Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Dreaming of Wagamamas

Wagamama opens its first USA-based outlet in Boston. When I tried them in London 5 years ago I was hooked. Super-fast, high-quality noodle dishes. Could a Miami Wagamama be in the future?

4 comments:

Harry said...

Doesn't every city have a Wagamama clone? NYC has Republic (I think that's the name) on Union Square and even Herzliya has a blatant rip off called Zozobra. I haven't been to Republic in years but I can attest that Zozobra is horrible. I ordered the Pho there and it wasn't even remotely close to anything I had in Vietnam. Pheh! Anyway, Miami must have something resembling Wagamama...

sara said...

You are right about the clone thing - been to Republic in NYC - not as space-age cool as the London-based chain. And I'll check out Zozobra next time I'm in Israel, but Asian food is going through some growing pains in Israel anyway. As for Miami, there's also a big void when it comes to fast, stylish, relatively cheap Asian places. O Asian Grill, a new place in South Beach has a teeny noodle bar at the front of its gigantic higher-priced resto-lounge. And folks says it's good, but we still need a wagamamas!

Harry said...

Growing pains in an understatement! I would avoid Zozobra if I were you. Really unimpressive. Always a disappointment yet incredibly popular. Aharoni's Ying Yang now on Ha'Arba'a street in Tel Aviv is probably the best Non-Japanese Asian you'll find in Israel. There are both Chinese and Vietnamese menus. Highly recommended it. Anyway, I'd take Asian food in Asia any day over Wagamamas. And I suspect that you would too!

sara said...

Yes of course - but in Asia I kept needing those picture menus! And I probably ingested way more pork than I knew...
The Asian culinary lackage in the Holy Land is certainly a cause for concern. They always add way too much sugar to Chinese and Thai food in Israel. Maybe all the foreign workers will start opening authentic noodle joints. One can hope!