I used to spend quite a bit of time in the Renfrew-Collingwood area, and one of my favourite restaurants in that area used to be Maruyama. Sadly they have closed down now, and in it’s place is Aburi King. I’ve heard a lot about it in recent days on social media so I decided to check it out with A one day after work.
Aburi King is a Korean-run Japanese restaurant that specializes in aburi sushi and ramen.
What we ate: Fish and Chip cone – sole fish tempura, avocado, cucumber, masago, potato flakes and chef special sauce (Free, regular price $1.50 each)
They are currently having a promotion of one free fish cone per person. This was a really great bite to start the meal! The waitress puts in the order the moment you walk in so this gets served up pretty quickly. The cone itself was mostly fish and potato flakes with minimal rice (which I prefer). There was also a pretty generous slice of avocado!
What we ate: Miso Ramen – 4 pieces of pork belly, bean sprouts, green onion, lettuce, corn and egg ($10.00)
First of all I just want to say it pretty much came looking like this. The ramen egg was nicely cooked (still gooey on the inside), but that was the only redeeming point on this dish. The noodles were obviously from a package, and the soup was just way too salty. Their was little to no corn, no lettuce (which is fine, because that’s just a bit weird), and the pork belly was extremely salty – bordering on inedible. I would not order their ramen again.
What we ate: Aburi Style Oshi Sushi – Bluefin Tuna ($10.00)
This isn’t the best aburi oshi sushi I’ve had, but it’s not the worst either. I much prefer it to Victoria Sushi, but it’s still not as good as Bistro Sakana or Yui (although there is the obvious price differences). The outer pieces were just rice, but the inner two pieces had avocado in the center.
What we ate: Aburi Style Oshi Sushi – Hamachi ($10.00)
This was similar to the Bluefin Tuna. They pretty much tasted exactly the same, but again – no complaints. For the price it does the job.
What we ate: Aburi Roll – spicy tuna, spicy salmon, chopped scallop, chopped hamachi on top of an avocado cucumber roll
This roll was pretty messy to eat. It was more of a pseudo roll/nigiri hybrid. The spiciness overpowered any aburi taste, but I appreciate that the roll itself wasn’t too rice heavy.
Overall I enjoyed my dinner at Aburi King. I felt that the service was friendly, and I appreciated the frequent tea refills. It’s not going to be the best aburi sushi you’ve ever had, but if you have a craving and your wallet is hurting a little, this place will do the trick.