Wakaka (formerly Hong Kong City), Town Centre
I am totally guilty of being a full on contradiction and hypocrite of myself at times. I look at myself as really open minded, willing to try anything with a positive attitude. Telling people that you don’t know until you try it. ‘Give it a go!’ ‘You never know!’ Yet at the same time, I am totally willing to make a decision and opinion based on absolutely zero information, no prior experiences, or even opinions of others; particularly when it comes to eating out. Which side of me appears on which day is totally random and unpredictable. No tell tale signs of what you’re going to get! If its a negative, narrow minded opinion that I’ve settled on, it will be almost impossible for me to move on. Once it’s in there, it isn’t leaving! Even if a trusted friend told me otherwise, or said somewhere was delicious, I’d have none of it. Hiding behind some sort of weird arrogance that I have seen enough of the food world that I can, with almost 100% accuracy, predict an eating experience from literally just walking past a restaurant and looking at it. It’s quite funny thinking about it actually. Especially considering I am technically (and I mean technically in the loosest sense of the word) a scientist, who was trained to be completely open minded and only act on evidence. Evidence isn’t always fun though! I do it so often - it’s bad. There is a really famous Anthony Bourdain quote that I see on a meme daily on the old socials. I can’t remember it exactly but its something about having to risk a bad meal to find an amazing one. Its really true (if that’s what the quote actually is) - maybe it would serve me to actually learn that and heed its advice.
So le’ts get to the tasty stuff. Previously Hong Kong City - I judged this place the first time I walked past it in Shrewsbury. Some sort of god awful attempt at a kind of god awful ‘Wok n Roll’ noodle place you find around Leicester Sq in London. Terrible. Awful. Not worth even trying it. In my head the deal is already done, without even setting foot in the place! Sorted! No need to ever go. Chapter closed.
One of the many amazing things my gorgeous wife has bought into my life is so much more self awareness and appreciation for the fact that I am wrong most of the time. Now I don’t mean this as a sort of terrible Jim Davidson joke from a gig in a working mans club in 1993. You know the sort, a packed room of blokes, having a good old fashioned moan about the ‘old lady at home’ and why ‘her rightful place is chained to the sink at home’ . No. The true fact is, I really am wrong all the time. Even when it comes to guessing. If were ever in a casino, and I say it’s going to be black, pick red.
I am so much more open minded to these things since meeting my wife though. So much so that I have embarked on a Chinese Restaurant Adventure - hunting for that great meal amongst the rubbish. Trying everything with an open mind, willing to risk a terrible meal to find that diamond in the rough!
And here we are, I am heading to Hong Kong City, newly named and refurbished recently (maybe like 2 years ago, I can’t remember. But it feels new) and now called Wakaka. Is it the same owners? I have absolutely no idea and I don’t really care. In case you had forgotten this new, married me, is open minded and these sort of details are totally irrelevant.
We popped in for a quick lunch. We had our smallest, hungry little human with us so needed something ‘kid friendly’. We were doing our usual walk around town thinking we want to try something new but where? We always feel like we have tried everywhere (that I haven’t already disregarded as not worth trying) so what to do? We were literally sliding into one of our usual hotspots when the lightbulb went off - let’s go try Wakaka! Cece loves noodles, she’ll be fine!
The place is brightly lit, modern, clean and well organised. It’s actually a really lovely spot to sit. ( Although majority of furniture is high stools..not for the tinier humans but fine for our noodle munching 3.5 year old ) Incredible people watching - the entire world walks past that place at lunchtime and let me tell you, I love a bit of people watching! Noodles also provide the perfect people watching cover. You can easily be peering out of a window with noodles dangling from your chopsticks, looking like you are day dreaming, when really you are totally invested in the unfolding parking ticket drama over the road in the car park!
There’s no-one else eating in the place. I have been guilty of holding this against a place in the past. Why is no one there? Surely somethings wrong? But not the new, married me. I am open minded and these sorts of details are totally irrelevant! My main issue with places without people in there is around how quiet it is. Too many places don’t have any sort of music on and when you’re in there alone, it makes you feel like you’re eating in the library, desperate not to slurp your noodles too loud! It can be really off putting for me. Makes me feel like I am under some sort of police investigation spotlight and I end up cranking up the eating speed - munching as quick as I can to get out in the fresh air so I can breath again!
Good news! There is music, and now three of us eating in there. It’s buzzing with our usual upbeat family antics! The music is what I would describe as authentic Chinese - fitting the setting perfectly and suggesting that we might be in the right place for lunch! Of course, this is a prime example of where I am always wrong. Is it Chinese? No idea. I can’t remember it, you didn’t hear it. So we don’t have any evidence. Best just go down a new road…….I would describe the music as ‘emotional river cruise’. It reminded me so much of river cruise I went on in China where I endured 3 days of emotional Chinese folk song karaoke between the hours of 12-4am every night. I woke up early each morning to try to catch a sunrise on the river. The reality was spent ankle deep in spilt rice wine looking at thick fog and clouds of pollution with only a vague idea of whether the sun had actually risen yet! Anyway, back to the food…………
The Order:
Yeung Chow (Egg Fried Rice)
Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup
Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Sweet Bean Curd)
A drink each - can’t remember what - I didn’t write it down!
The Price: £19.20
The menu at Wakaka is quite extensive - a ton of options. It is important to point out that Wakaka serves ‘Street Food’ so it’s not strictly just a Chinese restaurant and has dishes with inspiration from all over Asia - I cannot be bothered to pick hairs about whether this should qualify as part of this adventure or not (These are the sort of details an open minded man like me hasn’t got time to get bogged down with!) It’s one of those menus that takes you 10 minutes to unfold, re-fold, turn over, turn upside down, just trying to figure out where to start. Eventually you realise that there are only like 6 sides to it and you can’t quite understand why it took so long to figure out.
We’ve been through this before but being gluten intolerant, eating asian food is tough. There is secret gluten everywhere. Most of the restaurants we have tried don’t even try to separate anything. Just the disclaimer with all 14 major allergens listed. I always feel like that is a little lazy but actually, it isn’t something you should mess around with and if you can’t guarantee no cross contamination, then it is better to be safe than sorry.
This is where Wakaka shines! Clearly labelled gluten free options!!!! We couldn’t believe it! By the book, it must mean that these dishes are suitable for coeliacs. But if you are coeliac, please check with them first! I would hate for you to go there based on my recommendation, only for you to find out that I am wrong a lot of the time!
Another massive tick for Wakaka is the service. Super attentive, friendly, energetic, happy to answer questions - everything you could ask for. Unreal service for the tiny human, her own plastic plate and cutlery, extra napkins and a plastic cup for water, without one hint of us asking or in fact needing! Good, friendly, happy service is such a good sign and so easily overlooked. I am a firm believer that good service can make up for a multitude of sins! Mistakes happen, it’s how you deal with them that makes all the difference - I came up with that, just now. Anthony Bourdain, eat your heart out! Maybe I should have my own meme with this sort of inspirational nonsense splattered everywhere?
As a whole, the food was great and very surprising! It was all lightly seasoned - not drowning in soy sauce. My memories of the food in China was exactly this - the majorities of meals were lightly seasoned, with hints of soy. Not gallons of the stuff. I think we are really guilty of assigning an ingredient as synonymous with a certain cuisine and then deciding it goes in everything. And even worse, we seem to assume that if it includes that ingredient, it’s now authentic so we should add some more. I would imagine that would probably be a first time UK tourists impression of Bovril!
‘All they had was meat cooked in bovril. Under potatoes, next to potatoes, in pastry, under pastry - always Bovril’
The egg fried rice was clean and fresh. Rice perfectly cooked, veg perfectly cooked. Clean, light flavour. A perfect lunch dish to be honest. They had some extra soy sauce and chilli oil on the tables which was nice to see and I could have absolutely smothered it in hot chilli oil and/or hot sauce (like I do at home) but actually it was really refreshing to eat something this light. We had the special fried rice which had chicken, pork, prawns, peas - everything in the kitchen chucked in basically. It was a bit tight on all of those things - good amount of egg and rice but you could have argued it was a little stingy on the good stuff. The portion size of the dish was really generous and I think I probably would have preferred slightly less rice, to have at least given the impression that there was plenty of the good stuff. Still, a really satisfying and filling dish. I feel like I could eat well cooked rice forever - there is something so satisfying about it. Something that is so hard to replicate at home! Also an excellent dish for the little ones. Cece smashed a good chunk of this and tried some of the confusing bits that she would normally avoid. It’s hard to explain to your kids what something is when you are unsure yourself. ‘You’ll be fine, Bab. Its either chicken, pork, prawns, peas, egg or rice……’
I feel like if you don’t sense a certain level of globby kids snot in a dish, you aren’t really eating a Chinese meal. You know, the cornflour and stock gloop that coats your mouth before slipping down your throat as a complete globule. I can think of what it might feel like, but I haven't tried that, so I best not mention it! As with everything, lovely light seasoning and a nice light dish to eat. Also a winner with the little one - after the first few sips, I could see her instincts kicking in and the eating speed was cranking up! It fast became a mission to separate her from the soup, or else there would be nothing for either of us to enjoy!
Summer rolls will always be a winner in our house. Great for using up bits. We eat them a lot at home. It is really easy to over soak rice paper. It keeps hydrating until it pretty much dries. So take your eye off the ball and you can easily end up with the worlds stickiest material. For the kids, I’d describe the oversoaked rice paper as being like those sticky worm things you get in party bags, the ones you throw against a wall and then trickle down the wall, picking up every piece of dust you didn’t even know was there. Rendering them a health hazard after one use. For the grown ups, over soak your rice paper and you’ll be feeling like you are eating your veggies out of a used condom (I imagine that’s what it would feel like - I have never, nor will I ever, eat vegetables out of a used condom! **Never say never - not when you’re as open minded as me the wife!)
We were delighted to see that the rice paper was perfectly soaked, perfectly rolled and packed with delicious veggies and sweet bean curd. The dipping sauce was ok. It was a little sweet for our tastes but packed a good chilli punch. Not only has my wife bought me into a new, more open minded world. She has also opened my eyes to the wonder of sour flavours. A few years ago, this dipping sauce would have been a bit of me, I would have loved it. But not the new me, not this open minded, willing to try everything without prejudice me. This me needs sourness! Where’s the bloody tang! Lemon, Lime, Yuzu, Vinegar - whatever, just don’t hold back on the tang!
I had filed Wakaka away from the moment I first saw it (as Hong Kong City). It had been shoved in my ‘Narrow Minded’ Filing Cabinet under ‘Not Worth The Risk’
Now the evidence is in, I am very pleased to say that I have re-filed it in my ‘Open Minded’ Filing Cabinet under ‘Potential Regular Lunch Spot’
This was an absolute turn up for the books for me. Light but deliciously seasoned food, brilliant and attentive service. A lovely little restaurant that we will definitely be taking the little ones to in the future. A nice bright place to eat and watch the world go by! Good value for money and really good, generous portions - it is definitely worth more than one visit!
I had been heading down a bit of hole with this adventure. Enthusiasm was waning, I was becoming a little disheartened and I was losing faith! Everything has been much of a muchness of averageness. Some real highlights and some real lowlights from every place we’ve tried. Maybe there aren’t any hidden gems in Shrewsbury, maybe the haters were right?
This was just what a needed. A lovely surprise to pick me up, slap me around the face and tell me…….
THIS IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME, EFFORT OR MONEY - THIS IS A VITAL PROJECT, NOT ONLY FOR ME, NOT ONLY FOR MY FAMILY, NOT ONLY FOR SHREWSBURY BUT FOR THE ENTIRE OF SHROPSHIRE!!!!
