Abeno Too

Loved this unique experience with my wife while traveling in London. Great small venue, very personalized experience, and very tasty food to boot! I’d highly recommend for pre theater dining given the location.

Great fun super casual concept restaurant serving okonomiyakis on the hotplate in front of you. Have been there dozens of times, it only drops a star because service can be a little slow and the place is a little basic. But a real gem and great food addition to the area.

I went to Abenk Too with two other girls for dinner today. One of them found this place and told me that they are specialised in Okonomi-​yaki and I was surprised that there is this kind of restaurant in London cuz I haven’t had Okonomi-​yaki for so long.
We thought it will be quite cheap just because Okonomi-​yaki is so thing cheap in Japan. However we found out that we are wrong when we looked at the menu.
I ordered the regular London Mixed Okonomi-​Yaki (with salmon bacon and cheese I think). I have to say if you think that you will be full with one regular one, you are wrong. The regular one i ordered costs almost £16 however it is just a lot smaller than what I think it would be.
I also shared with the soba with omelette as well. I’m not really impressed to be honest. However it is quite rare to find these things in London.
I probably not gonna go again cuz I think for what it is, the price is a bit too high. Okonomi-​yaki is supposed to be cheap and easy food.
In general the service wasn’t impressive as well. I will probably prefer they get things cooked in the kitchen rather than in front of me. It just makes me feel like I’m watching a performance.

Food was amazing! The Tokyo okonomiyaki was delicious and perfectly prepared right in front of me on the teppanyaki. I had a tofu salad with it which was also good. The wait was a bit long, but generally it was worth it.

I have had Okonomiyaki is many places across Japan, from the multipurpose frontroom/​eatery of a Hiroshima chef, to a fine dining restaurant in Yokohoma, and I’ve greatly enjoyed them all.
Since then I’ve eaten at Abeno on three occasions and each time has been excellent.
For the uninitiated Okonomiyaki is a style of stuffed pancake, made either with or without a noodle bed. I strongly recommend the noodles be added.
The service isn’t fast, if you sit in the windows, but at the bar it’s usually fine.
Nothing is too pricey but it’s certainly not a cheap place either. I had a Tofu night taking the Agadashi-​dofu, Tofu and Avocado Gyoza and a Tofu Deluxe okonomiyaki, the quantity of food was very filling (I’m a big eater) and washed down with a beer it still all came to shy of £30.
Strictly walk in and they don’t hold tables so you need your whole party with you as you arrive.

I only give this place a star because the food was not awful and I am required by Unilocal to give it at least one star. If I could I would give it NO stars. The service was honestly terrible. Let’s start out with the fact that my friend and I ordered cocktails and the waiter, Thomas, spent 5 minutes trying to convince us to get sake instead. He sat there explaining to us what sake is as if we were idiots. After the third «no, I would like _​_​_​_​», he finally just got us what we ordered. However, I am convinced the drink I was served actually had no alcohol in it, and same with my friend’s drink. As for food, all I ordered was prawns and rice and it took an hour (no exaggeration) for my meal to come. My friend ordered chicken and rice and it took hers 45 minutes to come. It never should’ve taken 45 minutes to begin with but I can’t understand why essentially the same meal only with different types of meat would not be brought out at the same time. I am visiting from the states and these types of meals are made on grills in front of the customer within 5 minutes. The wait time was unacceptable. Not to mention the waiter avoided me and never gave me an update as to the status of my meal. Finally, I asked him «is my food almost ready?» At that point he went and retrieved my meal from the kitchen immediately which leads me to believe it was ready but no one ever thought to bring it out to the customer.
So I finally get my meal, and the waiter then comes over and says that his manager wants us to buy their «specialty». We gave blank stares that clearly indicated we weren’t interested and then I watched for the next 10 minutes the manager and the waiter speaking and looking in our direction. The behavior of all of the staff was bizarre. This is the worst customer service I’ve experienced since being in the UK for 3 days. To top it off, when I finally got my meal, another waitress came over and took all the sauces from in front of me and gave them to another customer. This restaurant sucks. Waste of my hard earned money.

Terrible service! My boyfriend and I decided to try Abeno Too on a Friday night. There was a long queue at the door, and we were at the front of the queue. There was a sign at the door that says that the table seats by the Windows are meant for groups of three or more after 5.30pm, so we assumed that the other seats in the restaurant were for any group size. However, they decided to skip us and show the group of three behind us first (and the seats were not by the Windows)! Isn’t that what a queue is for? It took them some time before they came back for us (despite empty seats) and we got quite frustrated.
We decided to order the Tokyo Mix and Inaka Mix in Super Deluxe size. The few pieces of prawns, squid and a few thin slices of pork which were stuck together in the overcooked okonomiyaki did not justify the price at all! We left the restaurant feeling full and sick and agreed that we will never come back again.

We have walked past this place a few times and watched them making the Okonomi-​yaki. Tonight was perfect because we had two hours to kill before a play, and knew this place could be slow.
We shared a regular size London Mix with noodles, and a large Tokyo Mix; plenty of food for one big eater and one not so much. I asked if I could substitute prawns instead of salmon on the London Mix, and he said yes, but they ‘may have to charge an extra £1′.
We were seated at the counter, on the most godawful seats I’ve ever sat on for a meal. They are boxes with no backs and barely enough legroom for your shoes to point straight, and too high for your feet to touch the floor, and no footrest. The bench holds four so if others are seated next to you, you can’t push the box away from the counter any further without disturbing the other couple.
The £1 for the prawn substitution was of course on the bill, but now I was pissed off about it because I got three tiny prawns which had to have cost less than the salmon I gave up. And here’s my main gripe. The prices are insane. The portion size of the meal is fine, but the portion size of the more expensive ingredients (prawns, pork, bacon) is tiny. They are making a huge markup on what the food actually costs them. Also, if we had both ordered the regular size (ironically called ‘deluxe size’) and without the noodles, then it would not have been nearly enough food.
We enjoyed the fanfare of watching them make it, but at the end of the day it was a bunch of ingredients that didn’t really come together into anything outstanding. It was tasty, but no tastier than getting a chow mein or dense omelette type meal in a Chinese or Japanese restaurant for half the price. If prices were reasonable we would definitely go there once in a while. I guess being in a prime spot they get a lot of tourists (especially when they look it and see the show), so I’m sure they will survive just fine without the locals.
The host, who may also have been the manager, was exceptional. He greeted us with a smile, and checked up on us during and after the meal. Our chef was nice enough, even if he did forget the cheese until I reminded him (and possibly the noodles too until I mentioned them also). Having nice staff helped to make the experience just fine, but not enough to pay £20 for a London Mix with noodles. The ‘super deluxe’ Tokyo Mix was £15, which I guess isn’t quite as outrageous.
If you are going for the experience, can handle the prices, and love sitting on boxes, then you should give it a shot. But I can’t recommend it.

It’s like eating a giant appetizer by yourself.
Let me be upfront, to my tastes, this place was a 2 star, and I didn’t think the value was that great either, nor was the food nutritious. But the extra star is for fanfare and spectacle of the guy making the dish in front of you, the novelty and the decent service.
That said, I had the spinach and cheese Okonomi Yaki, and well… it’s just some dough, cheese, and egg fried into a pancake and covered in mayo and sauce. I don’t know what your definition of food is, but for me that’s not something that ANYONE needs a stomach full of. If I had had a small slice of it as an appetizer, I think I would have actually liked it. By the time I got to the bottom of the whole dish of a fried cheese pancake I couldn’t stand to be in the restaurant a second longer.

I came here on a friend’s recommendation, and I was pleasantly surprised. When I first heard of the concept of an okonomiyaki I was a bit skeptical — I mean, a savory pancake? How good can that be? Well, I can tell you that Abeno Too has definitely changed my perspective and I’m proud to say I’ve become a major fan of this Japanese specialty.
It didn’t take us long to get seated on a Sunday evening, which was great considering I was pretty hungry. The place is small, though, and when we went it was also fairly packed so just be prepared to wait (definitely worth!). My friend and I ultimately decided to go for a large Tokyo Mix (pork, squid, prawn) with a side order of Onigiri Shake (salmon rice balls). The Tokyo Mix was AMAZING. The squid and prawn had a pleasant taste amidst the rest of the pancake and the pork brought the perfect flavor to the dish on the whole. I also really love that they make the dish in front of you, which definitely brought the experience here to a whole new level. The onigiri shake was a bit disappointing though — or at least it didn’t quite meet my expectations, especially after tasting the wonderful okonomiyaki. It was a bit bland in my opinion, but then again what can you really expect from rice balls?
Overall I really really enjoyed my experience here, and I definitely plan to come back! (Just for the okonomiyaki, and maybe the chance to try another side.)

Oishi!
Super friendly staff serve up Japanese comfort food in the heart of London. What’s not to like? Nothing.

Schade, dass es nicht viele Okonomiya Restaurants in Europa gibt, denn Okonomiya sind schon echt lecker! Die Preise sind hier etwas gehoben, das Lokal ist sehr gut besucht. Reservieren kann man soweit ich weiss nicht, denn nur wer sich anstellt, dem wird auch ein Platz angeboten.
Habe bei der letzten Reise mit meinem Freund dekadent den Magen gefüllt — von Edamame, Yaki Gyoza und Calpico über Okonomiya Osaka und London Style zum Grünen Tee Eis haben wir die Speisekarte rauf und runtergegessen! Ich finde es klasse, dass man sehen kann wie das eigene Essen vor einem hinbrutzelt und es immer köstlicher riecht! Alles wird frisch zubereitet vor den Augen der Gäste zubereitet, klasse! Die Kellner sind zurückhaltend freundlich, aber man kann auch einen netten Plausch mit ihnen halten.
Der einzige Minuspunkt, wie auch schon in den vorherigen Posts erwähnt: Man riecht nach dem Besuch im Abeno Too SEHR nach Essen, nein, vollkommen danach! Kleidung lüften ist also nach einem Besuch angesagt.

If you haven’t had okonomiyaki before, I would recommend trying it at least once. It’s definitely not a Japanese dish I see very often, and this place almost exclusively serves okonomiyaki.
I came here with two colleagues. You have to be aggressive about seating here, since they need all of your party to be here. Don’t have stragglers as friends! There is limited seating here. You can also sit around the bar area, but there are some individual tables near the window.
The ventilation here is pretty bad since they are cooking the food in front of you. The room gets very smoky very quickly so if you don’t like odors or smoke, I would recommend another restaurant.
I got the okonomiyaki with kimchi and pork. It was a good size meal, very filling. The meat was a little strange since it was basically slabs of bacon baked into the dish but it wasn’t bad. There are lots of different sauces to try topping your okonomiyaki with, like Japanese mayonnaise.
It’s not the cheapest of meals but it won’t break the bank.

An outstanding meal.
The food is delicious and hearty. For about 40 quid, the missus and I had three starters, two beers and one ‘super deluxe’ entrée (and trust me, that one entrée will most likely be enough for almost any two people). So, I think the value is pretty good as well. The flavor combinations of their ‘omelette’ creations are wonderful. The starters, which featured a lot of veggies, were fresh and tasty.
The service is efficient and adequate. Given that the servers are also the food preparers they don’t have time for small talk — which is fine with me.
The place itself is compact but I didn’t necessarily feel cramped.
Definitely worth a visit.

I’ve never been to a restaurant like this before. Sure, I’ve had meats grilled in front of me, but never anything like this. It was great to see our server mixing up our Tokyo mix (pork, prawn, and squid) and watched her do her magic on the grill. Maybe 10 – 15 minutes later, we were gobbling it all up. The okonomiyaki we got had all the fixins on it and we even added extra noodles on top.
We also ordered an Om-​soba which was essentially yaki-​soba wrapped inside of an egg omelette. I felt this was a bit bland, for some reason the flavor didn’t pop as much as the okonomiyaki.
All in all, a pretty good experience. Service was a little slow at the start and at the end and the kicker… you’ll definitely need to shower after your visit here because you will reek of Asian food!

Love this place! the food was so tasty. A great place if you want Japanese, but not the usual sushi.
Also, not a bad price at all, especially considering we had a beer each and it’s in Covent Garden!
Overall we had a great time and really enjoyed the food and atmosphere.

Love it!
A small place right off Charing Cross Road which makes delicious Japanese pancakes (Okonomiyaki). The place is very simple inside — large bar table in the centre which is also a hob — on which your pancakes are cooked in front of you — with some side tables with hobs also. I prefer bar table, as you can easily peek into other people’s food and see if it looks good (it all looks good.). Food makes up for the simplicity of the place — delicious juicy mixture of egg, tempura batter, filling of choice (and they’ve got a good choice!), cabbage, ginger and spring onions.
My personal favourite is squid okonomiyaki, but eventually I’ll go there for breakfast and try their omelettes (because they look delicious too…)

Abeno too was a really intersting experience. I discovered it while walking from Leicester Square to Covent Garden and wanted to eat there because it looked really nice. I looked it up on Unilocal and the fold looked amazing too.
Today we finally went there and we weren’t disappointed! We tried three different japanese omelets and all three of them were really good. Maybe even better than the food is the way it is served: they prepare it at the table. Special praise goes to the extremely friendly staff: the boy who was cooking our food made friendly conversation while he was cooking so we weren’t awkwardly sitting there. we ended up paying 15 pounds per person for the onomiyaki and a drink each.
Overall this was really a fun experience and I would definitely advise you to give it a go.
P. s. They have a lovely solution for bags and coats: you can put them inside the «benches» you’re sitting on. I challenge you to leave your phone in there! (But do obviously quickly grab it when the food is ready)

Believe it or not, I had never tried Onomi… okonomi… well, those Japanese omelettes before, so I decided to try out this well-​recommended Abeno Too place just off Leicester Square.
1^st tip: avoid going there when it’s hot.
As they prepare your dishes on hot plates in front of you, it quickly gets VERY hot.
Atmosphere:
Abeno Too is not a posh place, it’s actually a bit grubby. You get seated on massive trunks in which you have put your bags in beforehand (genius idea, by the way) and get to watch people’s food getting prepared.
Luckily we didn’t have to queue to get seated, however when we left there was about a 15min wait.
Food:
We started off with avocado/​tofu gyoza that were really tasty, the mix goes down very well.
Then I went for the Tokyo Mix Japanese omelette that had pork (BACON), squid and shrimps, the other half went for the spicy alternative.
Like I said above, this is prepared in front of you on the hot plates. The chefs do a meticulous job of serving you a delicious looking dish, topped with Japanese mayonnaise and those fish-​flake things that are just delicious.
It was nice, although maybe a bit bland — but that may be down to the recipe. But fear not, I did enjoy the Japanese mayo and sauces (maybe a bit too much).
Sadly, my appetite did not let me jump on that Matcha ice cream or Sake — but I will definitely be back to try them out soon.
Drumroll:
— I loved: the concept, the atmosphere, the menu, the tasty food
— I didn’t love as much: although the benches were a cool idea, you did get a sore bum after a while. The service itself left a bit to be desired as our cook did not smile once — shame.

Okonomiyaki. I love saying the word more than actually eat it.
For people who don’t know what it is, it’s basically an egg pancake (like an omelette, but different, clear?!) with different recipes. You can choose fish, seafood, meat, mushrooms, that sort of stuff. It’s far more difficult to explain it rather than eating it, just go to the damn place and eat it, would you?!
The place takes no reservations, but sincerely we just waited for 5 minutes before getting the table, even if I was with my parents. It’s important as you basically have a choice between two kind of seatings: on small tables next to the window for 4 people, or at the counter right in front of the cook. As my parents are not english speaking, I opted for the table, but if you are two people you should really stay at the counter, you can chat with your neighbors and enjoy a very good time!
Nevertheless, we had a good amount of dishes, natto beans omelettes as appetizers, Okonomiyaki as main and hot dessert! The food is good, but not that great in my opinion. But that’s not a problem of the place, it’s my fault, Okonomiyaki it’s not one of my favorite dishes (probably it’s the japanese famous dish I like less). But this place, as Alex wonderfully explained, it’s just funny! the waiter preparing dishes in front of you it’s funny, the thing you use for cutting the omelette, funny, the glass for the cold sake, funny!
I’d suggest to come here with your boy/​girl/​whatever-​friend, but not for a date, as this place is noisy and smelly, and please… avoid to bring your children, the hot metal plate in front of them is HOT!

Food should be fun and okono-​miyaki certainly ticks that box. Fellow Unilocaler Ray C and I hit up Abeno Too for dinner — there’s counter seating with an innovative bench into which you stick your bags and coats and then sit on it
The fun is of course to watch your food being cooked on the hot plate in front of you. To that end, we went for a variety of dishes, all requiring cooking in front of us
We started with an omelette containing natto beans — fermented soya, described as Japanese Marmite on the menu, not because it has the same flavour as Marmite but rather because it’s something you’ll love or hate. I found them OK but it was an interesting start to the meal
Then came the okono-​miyaki. We went for Osaka and London mixes, which covered a multitude of meat and seafood fillings. They were both yummy — the mix is cooked into a shape reminiscent ot tortilla and then the toppings are put on — okono-​miyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, powdered seaweed and bonito flakes, which dance on the top for extra entertainment. Both were tasty but I think the London just edged it for me — bacon and cheese never goes wrong in combo!
It would have been rude not to have dessert to finish off the meal. We went for a Japanese hotcake that was cooked on the griddle. It contained Aduki bean mash and Japanese rice cakes, which both added differents textures to the hotcake
A fun evening

Muy rica la comida, pero el servicio es muy lento. Merece la pena ir tranquilamente por la noche y disfrutarlo sin prisa.

C’est chez Abeno que j’ai découvert les okonomiyaki, il y a maintenant 6 – 7 ans.
Je me souviens encore des lieux (ce qui est plutôt rare chez moi), de ces curieuses plaques chauffantes qui trônaient au beau milieu des tables.
7 ans plus tard, me voilà de retour à Londres pour un courte journée, et Abeno s’impose comme passage obligé dans ma journée minutée. Cette fois-​ci, je décide de tester Abeno Too.
Première impression: l’arrangement de la salle diffère, la majorité des places sont autour d’un grand bar, mais l’accueil est toujours aussi poli et chaleureux, japonais avec une petite touché anglaise.
Il est recommandé de mettre ses affaires dans d’énormes malles… Sur lesquelles on s’assoit. Autant dire qu’il vaut mieux prévoir son coup, pour né pas se retrouver comme moi à déranger tout le monde pour récupérer telle ou telle chose au fur et à mesure du repas.
Les prix sont corrects, et il est possible de choisir la taille de son okonomiyaki selon votre appétit. Le personnel se fait un plaisir de vous conseiller.
De mémoiré, j’ai pris une grande Osaka Okonomiyaki.
Ici, ce sont les serveurs qui préparent pour vous (contrairement à Abeno), vous n’avez qu’à regarder, humer, et fantasmer sur l’expérience culinaire qui se prépare. Petit problème: l’épreuve dure longtemps, très longtemps.
En effet, j’étais venue ici pour un déjeuner qui se voulait court, mais j’y ai passé presque 2h… La préparation des ingrédients a été très longue, puis ensuite ce fut au tour de la cuisson… Chaque apparition de la serveuse était auréolée de l’espoir qu’elle vienne vous délivrer, mais non, il était seulement question de vérifier la cuisson…
— Malgré tout, Abeno Too reste une expérience à faire ! Il surpasse de loin les quelques restaurants d’okonomiyaki de la rue Sainte-​Anne (Paris). Quant à l’attente, elle est plus que méritée, il faut seulement né pas être pressé et profiter !
J’aurais bien voulu tester leurs desserts au macha et à l’azuki mais… Plus faim !

S’engouffrer chez Abemo Too, c’est un peu comme pénétrer dans les entrailles vibrantes d’une cantine nippone. Et pour commencer, on apprendra à y faire la queue dans le froid ou dans l’encoignure de la porte d’entrée, en essayant de se faire le plus plat possible pour né pas gêner les aller et venues des serveurs qui semblent tous pris d’une frénésie névrotique. Ah ca y est, vous avez réussi à vous glisser jusqu’à ce morceau du long comptoir en U qui occupe tout l’espace. Glissez vos affaires dans la haute malle qui vous sert de siège et ouvrez grand vos yeux, le spectacle commence C’est dans une atmosphère presque électrique, surchargée de divines effluves que le concept de la maison vous est expliquée. Et oui car Abemo Too, c’est d’abord un concept, celui des Okonomiyaki. En version sous-​titrée, d’épaisses crêpes de sarrasin garnies de tout ce que la cuisine asiatique compte de merveilles. Crevettes, seiches, porc, canard, tofu, racines de lotus, thon, champignons, un méli-​mélo d’ingrédients parmi lesquels vous aurez la difficile tâche de choisir la juste combinaison. Mais rassurez-​vous, faire votre choix sera la seule épreuve de la soirée puisqu’à partir de maintenant, accrochez-​vous au comptoir et contemplez ! C’est armée de deux spatules au look de pelles à tarte que la petite serveuse debout au milieu du comptoir (avec plaques de cuisson encastrées) entre en scèné. Né vous fiez pas à son air inoffensif, la voila prête à entrer en transe ! Car c’est bien en deux temps trois mouvements qu’elle s’amuse à amalgamer un œuf, de gros morceaux de poulpe, de la pâte à crêpe, du gingembre, des oignons et j’en passé dans un show acrobatique et en minimum 5 dimensions. La crêpe est étalée, retournée, découpée à grand coup de spatules tandis que c’est une farandole d’épices et de sauces qui viennent joyeusement se mêler à la scénographie générale qui s’offre juste sous votre nez. On dirait même que les copeaux de thon prennent vie tant ils dansent et virevoltent dans la chaleur de la plaque de cuisson sur un fond sonore de crépitements et des piaillements d’asiatiques qui s’y pourlèchent les doigts. Et en bouche qu’est ce que ca donne? Du génie saveurs, fondant, parfum, tout y est en harmonie parfaite pour un résultat unique et qui justifie à lui seul disons le clairement un week-​end à Londres.

Erster Okonomiyakiladen in Europa den ich besucht habe. Ist wie in Japan, naja Osaka. Ich mag zwar lieber Okonomiyaki nach Hiroshimaart, aber das passt schon.
Nicht ganz günstig aber authentisch!

kannte Okonomiyaki bisher noch nicht, wurde durch einen Geschäftspartner hierher eingeladen und bin wirklich überrascht worden — alles frisch bis lebendig (ergo nichts für empfindliche Gemüter)und sehr schmackhaft zubereitet.
Klare Empfehlung !
Preise sind für Londoner Verhältniisee wirklich übersichtlich

Nettes kleines japanisches Restaurant, dessen Spezialität Okonomiyaki sind: Omelettes mit diversen Zutaten, die direkt am Tisch auf heißer Platte frisch zubereitet werden. Übersetzt heißt das Gericht übrigens sinngemäß: Was du willst, Hauptsache gegrillt :)
Die Auswahl ist demnentsprechend vielseitig, von Gemüse über Fisch zu Fleisch gibts alles. So kann man sich dann auch sein britisches Frühstück (Bacon, Eggs, Cheese) japanisch pimpen lassen.
Die Bedienung ist ausgesprochen freundlich und erklärt auch, wie das mit der Bestellung und Zubereitung so funktioniert. Bei den frischen Zutaten sollte man Rücksicht auf sein Gegenüber nehmen, nicht jeder möchte dem Tintenfisch des Nachbarn noch Adieu sagen, bevor er (der Fisch!) im geschlagenen Ei badet. Uah.
Die Krönung des ganzen ist dann die Dekoration mit einer Vielzahl von Soßen, die aus dem Essen ein Kunstwerk macht.
Jedenfalls: LECKER! Und satt wird man auch. Vom Unterhaltungsfaktor ganz zu schweigen!
Kleiner Minuspunkt, für den natürlich das Lokal nichts kann: durch das Braten direkt am Tisch riechen die Klamotten danach noch spürbar nach Frittenbude. Schade!