The UN of food: Japanese at Abeno

Restaurant review for Abeno, Japanese okonomoyaki restaurant in London.

So you think you know Japanese food? You’re familiar with sushi and sashimi, maybe even tempura and teriyaki beef? Well what about okonomoyaki?

This is my new favourite Japanese food and the place to go in London is Abeno in Bloomsbury. It’s usually not too busy but it’s worth booking ahead if you have more than four people. If you can’t get into Abeno, there’s always Abeno Too near Leicester Square, which doesn’t take bookings.

The tables have hot plates in the centre and the wait staff will cook the okonomoyaki in front of you. It’s basically Japanese omelette but with delicious ingredients such as squid. Tokyo mix with prawn, bacon and squid really hits the spot for me, while Kiso mix – lotus root, mushroom and cheese – is my favourite of the vegetarian dishes.

There are plenty of other dishes as well, such as teppanyaki (meat and vegetables cooked on the hot plate) and om soba (fried noodles wrapped in an omelette). The drinks selection includes delicious plum wine and a range of saki served in pretty small pottery cups. I’ve always found staff to be really friendly and prices are reasonable by London standards – reckon on about £15 a head including drinks unless you have a blow out.

Now, I do love sushi as well and my favourite place for that is Tokyo Diner. But that’s a story for another post.

Japan is the seventh country in my UN food challenge – there are 185 to go.

PS Sorry for the low quality of the pictures – the photos were taken with my mobile phone.

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