Is Wagamama Japanese?

Is Wagamama Japanese?

No, not in the way a Tokyo ramen shop is. Wagamama is a British restaurant company, founded in Bloomsbury, London, in 1992 by Alan Yau, and it describes its food as fresh Asian food inspired by the flavours of Japan. The name is Japanese, plenty of the dishes are Japanese, and the format is borrowed from Japan. The company, the menu as a whole and the owner are not.

The Japanese part that stuck is the format. After travelling around Japan, Yau fell for Tokyo's ramen bars: the speed, the energy, the shared benches and the fresh, hand-prepared food, as Wagamama tells it on its own site. The first restaurant, on Streatham Street, brought that idea to London, and the long communal benches are still the look. So if you're asking whether Wagamama is Japanese food, the honest answer is that it's Japanese-inspired.

What cuisine is Wagamama?

Pan-Asian. The menu is built on Japanese staples such as ramen, katsu curry, yaki soba, teppanyaki and donburi, then borrows from Korea, China and South-East Asia for sauces, sides and buns. Wikipedia files Wagamama as a British restaurant chain specialising in pan-Asian cuisine. It's a mixture on purpose, which is why “is Wagamama Japanese?” gets a different answer plate by plate.

Here is where nine of the best-known dishes really come from, at this month's prices.

• 

  Chicken Katsu Curry

  Japanese

  A panko cutlet on rice under a curry sauce is a Japanese comfort-food classic. See the price, ingredients and recipe.

  £14.90
• 

  Grilled Chicken Ramen

  Japanese

  Noodles in broth, the dish that inspired the whole restaurant. Compare every ramen bowl.

  £15.40
• 

  Chicken + Prawn Yaki Soba

  Japanese

  Stir-fried noodles in a savoury sauce, a staple of Japanese street food. See the price and make it at home.

  £15.50
• 

  Chicken Teriyaki Soba

  Japanese

  Soba are Japanese noodles, and teriyaki is a Japanese glaze of soy and mirin.

  £16.90
• 

  Chicken Thigh Teriyaki Donburi

  Japanese

  Donburi is the Japanese rice bowl, here topped with chicken in a teriyaki glaze.

  £15.30
• 

  Chicken Gyoza

  Japanese, with Chinese roots

  Gyoza are Japan's take on Chinese dumplings.

  £8.50
• 

  Gochujang Pork Belly Ramen

  Japanese and Korean

  A Japanese bowl seasoned with gochujang, Korea's chilli paste.

  £17.70
• 

  Korean Barbecue Beef Brisket Bao Bun

  Chinese and Korean

  Bao are Chinese steamed buns, filled here with Korean-style barbecue beef.

  £9.50
• 

  Chicken Raisukaree Curry

  South-East Asian

  Coconut and lemongrass are South-East Asian flavours, not Japanese ones.

  £16.30

What type of food is Wagamama?

Casual Asian comfort food, cooked fast and served in bowls: noodle soups, curries over rice, wok-fried noodles, griddled mains, dumplings, bao and small plates to share. Wagamama doesn't pitch itself as fine dining or as traditional Japanese cooking, and the prices match: mains start at £14.40 and most of the menu is a bowl of something hot.

If you want to see what that looks like on the plate, the ramen page and the chicken katsu curry page go dish by dish, and the calories page shows what each one weighs in at. Eating halal? Wagamama UK has no halal certification, and the halal guide covers what you can order instead.

Does Wagamama do sushi?

No. There's no sushi on Wagamama's UK menu as of October 2026, because it's a noodle bar, not a sushi counter, and none of the October 2026 menus list any. If it's raw fish you're after, you'll need a different restaurant. The nearest things are small plates: ebi katsu (panko prawns, £9.20), lollipop prawn kushiyaki (grilled prawn skewers, £8.60) and edamame with salt (£5.10).

What does Wagamama mean?

The Wagamama meaning, in Japanese, is self-indulgent, self-centred, picky, fussy, disobedient or wilful: someone who wants things their own way. The word is written わがまま, and Wagamama says it follows kaizen, the Japanese idea of continuous improvement. Why Alan Yau chose the name isn't on record, so treat any neat origin story with caution.

Say it “wah-gah-mah-mah”, with the stress even across all four syllables.

Where is Wagamama from?

London. The first Wagamama opened on 22 April 1992 on Streatham Street in Bloomsbury, and the company is still headquartered in the capital, with its registered office on Marshalsea Road in SE1. On paper it started a year earlier: Companies House shows it was incorporated on 29 April 1991 as China Diner Limited, and took the Wagamama name on 16 December 1992.

Alan Yau went on to create Hakkasan, Yauatcha and Busaba. The original Streatham Street restaurant closed in June 2016.

Who owns Wagamama?

Wagamama is owned by Apollo Global Management, the US investment firm. Apollo took over Wagamama's parent, The Restaurant Group, in December 2023, and Companies House has listed Apollo as having significant influence or control of Wagamama (Holdings) Limited since 30 January 2025. That company controls Wagamama Limited, which runs the restaurants.

• Alan Yau opens the first Wagamama in Bloomsbury1992
• Lion Capital buys a 77.5% stake for £103 million2005
• Duke Street Capital buys the chain, for an estimated £215 million2011
• The Restaurant Group buys it for £559 million2018
• Apollo completes its takeover of The Restaurant Group2023
• Companies House lists Apollo directly as controlling Wagamama (Holdings) Limited, in place of TRG (Holdings) Limited2025

Ownership read from Companies House on 27 October 2026 and from press reports of the Apollo deal.

Is Wagamama Korean, Chinese or Thai?

None of them, though it borrows from all three, so “is Wagamama Japanese or Korean?” has no clean answer either. Japan supplies the backbone: ramen, katsu, teppanyaki and donburi. Korea supplies the gochujang and kimchee, China the bao buns and the dumpling idea behind gyoza, and South-East Asia the coconut and lemongrass in the raisukaree curries. That mix is why people argue about it.

Questions people ask about Wagamama

So, is Wagamama Japanese?

The name is Japanese, the idea came from Tokyo ramen bars and plenty of the dishes are Japanese at heart. The company is British and the owner is American. Order it expecting Japanese-inspired noodles and curries and you'll get exactly what you came for. Ready to pick? See every Wagamama dish with its price, or start with the katsu curry.