Wagamama, a British restaurant chain that serves Japanese cuisine, has teamed up with food personality Alfie Steiner (known as Alfie Cooks) to create a plant-based Firecracker Chick’n Ramen dish for Veganuary.

The limited-edition dish hits menus nationwide from today (2 January), after launching initially as an exclusive at Wagamama’s London-based Noodle Lab test kitchen in October.

It contains a crispy vegan chicken alternative with smoky roasted aubergine and rice noodles, in a gochujang-spiced broth. Topped with sprouting broccoli, crispy chilli oil, spring onion, pickled red chillis, coriander and lime, the bowl is described by the chain as ‘bold yet comforting,’ designed to ‘set taste buds alight’.

Steiner commented on the collaboration: “Working with Wagamama really has been such a wonderful experience. To have been able to innovate and create my own dish is a dream come true. My firecracker ramen has everything you’d want from a bowl of broth, especially during January. It’s warming, fiery and fresh, with flavours and ingredients that celebrate delicious plant-forward cooking and eating.”

Wagamama has undertaken an ongoing commitment to making 50% of its menu plant-based, having partnered with the 50by25 initiative, which encouraged restaurants to make at least half of their menus vegan-friendly by this year.

In addition to its wide variety of permanent plant-based options, which include the Vegatsu curry and Kare Burosu ramen, the chain has introduced several limited-edition vegan specials in recent years, including last year’s Veganuary special – a lion’s mane mushroom ‘steak’ bulgogi – and a collaboration with London-based pie maker, Willy’s Pies.

The Firecracker Chick’n Ramen is now available at Wagamama locations nationwide for a limited time only, priced at £14 at standard locations and £15 at airports.

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