Aburiya Kinnosuke Lunch Review

Aburiya Kinnosuke seems to have quickly worked its way into my repeat visits list. I had dinner there just the other week, but returned recently to check out the lunch specials, which were supposed to be a good deal. Each day, there is a meat lunch, a fish lunch and a chef's special, of which only eight are available. By the time my dining companion and I arrived at 12:45, the chef's special was gone. The specials all come with soup, rice and dessert.

I decided to go with the fish lunch ($16) which came with two plates — a grilled mackerel and simmered eel cooked with egg. The mackerel was plain and simple and extremely fishy, but right up my alley. I loved the eel which was topped by scrambled eggs mixed in with a slightly sweet soy sauce (perhaps the eel sauce that often coats eel in sushi). The set also came with a small plate of pickles and a bowl of jellyfish, providing crunchy counterparts to the fish.

My dining companion ordered the Nishoku Don ($16). You get to choose two from a list of options; she chose the assorted sashimi and the baby sardines with tofu skin. Both were tasty, but my dining companion strongly felt that the ratio of "stuff" to rice was off. (Blasphemy to me! You can never have too much rice.) The baby sardines were miniscule and much milder than I had expected.

The dessert was a small bowl of mixed fruit.

My dining companion, new to town, managed to impress one of her coworkers with the choice of lunch place. Aburiya Kinnosuke is a bit hidden, but those who seek it out are rewarded well; the quality, the variety and the amount of food you get for lunch here seems like it would be hard to beat, especially in Midtown East. And the idea of trying to get here in time to sample one of the chef's specials someday will definitely bring me back again.