Aburi-EN (Suntec City)

I will recommend going for the 3-kinds buta combo jyu for first-timers. You get the best of all cuts which feature charcoal-grilled premium pork belly, pork loin and Iberico pork jowl on rice. The cuts are tender chestnut pork that is harvested from pigs that enjoy a natural diet containing chestnuts. This contributes to a tender juicy meat with a sweet nuance.

The combo comes with two slices of pork loin, three slices of pork belly and four slices of pork jowl all ‘flame seared’ to give a smokey flavour to the meat. Out of those three cuts, the loin was my favourite for its tender bite and texture. The pork belly was flavourful with a good ratio of fats and the jowl was surprisingly tougher in texture as compared to the other 》$19.50

While this dessert usually costs $4.80++, Aburi-EN served it to us free if we helped to leave a Google review on the restaurant! This applies to all other desserts on the menu as well, so feel free to take your pick!

The dish basically contains a scoop of vanilla ice cream served atop coffee jelly, with a biscuit at the side. The coffee jelly really had a pretty strong coffee flavour, so it's advisable to choose something else if coffee is really not your thing. Ice cream and the biscuit are pretty normal.

Aburi-EN was surprisingly rather empty on a Thursday night, even though the CBD area is a lot livelier now. However, we noticed that the restaurant is still pretty crowded on weekends so you may want to make a reservation then before heading down!

Attracted by the pictures of the partially-grilled meat served at Aburi-En, we decided to give their specialty dishes a try. We ordered the premium buta bara don, honestly because the picture in the menu looked so appetising and we were happy to find that the actual dish tasted great as well! The dish contains charcoal-grilled pork belly served on top of white rice, with salad at the side. The pork belly was really awesome as it had a mixture of lean and fat meat and we loved the fatty parts! The meat was covered in some sweet gravy, although the meat itself had a lightly-smoked flavour, presumably from the grill.

Our only complaint is that the dish came with rather little rice and it may not be filling for the big eaters amongst us. Nonetheless, we think the dish is pretty worth it for $16.90++ given how enjoyable the pork belly was!

The “flaming” LCD wall outside Aburi-EN always catches my attention. And the chef grilling the meats and seafood by the window made me want to go in to try something there.

Funny that I ordered their Premium Sukiyaki Don (S$24.00). Maybe the name was the draw factor, but I was a little disappointed when I could only count three slices of Wagyu beef in that bowl. No doubt the slices were not paper-thin, but it just did not feel right for me when the meat was countable to that extent.

Another point to note that the Donburi was really saucy, which meant that the rice was not so dry. Mushroom lovers would enjoy the abundance of mushrooms, which added loads of flavour to the rice bowl too.

In all honesty, I probably wouldn’t have tried @aburien.sg at Nex if it wasn’t available on @grabfoodsg. But it is due to the lockdown, so both the restaurant & I benefit. Aburi En is a specialist in barbecued pork dishes, so I naturally chose the Premium Buta Bara Don ($19.20).
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It’s a simple dish, but quite unbreakable-uh, I mean it’s quite unctuous. The grilled pork belly was generously provided by a pig that was fed on a diet of chestnuts (press F to pay respects to the piggy), and while I didn’t quite notice any difference in the taste, it was downright delicious.⠀
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It was glazed in a well balanced teriyaki sauce before getting grilled with a nice char on it. The bed of rice was simple but underrated, as it was the perfect partner to the porcine perfection. A little sticky and delightfully starchy, I couldn’t imagine wolfing down the thick pork belly without the rice.⠀
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Competently cooked carbs & piquant porcine protein. More often than not, that’s all you really need for a trip to Flavortown. And it certainly was the ticket for me.

Having tried many of their bowls from their Pork Belly Don, Aburi Salmon Don to hearty Stamina Don, I would recommend getting Aburi-EN’s Wagyu Karubi Don ($19). Especially so if you are a beef lover like me and can’t bear to splurge on their Premium Wagyu Jyu at $28. Featuring cuts of Australian boneless short rib and earthy mushrooms, the donburi was pretty worth the price as a fuss-free lunch treat that came with miso soup and pickles when dining in between 11am to 5pm. Tender, juicy and melty even, the meat had a good marbling and was skillfully grilled with a nice hint of smokiness. The slices were well-marinated and the savoury sauce added to the whole beefy experience. Top up a dollar for an onsen egg so you can coat the rice and beef for that extra silky texture.