[Guest Blog] Abeno Too

After years of continuous eating, the Girl Who Has To Eat has been
spurred on to create her own food guide & blog. Based in London, you
can read about her fabulous (and sometimes not so fabulous) culinary
adventures in her restaurant reviews on her blog, A Girl Has to Eat. Today, she is going to share with us her review of a visit to Abeno Too, a Japanese okonomiyaki restaurant in London.

Okonomiyaki, in case you didn’t know, is a Japanese pan-fried batter cake, similar to a cross between a pancake and an omelette, and packed with a filling of your choice and cooked over a hot plate in front of you. In Japanese ‘okonomi’ means ‘what you like/want’ and ‘yaki’ means ‘grilled’, so it’s basically a ‘grilled whateveryouwant’. Finished with Japanese mayonnaise (which is richer and creamier than typical Western mayonnaise), okonomiyaki sauce (similar to Worcestershire sauce but slightly sweeter), aonori (fine seaweed flakes) and bonito fish flakes (katsuobushi) which amusingly curl up on contact with the heat as if they were blushing, it all makes for a delicious, satisfying meal, especially if you fill it with ‘whateveryouwant’. It’s like food for the soul, warm and filling, and was one of the ultimate comfort foods for me, back during the freezing winter months when I was an exchange student in Japan.

Salmon okonomiyaki with blushing bonito flakes

So when I arrived in London and discovered Abeno, Europe’s only specialist okonomiyaki restaurant at the time, I rejoiced. Hidden away on Museum Street near the British Museum, I use to show it off to my friends, all of whom were uninitiated in the ways of grilling ‘whateveryouwant’, so that they could try this unheard-of Japanese specialty. Invariably I would allow myself a little pat on the back in recognition of the fact that I was introducing them to a secret little cubby-hole in London, to try something new and unknown. Your browser may not support display of this image.

So when Abeno number two (spelt ‘Too’) arrived right on Great Newport Street, a busy thoroughfare in the West End, selfishly my secret sadly felt secret no more. What with their big windows and the grilling of the okonomiyaki visible to all, every Tom, Dick and Harry would see it and possibly eat there. Thus it seemed there would be no more opportunities for arm-twisting acts of contortion to self congratulate. Still, Abeno Too looked inviting too, always ever so busy whenever I walked past it on route to and from Covent Garden. So after some pubbing in Covent Garden with a friend who was yet to be initiated (yes!), some grilled ‘whateveryouwant’ seemed just the perfect thing to satiate my ego.

Although Abeno Too is the second branch of the original, more traditional Japanese looking Abeno, it feels barely Japanese, with sparsely a touch of the Japanese in the rectangular dining room. If you didn’t know it is Japanese, you wouldn’t necessarily be any wiser looking at it either. It’s basic and bare, and the wooden boxed seating is designed for minimum comfort. Tables are dominated by a big hotplate for the grilling of the ‘whateveryouwant’, so very little space is left for the actual act of eating… but you just make do. The okonomiyaki at Abeno Too comes in a variety of ‘whateveryouwant’ choices; seafood, meats, etc, and in too (oops two) sizes: the deluxe (from £7.80 to £22.80) and the larger super deluxe (from £9.80 to £42.00). For additional choice and an additional £4.50, you can order noodles to go on top, to create what is known as a modern yaki.

We settled on the super deluxe ‘Sapporo mix’ - a combination of squid, prawn, salmon and corn - and greedily also ordered the noodles atop (total £19.50). The menu is also littered with a choice of soba (noodle) and rice dishes, side dishes, and teppanyaki, etc, and as girls have to eat, we also had the salmon sashimi (£6.95) and tempura kakiyagi (£7.50) (black tiger prawns, onion and asparagus) whilst waiting for the okonomiyaki to grill in front of our eyes. The sashimi was fresh, but was cut from an irregular triangular piece of fish, and at only five pieces was a bit pricey at £6.95.

Salmon sashimi

The tempura was interestingly made from a mix of diced prawns, onion, and asparagus, rather than individual pieces of prawn and veggies. Tasty as fried foods go, the batter was too thick and heavy to be truly authentic.

Tempura kakiyagi

And now, to the thing I really wanted: the okonomiyaki. This was as good as they come, reminiscent of the ones I use to have in my good old Tokyo days: warm and hearty in the middle, with a spectrum of flavour from the fleshy salmon, prawns and squid, and deliciously finished off with the creamy mayo, slightly sweet/savoury okonomiyaki sauce and the curly, delicate bonito flakes which I adore. Disappointing though were the added noodles; undercooked, they proved chewy and hard to eat and resulted in me leaving them to one side.

Okonomiyaki with creamy mayo

Our meal was rounded off with the Hoji-cha - roasted Japanese tea. At 60p, it’s pretty cheap (although there are no free refills) and with a real nutty flavour, it’s well worth a try. The service was functional, but probably not as efficient as I would have liked. When you have to look up once or twice and wave to get noticed, it feels just a tad like hard work. But would I go again? Well, yes. For two people, two reasonably priced deluxe okonomiyakis to share would prove quite satisfying, and you wouldn't really need any additional side dishes to fill you up. And if you avoid the noodles that go on top, there’s potentially enough to fill your belly at no more than about £10 each.

So there, I’ve shared it with you all. My secret is definitely a secret no more.

Summary information

Food rating: 7/10
Service rating: 6/10
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Approximate price bracket - about £15 - £20 for a deluxe okonomiyaki and one side dish. Excludes drinks and service.

Abeno One at:
47 Museum Street
London WC1A 1LY
Tel: +44 (0)20 7405 3211
Web: http://www.abeno.co.uk/index.html

Abeno Too at:
17-18 Great Newport Street
London WC2H 7JE
Tel: +44 (0)20 7379 1160
Web: http://www.abeno.co.uk/index_too.html

Please, visit A Girl Has to Eat for more fabulous London restaurant reviews.