my new favorite restaurant
Saturday August 19th 2006, 5:19 pm
Filed under: personal, family

i was hoping to take liesl, tonite, to one of my favorite restaurants in the world — belgo, a few blocks from covent garden. but we weren’t going to be in that area after all. instead, we got off the tube at westminster, and walked across the thames to the london eye. we had reservations for an 8pm “flight”. so we got our tix, and walked north a bit, knowing there were restaurants along the south bank in that area. what we stumbled into was wagamama. and it will be one of the highights of my trip here. everything about this place blows me away — from the decor, to the style of the servers, to the hi-tech way orders are placed, to the speed of the food, to the website and values. and… especially the food. it’s a hip noodle bar, really. a thai-influenced, hip noodle bar.

we both ordered side-dishes (thinking of them as appetizers): i had duck dumplings (they looked like little empenadas), and liesl had an amazing bowl of edamame with garlic salt. omg, so amazing. i brought the extras with us back to the hotel and am just about to break them open and suck the little soy-life out of ‘em. we also both ordered fresh juices (clearly made when we ordered them) — liesl got a fruit combo, and i got one that was apple, celery, mint and lime. so good. our main dishes were both noodle bowls — liesl’s the most beautiful (and freakin’ huge!) bowl of chicken ramen i’ve ever seen, and mine, a coconut-broth mildly spicy chicken thing that tasted somewhat like ‘tom ka soup’ at thai restaurants, but with way more veggies and noodles. it was about four times as much food as we needed.

i see from the website that wagamama is all over britain, and quite a few other countries. someone would make a killing with these in the u.s. someone — please open one in san diego, preferably in east county. here’s liesl with her big-ol’ bowl o’ noodles:

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and, as a little bonus, since a few of you have been nice enough to tell me you’re enjoying my cheesy little travelogue, here’s me in the london eye (which i’d never been on, always thought it was too “touristy” - but really enjoyed!) hovering over big ben and parliament (as in “house of…”, not as in the funk band from the 70s, in case there was any confusion).

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5 Comments so far
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hard to believe that 12 months ago you were here….

lovelovelove x

Comment by paul 08.19.06 @ 5:33 pm

was just thinking of that last week, paul. still a frustrating memory to think how much more fun we would have had if i hadn’t gotten sick. man, i want to spend a week with you i can actually swallow a guiness without wincing in pain! and you can have another baby! that’s what i’m talkin’ about!

Comment by marko 08.19.06 @ 5:48 pm

dude, my friend allison just posted about this restaurant too! she’s at http://un-blog-evable.blogspot.com/

Comment by Josh(ua) 08.19.06 @ 8:10 pm

my oldest loves the wagamama teeshirt i bought her - I went here 2x when I was last in london after gb

Comment by bob 08.19.06 @ 10:49 pm

I went to wagamammas back in 2001 and have missed it ever since.

So reading about it makes me jealous and extremely happy that you now know about it.

Did you see the pictures of the kid with his face burried in the bowl?

I 2nd the opening of ones in the US. How bout a Northridge,CA location?

Comment by Andrew Seely 08.20.06 @ 3:04 am

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