Awabi — Restaurant in St. Helier

Bit harsh but I'll explain . Firstly dropped in on the off chance but a table was available as previous patrons had paid and were leaving . Drinks ordered at the bar and things initially appeared fine. Nice modern Korean vibe pleasant staff. Starter was kimchi pancake and hot and spicy aubergine. The pancake was bland and the dip had a TCP vibe. Half way through this the aubergine arrived.This was amazing highly recommended full of flavour almost worth the trip. My wife's noodles arrived we had ordered the pork and a side of kimchi. They noodles were good and the pork was great but the kimchi really raised the flavours and made it amazing . Which was good as ten minutes in and no sign of my rice bowl . Then it was taken to the wrong table who sent it back as they had ordered the kimchi version and certainly not the beef version that had turned up. We had finished my wife's noodles and complained before the rice bowl arrived. Not quite warm enough to be straight out off the pan. In fact it clearly was the bowl that made the trip to the Wrong table. So they left it cooling whilst we waited. When asked we pointed this out to the manager and she said that "She had fitted us in" seriously!!! So I think you can understand the 2 star reduction one for the terrible service and the worst excuse in the world when the restaurant was not that busy as it was the last...

Blooming superb, on all fronts;

1/ food. Wow! Not cheap but proper Asian recipes that the owner, who we met, was proper proud of. Rice bowls were nice but the fermented bean aubergine dish was totally on point.

2/ service. We arrived a bit late to a packed restaurant for lunch. But we were offered a slot at the airy bar. Perfect. Excellent banter from the highly likeable young owner who really loves what he’s created and whom mingled very well with diners.

3/ ambience and value; small restaurant but in centre of town. Locals seemed to love it. Very casual and all the more cool thanks to the 6’+ shy, but very sweet female server who oozed style and sophistication. Pricing wasn’t cheap but this is proper, cooked from scratch Asian cuisine with a service and location to match. So arguably very good value, pound for pound and home cooked unlike the chain brands.

Really enjoyed our lunch, and service and couldn’t...

Awabi is brilliant, the type of place I immediately want to go back to to eat my way through the other half of the menu. On this occasion we tried quite a lot of the small plates, which were all delicious - I'd highlight the Sichuan chicken wings and the golden sand prawns if need be, but they were all equally delicious, really. Thought we'd seen the best of it then, but the desserts almost stole the show: HK French toast oozing in condensed milk and salty custard, and 'late night cereal eaten by the fridge' (delicious crumbs with milk ice cream, and if that sounds simple, just try it and see), both outstanding. And I'm not even a dessert person. Extra shout-out to the drinks too, and generally the atmosphere - just so much love for this...