does not publish a price for this dish, so the figure here is our estimate built from the five priced ramen bowls, marked as such wherever it appears. Anyone asking how much is the signature seafood ramen should confirm at their restaurant. As a meal it barely needs company, but the duck gyoza make a sharing starter that does not repeat the seafood, and a sparkling water with lime does the broth more favours than a sweet drink would.