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Moroccan BBQ Merguez Sausage Baguette

I was exploring York; the sun was shining and as it was lunchtime I was feeling a little peckish. There are lots of places to eat in York, but after walking down the Shambles I popped to the street food market which is next to the Shambles. There were quite a few options and wasn’t initially sure about what to have. In the end I went to the Moroccan BBQ stall.

I went with the merguez sausage baguette for my lunch. It took a while to cook, normally a street food market is a compromise between freshness and convenience. Luckily, I wasn’t in a hurry but eventually arrived.

These merguez sausages were rather nice, the baguette was okay and I enjoyed the sandwich.

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Gochujang pork ramen

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

My usual go to at Wagamama is mushroom yaki soba, I do like ramen, but find it can be quite messy to eat (drink) and so opt for teppanyaki noodles instead. As I had time, I decided I would go down the ramen route and chose the gochujang pork ramen.

Gochujang pork ramen

The ramen was gochujang pork, ramen noodles, a silky chicken broth, charred sweetcorn, pea shoots, spring onion and a tea-stained egg.

This was rather lovely. The pork was very tender and full of flavour. I really enjoyed the broth, which was as described was silky and smooth. I did enjoy the flavour of the charred sweetcorn as well.

A delicious bowl of food and something I would order again in the future.

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Korean fried chicken bao buns

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

Normally if I have bao buns at Wagamama I go for the mushroom buns, this time though, being different, I went with the Korean fried chicken bao buns.

These are two steamed buns, stuffed with crispy fried chicken.

Korean fried chicken bao buns

According to the menu description, they are supposed to include pickled rainbow slaw, gochujang sauce and yuzu mayo. I think mine were missing the sauce and the mayo. I think they needed that.

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Repeating a disappointment

Yesterday I published a blog post about some disappointing duck gyoza I had eaten at Wagamama in York in April 2026. 

I was not impressed with these and I would not have them again (ever).

When I publish posts to the blog, a (WordPress) algorithm shows some related posts and there at the bottom of the post was a post from September 2011 about some duck gyoza I had had at Wagamama in Leeds. 

duck gyoza

Back then I wrote:

Though generally I enjoy most items I have eaten at Wagamama I was less impressed with the deep-fried duck dumplings served with a spicy cherry hoi sin sauce.

Can I really say I should read what I have written before, this was fifteen years ago. I think now that I will avoid these in future for sure.

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Disappointing Duck Gyoza

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

On my Soul Food app I had some free gyoza, so I ordered the duck gyoza. These were fried duck gyoza with a sweet cherry hoisin sauce.

Duck Gyoza

I was not impressed with these and I would not have them again (ever).

I was expecting steamed gyoza which had been pan fried. What I think I got was, well I am not sure, they tasted more baked than fried, but I am guessing they were fried if that was what was said on the menu. The duck filling was, decidedly unpleasant in flavour and texture.

The sweet cherry hoisin sauce did nothing to help these unfortunate gyoza, and it was too sweet and I did not like the flavour.

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Cheese and Mushroom Toastie

Cheese and Mushroom Toastie

I think I may have mentioned a number of times that generally I don’t do sandwiches, and when looking for something for lunch, I would prefer not to have a sandwich. I do get the attraction of sandwiches and it’s a preference rather than a absolute hatred and boycott of anything between two slices of bread.

However despite that preference, I do quite like a mushroom toast. Not everywhere does them though. I was on my way to York and I had stopped at the Solihull Retail Park to charge the car. Though there was lots of retail outlets, there didn’t appear to be many places to eat. In the end I headed off to M&S which had a cafe. I did wonder what to have and in the end when I saw they did a cheese and mushroom toastie I was sold. You could have had it with chips, but who needs lots of carbohydrates, so went with a small bowl of accompanying slaw.

It was nice that they bought your food to the table, so I didn’t need to wait at a counter wondering if that next toastie was mine or somebody else’s. 

I am not really what to say about the toastie, except I did enjoy it. There was nice proportion of cheese and mushroom and it was nicely browned as well. The slaw added some needed freshness and the vinegar dressing cut through the richness of the cheese. 

For a quick lunch it was ideal, and I enjoyed it.

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Chilli Squid

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

As well as a chicken donburi, I also had some chilli squid. This has been a staple for Wagamama for many years.  This was a nice generous portion of crispy squid, dusted with shichimi spice, and served with a chilli and coriander dipping sauce. 

Chilli Squid

I do like this dish and I was not disappointed, really tasty squid and the dipping sauce is the perfect accompaniment.

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Lentils and Sausages

Lentils and Sausages

I did some sausages with lentils. For the lentils I cooked some pancetta with onions, red pepper and mushrooms, before making a sauce. I added some garlic puree, tomato puree and a Knorr chicken stock pot into the pan, and then I added some water. When the sauce was finished, I added the cooked lentils from a carton. I really like the Cirio lentils that come in the Tetra Recart™ pack. These are ready to use and once added to the pan, they just need heating through. The sausages I cooked in the oven, when they were done I sliced the sausages and added them to the lentils.

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Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

This time I went with the cheaper chicken donburi over the duck I would usually have. I did though add an extra, with a fried egg on top.

Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

I do like the donburi dish, the combination of flavours and textures make for a tasty dish. The chicken was nice, tender and had a nice flavour. The egg was slightly overcooked, but added to the experience. I enjoyed this dish.

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Burrata and tomato salad

Burrata and tomato salad

I really like this simple salad of fresh Italian burrata cheese with tomatoes. 

I take a selection of tomatoes, I really like the Isle of Wight Heirloom Tomatoes that you can get in some supermarkets. These I slice thinly. I surround the drained burrata cheese. The salad is then dressed with salt, pepper, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.

Sometimes I use a balsamic glaze instead of the white wine vinegar. Another option is the addition of torn fresh basil leaves to the salad. I always tear up my basil leaves ever since seeing Jamie Oliver on a TV advertisement saying they should be torn and not cut. Still don’t know if that’s right, or that was just a Jamie Oliver thing… I am sure I have seen Gordon Ramsey chop up basil with a knife.

Burrata is an exquisite Italian fresh cheese with a unique texture. It starts with a pouch of fresh mozzarella, which is then filled with a rich, creamy mixture of stracciatella—shredded mozzarella curds and cream. The name “burrata” comes from the Italian word for “buttered,” which perfectly describes its luxurious consistency. When sliced open, the firm outer shell gives way to a soft, spilling interior. This creates a delightful contrast between the solid exterior and the milky, buttery filling.

Delicious.