I went to a show at the Fox Theater in Uptown Oakland and stopped at Aburaya nearby for a quick dinner beforehand. Aburaya serves Japanese fried chicken dishes in a punk rock inspired space.
It’s counter service - you order at the counter and pick up your order at the front.
They also sell wine, beer, sake, and Japanese food and pantry items.
Menu
Specials Menu
I ordered the four piece fried chicken ($11) and made it into a bowl for an extra $3. The fried chicken was pretty good. They have a wide selection of sauces and dry seasonings for the chicken and I picked the garlic miso. It’s fried as karaage and is boneless but also skinless (I believe karaage usually has the skin on) and coated in potato flour. It was nicely fried with no bitter burnt bits. The meat is all thigh which was welcome, and was pretty juicy but could have had a touch more seasoning, maybe more brining/marinade? There were 4 small thighs. Since I made it into a bowl it came with some plain white rice, a simple salad of lettuce with a little vinaigrette, and cabbage. I think next time I would forgo the cabbage as it was just pieces of very coarsely chopped raw green cabbage. There was also a small container of a miso ranch dressing for the cabbage. This was a generous amount of food.
I also ordered the fried king oyster mushrooms ($5) off of the specials board. This was good too. The mushrooms, which were I think sautéed rather than deep fried, were meaty. They were in a teriyaki butter gravy which was salty and sweet with a lot of umami. This was a satisfying dinner and very reasonably priced.
