My mentor and I had one of our infrequent sit-down lunch 2 weeks ago at a hole-in-the wall Philippino restaurant, where the food was really forgettable. However, we walked past Aburiya Kinnosuke on the way back to the office, browsed through its rather appealing lunch options and vowed to have lunch together soon. This week we made good our promises and even rounded up some other coworkers for a very pleasant lunch. Since we got there really early, we even got a semi-enclosed booth that must have been the venue of many boisterous drinking sessions during evenings, but for us provided a cool lunch spot.
There is plenty to choose from for everyone in the group. Poultry lovers can choose from teriyaki chicken and the juicy and crisp fried chicken (it got Popeye’s beat, declares Rob). Pescatarians got to choose from the daily fish set or unagi-don, while avowed red meat eaters had pork katsu and beef sukiyaki (that arrives on the table still bubbling in a claypot) to choose from. None of us picked the daily vegetarian set, but one could if they chose not to eat meat.
Darius complained that the entrees were “European sized”. I corrected him by saying that the portions were in fact Asian-sized, but could empathise. I would’ve wanted more of the chicken too. But in all fairness, we also got side-salads, pickles, a bowl of tofu, rice, miso soup and a small quivering cube of nutty sweet tofu for dessert for our $13-15 sets, so I don’t think the rest of us were suffering from inadequate food. But for heavy hitters, there are $25 and $35 set meals for a more decadent lunch.
It was a shame though that the very varied ala-carte items on AK’s dinner menu is not served during the day, but it just gives us another chance to explore this place again!
Aburiya Kinnosuke
213 E45th St (Between 2nd & 3rd Aves)
March 3, 2008 at 5:46 pm
nice- looks like i found my spot for this week’s lunch date! Ise – another japanese restaurant by 49th st (btw 3rd/Lexington)- is quite good too.