Wagamama launches vegan katsu curry

It's made with seitan instead of chicken

Chicken katsu curry is not only Wagamama’s most famous dish but also the most popular order at the Japanese-inspired restaurant brand, selling over 3.5 million dishes a year (that’s 10,000 every day).

Although the menu has for a long time included a vegetarian equivalent, the yasai katsu curry which features slices of aubergine, butternut squash and sweet potato covered in crispy breadcrumbs (rather than the iconic chicken), there has never been a vegan version - until now.

Wagamama has just launched “the vegatsu” across its 130 restaurants nationwide, giving vegans the chance to enjoy the classic dish.

Made with seitan instead of chicken, the restaurant says 90 per cent of people can’t believe it isn’t meat.

Although made from wheat, seitan has little in common with flour or bread. Also called “wheat meat”, “wheat protein”, “wheat gluten” or simply “gluten”, seitan becomes surprisingly similar to the look and texture of meat when cooked, making it a popular meat substitute.

More than seven per cent of the UK population (3.5 million people) now identifies as vegan, and the number has surged by more than 700 per cent over the past two years.

The restaurant hopes that the vegatsu will appeal not just to vegans but also to the growing number of ‘v-curious’ Brits who eat meat but are also interested in plant-based food.

Whether it’s for the perceived health benefits of going vegan or in a bid to eat more sustainably, there are now 16 million Britons who consider themselves to be v-curious.

Steve Mangleshot, executive chef at Wagamama said: “Following the huge success of our vegan menu it made sense for us to create a vegan version of our world-renowned katsu curry.

“Vegan, vegetarian, v-curious and flexitarian customers will be amazed by how similar it tastes to the original and iconic katsu. We are delighted to bring this new dish to our fans across the UK.”

With the original chicken katsu curry having been on the menu since Wagamama launched in 1992, a vegan alternative has certainly been a long time coming.

And it seems to be going down a treat with consumers: “#vegatsu was incredible,” one person wrote on Instagram. “Seitan is one of my favourite fake ‘meats’, and this was so so good.”

“I finally got to try the Vegatsu and it was pretty much the best thing ever,” added another.

But not everyone has been convinced: “It was really bad,” one person wrote on Instagram. “I was so excited to try this, my favourite order at my local Thai is their vegan katsu, and the Wagamama’s one uses actual seitan as opposed to just a vegetable fritter thing, so surely it’s just got to be a pimped version?

“Sadly not. The seitan was soggy, [...] there wasn’t enough sauce for the mountain of rice and it was just very very average.”

Opinions may be mixed, but at least it’s another option for vegans.