Wagamama has released its new menu that boasts a host of brand new dishes, but some customers have expressed their ‘disappointment’ as their favourites have been removed
Wagamama is one of the most popular restaurant chains in the UK. The brand is inspired by fast-paced Japanese ramen bars and offers a variety of Asian foods, including curries, teppanyaki grill noodles, pho, ramen, and more. With such a variety of Asian dishes on offer, Wagamama occasionally updates its menu to continue to offer new options to customers.
This month, Wagamama released its brand new menu, including new Korean fried chicken and tonkatsu pork bao buns, gochujang pork belly ramen, and a series of new sweet bao for pudding, with flavours including matcha and chocolate, miso caramel and toffee, and ube and cherry.
However, new menu items mean that some older items need to be removed. Some Wagamama customers on social media have complained that they are “disappointed” to see some of their favourite dishes being axed.
Among the axed items are vegan options such as the vegan chicken, the vegan K-dogs, and the Vegatsu, which was a popular vegan alternative to their classic katsu curry. And in a video shared on TikTok by a vegan content creator named Sophie, she expressed her disappointment at the menu changes.
She wrote in her video’s caption: “In case you missed it, Wagamama released a new menu and (unsurprisingly) the vegan options were significantly reduced. Bye-bye vegan chicken, vegatsu and corn dogs. Considering they were the first UK chain restaurant to offer equal parts plant-based dishes and meat dishes, this is incredibly disappointing.
“As a vegan influencer, I’ve noticed the decline in vegan options in restaurants and supermarkets. Yes, I always encourage shopping small and supporting independents, but when big names take away vegan options, they’re also taking away the opportunity for non-vegans to choose plant-based meals.”
Several commenters on the video were also disappointed, with many saying they were particularly upset to learn they would no longer be able to order the vegatsu.
One person said: “Getting rid of vegatsu seems strange. Surely it was their biggest vegan seller?!”
Another added: “As a vegetarian, what do you mean the vegastu has gone?? That’s all I eat on the menu!”
In 2021, Wagamama committed to a menu with 50% vegan dishes, and despite the recent menu changes removing some vegan options, many of the most popular meat-free dishes remain on the menu.
From the small plates menu, the edamame, rainbow pickles, and wok-fried greens are still available, as are the yasai vegetable gyoza, the bang bang cauliflower, and the mushroom bao buns.
For mains, vegans and vegetarians can still enjoy curries, including the yasai katsu curry, the tofu raisukaree, and the tofu firecracker. The pulled shiitake donburi, oyster mushroom pho, kare burosu ramen, and yasai yaki soba are also still on the menu.
There’s even a brand new vegan teppanyaki dish on the menu – the katsu udon. The description of this dish reads: “Noodles. Katsu sauce. Red pepper and cabbage. Broccoli. Carrots. Beansprouts. Baby corn. Edamame beans. Crispy sweet potato.”
The three new dessert bao dishes are all suitable for vegans, and every dessert on the menu is suitable for vegetarians, with just seven of the 13 dishes not being suitable for vegans.
When contacted for comment, Wagamama insisted that their top-selling vegan dishes remain on the menu, and they’re committed to continuing to develop “new and exciting plant-based dishes” for future menus.
A spokesperson said: “We made a number of updates to our menu in October, launching several new items, both vegan and non-vegan, to keep our offering fresh and exciting. These include our new vegan katsu udon, a new bao bun range, and bento boxes for kids.
“As part of this refresh, we also removed a small number of dishes, both vegan and non-vegan, to ensure our menu continues to evolve in line with what our guests want most.
“We continue to offer a wide range of vegan options. All of our most popular vegan dishes remain on the menu, with our top five vegan dishes accounting for 78% of all vegan sales, and we’ll keep developing new and exciting plant-based dishes as part of future menu updates.”
