Abeno, 47 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LY. Tel: 0207 405 3211

 

efnic.co.uk were in London on business. Well just acting as postman to be honest dropping on some documentation to the British Museum. Seeing as it was pretty earlier I decided to stick around for a short while and had a gentle wander around the museum. It is definitely a very nice place to visit. It wasn't too crowded at this time of year. The Chinese Terracota Warriors are currently there as part of an exhibition (that has to be paid for) held in the central reading room until April 2008. I thought I would just buy the programme for the time being and come back another time to see the exhibition. I was getting hungry anyway and left to find a place called Abeno.

This is very handy for a bite to eat after you have been to the British Museum. Aside from the standard menu items this restaurant specialises in Okonomi Yaki, which is like a pancake/omelette that is cook on the hotplate in the middle of your table.

The staff were very friendly and explained everything clearly as I had never heard of it before.

I went for one the set meals that came with Miso Soup, some pickled green beans, and I had the Tokyo Mix okonomi yaki which was a mixture of egg, wheat, cabbage, squid, prawns and pork (but more like lean bacon). This was mixed and poured out into a flat pancake type shape onto the hotplate. This was covered with a lid and then the waiter left for a few minutes to serve others. On returning it was a quick flip and on with more cooking.

As a side dish I have the Tempura Kakiage that was like a criss-cross of prawns, onions and asparagus all lightly fried and it came with great dipping sauce.

When the cooking stopped you have a choice of toppings. I think the standard is to have their equivalent of brown sauce and mayonnaise on top. Then they dropped bonito flakes on to finish it off. It was weird to see the little flakes move side to side in the heat as if alive.

All very new and different. I enjoyed it but next time I might get them to lay off the brown sauce thing a bit.

I also had a cup of tea with the meal and it came to £19 including a tip I added.