WAGAMAMA LAUNCHES WORLD'S FIRST VEGAN EGG

Food innovators wagamama this week launch dish with vegan chef and YouTube star Gaz Oakley featuring ground-breaking vegan egg.  

 

THIS is the world's first vegan egg! 

Resembling half a boiled egg with the white and vibrant yellow yolk many would never spot the difference.

Pan Asian restaurant wagamama is known as a successful food innovator and this week launches the much anticipated vegan dish with vegan chef and YouTube star Gaz Oakley.

wagamama has launched its second vegan collab dish with innovative vegan chef and YouTube star Gaz Oakley. The chef and social media maestro has teamed up with wagamama to create the groundbreaking vegan egg.

Oakley collaborated with wagamama executive chef Steve Mangleshot to create the fresh, Japanese inspired bowl aptly named “the avant-gard'n” with the aim of continuing to make vegan food more interesting. The chefs at wagamama, pioneers of plant based food, believe that meat free should not mean taste free.

The vegan egg white has the same consistency of the real thing and the yolk is equally soft but it is designed to have its own unique taste.

Consisting of a coconut milk, cornflour and miso egg white and a Siracha mayo yolk “the avant-gard'n” also features glazed BBQ seiten, king oyster mushrooms, edamame and sticky rice. 

The white of the egg is made like a firm panacotta – the ingredients are combined in a bowl then thickened over the stove. This mixture is poured into an 'egg mould' and this egg mould is then set in the fridge for a couple hours. Once set, the chefs use a melon baller to dissect the 'yolk hole', once a hole is made, and just before serving, the chef squeezes sriracha mayonnaise into the yolk hole producing the stunning vegan egg. The vegan egg contains 43kcal, approximately the same number in a real egg.

This is wagamama's second collaboration in the Noodle Collab series bringing together trailblazing vegan chef Gaz Oakley and executive chef Steve Mangleshot. 

Gaz came to Steve with the idea of a fresh, veggie packed vegan bowl topped with barbeque glazed seitan. A natural innovator and known for 'veganizing' classic dishes, Gaz introduced Steve to the idea of 'the vegan egg'.

The egg is not intended to taste like egg but rather, Gaz wanted the flavours to compliment the rest of the dish. Flavours of coconut, lemongrass and sriracha mayo come together with every element of the bowl to create a delicious accompanying sauce. From that point on, Steve and Gaz worked closely with our Noodle Lab and Cardiff chefs to perfect the egg, making sure that while it was initially an operational challenge for our chefs, could be produced time and time again perfectly.

Executive chef Steve Mangleshot said: “We truly believe in championing plant based eating. Meat free should not mean taste free. Rather than simply modifying existing dishes to make them vegan, we want to continually innovate in this area. We have a responsibility to keep introducing vegan items to the menu with sustainable eating become increasingly important.

“We loved the fact that the egg added a new dimension of flavour to the overall dish and was not a 'gimmick'. With the expertise of Gaz I think we've created a truly unique and delicious offering.” 

Steve added: “We've had increasing demand for vegan dishes from our customers over recent years and love to explore innovative methods of delivering these in new and exciting ways. Gaz's ethos and dedication to passion for creating flavour meant he was the perfect choice for our collab."

As a nod to Gaz's Welsh roots the dish was launched in both wagamama Cardiff locations and at their Noodle Lab restaurant on Dean Street, London. Noodle Lab is an open test kitchen for wagamama where the public are asked to give feedback on new dishes to help them decide what goes forward to the national menu.

Gaz Oakley said: “I have been a huge fan of Wagamama since I was a kid and it's so good to see them really supporting the vegan movement. They are never afraid to innovate so this felt like a natural partnership. I was really excited about coming up with the idea of the “vegan egg” as egg features so heavily in Japanese cooking. My social media channels are called @avantgardevegan because I'm always looking to push the boundaries and try new things.

Gaz added: “This is not so much a substitute for an egg but looks the part and has a similar consistency. Most importantly, it has an incredible flavour that compliments the dish perfectly.”

The nationwide rollout of 'avant gard'n' on May 15 recognises how the needs of guests are changing – over the last year wagamama has seen a greater than 60 per cent increase in the number of customers choosing a vegan option as their main dish*, and it's expected this trend towards more mindful eating will only continue to grow.

wagamama today also announces that it has made the European Chicken Commitment, a new set of standards for improving the welfare of chickens farmed for meat.  The standards laid out in the commitment provide a better living environment for chickens, and are to be achieved by 2026 throughout wagamama's supply chain in Europe.

Ross Farquhar, Chief Marketing Officer for wagamama, said: “More and more we're seeing our guests choose to eat more mindfully, whether that's by reducing how often they have meat or selecting restaurants that bring food to their plates responsibly and sustainably.  In the spirit of continuous improvement, or 'kaizen', we're striving to lead the change, provide more and more innovative plant-based dishes and be true to the 'positive eating, positive living' ethos we were founded on.”

*Year Ending 28/2/19 vs. Year Ending 28/2/18.  Proportion of guests choosing a vegan option as their main dish rose by 64.2