Awabi Japanese Restaurant

On Wednesday, September 7, 2010, I spotted an "OPEN" sign at 111 South Loudoun Street, the location of the Awabi Sushi Bar, a new Japanese Restaurant. Now, although I like Oriental food, I am not fond of Sushi. However, after studying the menu posted on the window, I saw that regular entrees were also available, and decided to try the place for lunch.

There were no other patrons. I was greeted by the single waitress present, who appeared to be Japanese, and had a seat. The lunch menu is served from 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM. I paid no attention to the numerous sushi offerings, but looked at the items I could understand.

Under the heading of tempura, assorted, vegetable, or shrimp were listed. For teriyaki, chicken, beef, or salmon were the choices. I decided on the teriyaki chicken and ordered it. I was first served a lettuce salad with a peanut butter dressing.

The main dish was served on a square platter. It held a generous amount of stir-fried chunks of chicken in teriyaki sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds. There was a rice ball, two pieces of broccoli, and a couple of carrot chips. The chicken was good, but the amount took me quite a while to eat all of it.

The dinner menu is available from 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM, Monday-Friday, 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM on Saturday, and 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM on Sunday. It is more elaborate than the lunch menu. For menus and the sushi list, go to www.awabisushi.com. The premises had obviously been remodeled for Awabi, and had a look of newness for everything. It had a high-rise table in each front window, with bar stools for seating.

The sushi bar was along the left wall, also with bar stools. Conventional seating was at four rectangular tables seating four. The floor was a light variety of hardwood; the walls had tongue and groove wainscoting, and the rest of the walls and the ceiling were white. With the plate glass windows facing east, the place had an airy and light appearance.

To the best of my knowledge, Awabi is the first Japanese restaurant in Old Town Winchester. The waitress told me that they had been open for about two months. After I had been there for a while, another patron sat at a table behind mine. Later, two people came in for sushi. Still later, a young couple came in and sat at one of the high-rise tables.