WAGAMAMAS is one of my favourite places to go and eat.

Since discovering it around ten years ago in London, my love affair with this Japanese -inspired restaurant chain has never diminished.

But when Elsie was little, I didn’t dare take her with me as I didn’t think, as a little person, that she would perhaps enjoy their delicious food offerings. When it came to family meals out, Wagamamas just wasn’t on the list. How silly am I?

Because over the summer, we finally did visit as a family of three (with bump) after being kindly invited by Wagamamas Spinningfields Manchester to try out their new menu. An offer, I’m sure you’ll agree, that could absolutely under no circumstances be refused!

We visited at lunchtime in midweek and I think it’s safe to say that we were absolutely spoilt rotten as a family and made to feel so welcome by all the staff.

Elsie took to the Wagamamas set up like a duck to water, really enjoying the casual dining approach of long wooden benches and paper placements, that Wagamamas is renowned for. She also made great use of the kid’s crayons and colouring pages.

But – the big question was – would she like the food?!

As menus go, the Wagamamas menu is pretty impressive by any restaurant standards, offering a wide range of different dishes to suit your mouthwatering tastebuds.

They don’t ‘do’ starters as such but as we were all pretty ravenous, the staff encouraged us to try out and order a few side dishes before our mains. And oh my, they were delicious!

So good, I think we demolished them in minutes. Here are the Pork Ribs and Duck Wraps. *smacks lips* followed by the famous Lollipop Prawn Kushiyaki which sadly I couldn’t try as I’m pregnant but which looked, and according to my husband, tasted INCREDIBLE.

I mean, just look at them!

Next came our mains, each coming fresh from the kitchen as soon as it was ready, again something that Wagamamas is renowned for.

This does mean that not all of your dishes are served together, which may be a problem for some people, but certainly not for us. Delicious food cooked fresh and served immediately. What’s not to love?

For Elsie, we’d ordered the Mini Chicken Katsu (grilled) off the kids menu and this is where I began to worry slightly as I really wasn’t sure if she’d like or even eaten it.

But what do I know because she absolutely loved it, even using her mini chopsticks quite happily! (It’s one of my favourite dishes on the menu, so she clearly has excellent taste like her mum!)

And my stunning dish, Teriyaki Lamb was taken of the new chef’s menu and was probably one of the most delicious dishes I have eaten in recent years. Just divine. Here’s another glimpse…

As for the husband, his dish was mightily impressive too and another off the new chef’s menu, a delicious duck dish complete with a poached egg on top! And I would show you a picture but alas, he scoffed it too quickly for me to take a decent image. Men and their food right?

He assured me it was absolutely amazing though so take that as a big thumbs up.

Finally as if two courses was not enough on a Thursday lunchtime, we were sweetly persuaded by our lovely waitress Nelly to try out a couple of their deserts and opted for the Banana Katsu and Ginger Cheesecake.

I’m not actually sure how we managed to squeeze them in, but they were so tasty, so yep, we managed it. As for Elsie, well somehow she also found room for a small ice cream. It’s amazing how kids can find room for sweet treats isn’t it?!

All in all, as I think you can probably tell, we had the most wonderful time as a family at Wagamamas and feasted – literally feasted – on the most amazing fresh food that also feels just so good for you.

I knew both Jamie and I would love the food as always, but was so chuffed to see that Elsie has also become a Wagamamas fan!

Now she’s converted, there’s no doubt that we’ll back very, very soon and probably very, very often as a family.

Huge thanks to the very lovely Spinningfields Manchester team for looking after us so brilliantly and here – if you fancy a watch – is a little video we made of our absolutely fabulous lunch out.