No Such Thing?

Perhaps I’m too cynical for my own good but when I heard that Wagamama, the now ubiquitous chain of Asian fusion noodle restaurants, were opening a new branch in Cambridge this week (they must know they have hit it big when they open a branch in Cambridge) and were offering a free lunch to all of those quick enough to sign up for a slot from the cunningly hidden link on the website, I was convinced it was too good to be true.

“Certainly, Madam. Here’s the bill for your free lunch…”

Nonetheless, a bunch of us signed up and booked our slot at 1.30p.m. today and when we turned up, they were even able to seat all seven of us together at the semi-communal tables. The staff were all helpful and eager-to-please and it turned out that the free meal didn’t consist of a measly side dish; far from it, in fact: we were each entitled to choose one main and one side dish from the menu, along with two drinks (and free bottled water).

The meal selection process was a little simpler for me than for the others on account of my extreme fussiness, but there was one dish whose ingredients were all to my liking – yaki soba, which consisted of an alpine mountain of noodles, chicken, ginger, peppers, sesame and spring onion. I tried some negima yakitori (chicken kebabs) on the side and washed it all down with a couple of juices, one being apple and lime (which I had tried before at their Knightsbridge branch) and the other being a mixed fruit juice, both of which were delicious and certainly a refreshing change from the generic carton-ed liquid you usually find in restaurants.

We were presented with a bill at the end but this was only so that we could correctly calculate the (optional, of course) gratuity. 10% worked out at about £2 each – not bad for a two course meal with two drinks.

And there was no catch! We just filled in some comment cards on our way out and promised we would be back (which, given how cheap the main courses were, seems like a sure thing).