This friendly Japanese restaurant on the edge of Clerkenwell serves a wide range of Japanese dishes, including sushi rolls and nigiri, but also steaming bowls of donburi, miso soup, bento boxes and more.
Easily spotted by its striking royal blue awning, Aburi sits right on the corner of King's Square Gardens, and is popular with famished students from nearby City University, as well as local workers. Sushi - ever-popular in London - is a solid option here, and Aburi is busy at lunch and dinner with guests stopping by for a quick rainbow roll snack. There's plenty more besides - maki rolls, nigiri, sashimi and inside out rolls like a roasted eel California roll and a miso black cod roll. There are also sushi sets available for those who want a mixture of things (or want to avoid the extra brain power involved in choosing from the menu).
As the UK has come to learn over the last couple of decades, Japanese food is so much more than just sushi. Aburi's a la carte shows this off with great dexterity, offering a wide spectrum of much-loved Japanese dishes, there's crispy tonkatsu cutlet, chicken teriyaki, neatly shaped tamago omelette and soft, succulent miso aubergine. That's all before you reach tempura dishes like soft shell crab and vegetable, katsu curries, and donburi bowls where steamed Japanese rice is layered with umami donburi sauce, and topped with your choice of salmon, chicken, beef or eel. Or, get stuck into a rich bowl of udon or miso ramen.
For dessert there's mango, green tea and vanilla mochi, or custard-filled doriyaki (Japanese pancakes), all washed down with a selection of sakes, plum wines, or soft drinks.