Noodle Doodles

Yesterday I attempted Chicken Chilli Men from the Wagamamas cookbook; a dish Supperboy has enjoyed in the restaurant.  It was easy enough to put together and gave me a good excuse to poke around my local oriental supermarket - Thais R Us.  It was tasty enough and I would make it again (may add more chilli next time), but somehow it didn't taste as good as it does when ordered in the restaurant.  You could put this down to the atmosphere of the restaurants and the fact that food often tastes better when someone else has cooked it.  Maybe eating out of traditional Japanese bowls, which remain cool enough to lift to your face and scoop it in, add to the eating experience.  Maybe I'm just not a good enough cook.

I was, however, reminded of an article I read earlier in the year about Wagamamas food containing too much salt.  At home, Supperboy and I use minimal salt, both in cooking and seasoning food on the plate.  When following the Chicken Chilli Men recipe, I omitted the salt (it already contained soy sauce) and the sugar (it already contained shop bought sweet chilli sauce).  Had my homemade dish contain as much salt as the restaurant's Chicken Ramen Noodle dish, apparently 7.2 grams, would it have tasted more like the restaurant version? 

After criticism, Wagamamas have noted on their website that they have reduced the salt in their children's meals and are working on the rest of the menu "whilst maintaining the tasty food that we have become known for."  This could, maybe, indicate that their food is difficult to make "tasty" without a high level of salt.  They also claim to be trialling their adult ramen meals with 20% less salt.  You don't need to be a mathmatician to work out that 20% off 7.2 grams of salt is still too high when the recommended amount for an adult per day is 6 grams.

Of course, Wagamamas are not the only restaurant to be critised for their salt useage, Pizza Express came under attack in the same study.   Also the Japanese do tend to use more salt and sugar in their dishes than we do, but a diet high in fish and vegetables, low in alcohol and high fat snacks seems to make up for it.  No doubt we will still enjoy the odd meal in Wagamamas (their Duck Gyozas are to die for), but perhaps I should never expect my dishes to turn out the same.