Alan Carter enjoys a taste of Japan, despite the crush

WAGA - WHAT?

Wagamama. A chain of noodle restaurants modelled allegedly on traditional Ramen bars in Japan, they've got numerous branches in London and have been branching out into the rest of the UK in recent years. Oxford is something like their 51st.

They've taken over a site in Market Street, off Cornmarket. Once arguably Oxford's most unprepossessing city centre pub, the Roebuck, it's also been a pretty grim Oz theme bar and more recently the Market Tavern.

AND WHAT'S IT LIKE?

White walls, stainless steel, bright lighting, lots of pale wood. The kitchen and service area is open to the restaurant itself, and you sit on benches at long wooden tables.

It's bright and buzzing - but probably not the ideal choice for a romantic smoochy dinner for two. It's a lot smaller than the London branches and when we went, early on a midweek evening, it was heaving. One downside, if you end up queuing for seats as we did, is that there's no bar, or anywhere to sit and wait for a space.

SO WHAT'S THE BIG ATTRACTION?

The food! It's cooked to order and has that particular zing that comes from dishes made from scratch from fresh ingredients. They make widespread use of things like fresh coriander, ginger, chillies and red onion. One downside is that dishes appear at random, as they are cooked, so polite British waiting-until-everyone's-been-served-before-tucking-in has to go out the window.

AND WHAT DID YOU HAVE?

We chose a chicken katsu curry (deep fried chicken fillet with a curry sauce and sticky rice, which came with a salad and red pickles), chicken ramen (noodles in soup topped with grilled chicken and vegetables), chicken kare lomen (featuring a spicy soup of lemongrass, coconut milk, chillies and ginger) and yaki udon (thick fried noodles with a host of additions including chicken and prawns).

Purely in the name of selfless research, we also had a side order of three small skewers of grilled chicken in yakitori sauce and some steamed, grilled vegetable dumplings which came with a sweet ginger soy sauce.

It all hit several spots, and disappeared in record time, washed down with Asahi and Kirin beer and Wagamama's peppery - and free - green tea.

Throwing caution to the winds, we ventured on to the sweets menu, sharing a bowl of mango and lychee sorbets, and a white chocolate and ginger cheesecake that had us fighting to get more than our fair share.

Service throughout was fast, friendly and efficient. During our 15-minute wait for a table, the waiter was at pains to keep us up to speed on when we would get to sit down.

AND THE VERDICT?

We'll be back, but hope the queues die down, or they find space for a waiting area.

The bill One yaki udon £7.15 One chicken kare lomen £8.20 One chicken katsu curry £7.75 One chicken ramen £7.15 One gyoza £4.50 One negima yakitori £4.95 One sorbet £3.05 One cheesecake £4.50 One Coca Cola £1.85 Two Asahi beers £8.80 One Kirin beer £4.60 TOTAL: £62.50