Savory Chicken Meatball and Silly $20 Minimum Charge at Aburiya Kinnosuke

When most people think of Japanese food, they conjure up images of tempura, sashimi, or sushi rolls. But Japanese cuisine is quite eclectic, and it extends beyond raw fish.

A friend and I went to Aburiya Kinnosuke, an upscale izakaya style restaurant in midtown east. The restaurant specializes in robata grilling. Aburiya rivals another izakaya restaurant nearby called Sakagura.

The restaurant's menu was written entirely in Japanese with English translation written in handwriting that was very difficult to read. Per the waiter's recommendation, we ordered Tsukune ($9.50), or grilled ground chicken. There were original and teriyaki sauce, and we chose the latter because the waiter personally liked that one better.

Tsukene was definitely a hit! Tender, savory ground chicken meat was wrapped around an asparagus stick. The meatball had sweet teriyaki sauce that was fire-grilled to the exterior, adding flavors deep into the interior as well.

The dish also came with a side of semi-cooked egg that you could dip the chicken meatball. It definitely added richness to the grilled meat. My one complain is that the portion was extremely small for the price, and it left something more to desire.

The second dish that came to the table was Cooked Salmon & Salmon Roe ($12) over a bed of rice. I personally prefer raw salmon to cooked ones because it preserves the rich, fatty taste of the fish. Besides, salmon gets really dry when cooked.

The salmon roe was salty enough that it went well with the plain rice underneath.

The dish wasn't anything too special. I probably wouldn't order it again, especially because the salmon was overcooked and tasted dry.

The third dish is probably the least aesthetically pleasing, but tasted really good. It is Mushroom Kamameshi Rice ($16). The rice is cooked in a stone pot and different kinds of mushroom is tossed into it. I didn't really understand why this dish was so expensive compared to others...

My friend and I were quite full from all the rice dishes and was ready for the check. Then the waiter surprised us by saying that there is a minimum charge of $20/person, and that we would be charged $5 extra because we didn't spend enough money. Even though we were full, we decided to order one more dish rather than getting charged extra amount for nothing.

We chose Marinated Eggplant Topped with Grated Yam and Salmon Roe ($6). The dish had such weird textures! Soft, mushy cylinders of eggplants were surrounded by the gooey grated yam.

I couldn't really look at this dish because the eggplants resembled snake body. Yikes. I am a huge fan of eggplants, but I realized I prefer them much more when grilled because these were super slimy. Perhaps I didn't like this dish because I was "forced" to order it...

I would only come back for an order of Tsukene, but since I would have to spend a minimum of $20/person, I probably won't make my second visit. I also felt like I was hit in the back of my head for finding out about this "rule" only after I had all eaten my food and was ready to pay.