'O-bento' -- the food chain in a box

[Hachiko]

I've eaten "o-bento" before, when I visited the Bay Area a few years back. It's pretty good, and satisfying, most definitely. Here's a good, fun article on the lunch box.

You know you've turned Japanese when you can eat everything in your "o-bento." Especially if it's a funeral o-bento, built to last for three days, like the one I received recently at a "hojii" ceremony, which are like followup funerals. Today, I invite you to a grazing session through my o-bento.
First, we open the o-bento box, which looks much like a square briefcase. Personally, I wish o-bentos really were served in briefcases so you could leave the lid up for privacy while hovering with chopsticks in hand, picking through your food while wondering, "What the hell is this?"



Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040228cz.htm)

:ramen: :gulp: :beer:

[budd]

i read this, thanks

[Hachiko]

Off the deep end, but I should have placed this in the Food & Recipes section... :p

[kirei_na_me]

Moved to its new home...

[Hachiko]

Moved to its new home...

Point well taken. Thanks, kirei. :cool:

[kirei_na_me]

No problem, Hachiko.

By the way, I have recently been interested in 'ekiben', or the 'train station lunchbox'.

[Hachiko]

That's essentially a bento made for the trains and shinkansen, right? How much is it over there, in terms of type and variety?

[Haivart]

My favorite is the makunouchi bento--I never know what I'm getting. But it's always good.

[bezz]

Benmatsu (http://www.benmatsu.com/shoukai.html) is one of the oldest bento shops, since 1850.

Recent trend is the uber-bento (･2000 or so) by famous restaurants like Minokichi, Yaozen, Nadaman, Shimogamo-Saryo, etc. available at department stores in large cities.

OTOH they say that this (http://www.nrewb.com/english/products.htm) one is the absolute worst...

[Hachiko]

The first link...tasty... *drools* :ramen: :gulp: :beer:

The second link...nothing like the real thing. :bluush:

[bezz]

JinJapan has a nice ekiben article (http://www.jinjapan.org/nipponia/nipponia11/spot01.html)...
That's essentially a bento made for the trains and shinkansen, right? How much is it over there, in terms of type and variety?
This is a clickable map (http://www.ekiben.or.jp/ekiben_cen.html) of ekiben; many of them feature the local specialities.
My favorite is Siumai Bento (http://www.kiyoken.com/siumaibentou.html) at Yokohama station (http://www.jreast.co.jp/estation/stations/e_yokohama.html)...

http://www.oginoya.co.jp/fanclub/zou/kitchen/10.jpg
峠の釜めし (http://www.oginoya.co.jp/)

[Hachiko]

JinJapan has a nice ekiben article (http://www.jinjapan.org/nipponia/nipponia11/spot01.html)...

This is a clickable map (http://www.ekiben.or.jp/ekiben_cen.html) of ekiben; many of them feature the local specialities.
My favorite is Siumai Bento (http://www.kiyoken.com/siumaibentou.html) at Yokohama station (http://www.jreast.co.jp/estation/stations/e_yokohama.html)...

http://www.oginoya.co.jp/fanclub/zou/kitchen/10.jpg
峠の釜めし (http://www.oginoya.co.jp/)

ooooh, tasty...thanks for the links. :cool: :ramen: :gulp: :beer:

[BigBossIchi]

I've eaten "o-bento" before, when I visited the Bay Area a few years back. It's pretty good, and satisfying, most definitely. Here's a good, fun article on the lunch box.



Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040228cz.htm)

:ramen: :gulp: :beer:

Is there somewhere in Canada, Toronto area that sell "o-bento" or even somewhere online that would ship within Canada etc.?

[Dindrane]

This is sorta off topic, but a Japanese restaurant near me offers a fantastic lunch bento-box special; it's only $5.95 and includes miso soup. I always love everything in it, even if I don't know what it is. :)

Every day is chef's choice, but there's usually some salad, a chicken dish, some glass noodles, maybe some potato salad.... Excellent.

And yeah, I'm strongly enamored of the little compartments.

[divide-zero]

I have to say that my favourite Japanese fast food is the bento
some of my favourites are:
cheese burger bento
taco rice bento
goya chanpuru bento

the potato salad that comes with them is the best

http://www.hokkahokkatei.com/ <- big bento chain

[TwistedMac]

http://www.hokkahokkatei.com/higashi/img_topnew/000004.jpg
...eeeew, that green stuff doesn't look like it should be eaten =X

[bezz]

...eeeew, that green stuff doesn't look like it should be eaten =XThat's probably perilla leaf tempura, nice&crisp.

The ten-don bento by Ginza Ten-Ichi (available at department stores in Tokyo) looks very nice.
http://www.tokyochuo.net/issue/depatika/past_data/0303_depatika/img/matsuzaka01.jpg
銀座天一 (http://www.ginza.jp/scripts/shop-search/search_res_detail.php?sh_id=606050100) 天丼弁当 (･1000)

I'm pretty sure that other tempura restaurant chains such as Tsunahachi (http://www.tunahachi.co.jp/) and Hageten (http://www.hageten.com/) have tendon-to-go lunch menu too.

[bezz]

JinJapan has a nice ekiben article (http://www.jinjapan.org/nipponia/nipponia11/spot01.html)...The article was recently moved to a new location (http://www.web-jpn.org/nipponia/nipponia11/spot01.html). The site has a very nice summary (http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/bento/top.html) on bento in general too.

[playaa]

Very nice article, I must try one of these! :ramen:

[Maciamo]

I love traditional bento. My favorite so far are the "maku-no-uchi bento"　幕の内弁当, with plenty of different stuff. I've come to like "saba" 鯖 (mackerel) with miso so much I can't have enough of it. Strange, as I didn't like so much fried fish even a year ago. My other favorites inside the maku-no-uchi are the cooked "daikon" 大根 and the "kouya doufu" 高野豆腐 (the sponge-like one that Buddhist monk eat).

[bezz]

My favorite is the makunouchi bento--I never know what I'm getting. But it's always good.I love traditional bento. My favorite so far are the "maku-no-uchi bento"　幕の内弁当, with plenty of different stuff.I heard that 幕の内弁当 (http://www.web-jpn.org/kidsweb/virtual/bento/03-makunouchic.html) MUST have grilled fish fillet, kamaboko (fish cake slice) and tamago-yaki (omelette roll slice.) Interesting.

http://www.kabuki-za.com/jougai/bento/25.jpg
Makunouchi bento at Kabuki-za (http://www.kabuki-za.co.jp/english/)

[Haivart]

Makunouchi bento? funny you should mention it since I had one yesterday evening. Let's see: piece of grilled salmon, tempura squid legs, fish cake, shumai, slice of pumpkin, what tastes like a daikon/carrot/tofu salad, sweet omelet, some thin slice of meat rolled around green onions, a ball made from some good tasting root veggie, and pickled(?) garlic cloves. Very nice.
:ramen:

[bossel]

Looks tasty. Will try to find some of this here in Duesseldorf, Germany. Hope, it's not too expensive.

[bezz]

This is a nice article on picnic bento (http://web-japan.org/nipponia/bon.html).

http://www.tokyochuo.net/issue/depatika/2004/takashimaya/04/images/ph02.jpg http://www.tokyochuo.net/issue/depatika/2004/takashimaya/04/images/ph03.jpg
http://www.tokyochuo.net/issue/depatika/2004/mitsukoshi_g/04/images/ph01.jpg http://www.tokyochuo.net/issue/depatika/2004/mitsukoshi_g/04/images/ph02.jpg
Various koraku bento sold at department store basements (http://web-japan.org/trends01/article/011114bus_r.html), much better than cheap, not-so-real ones (http://web-japan.org/trends/business/bus030917.html).

[Lina Inverse]

I've already frequently seen bento in several series, generally made by a girl to show her appreciation for a boy.
It will generally contain stuff like rice balls and radish decorated to look like little squids and such. Of course that's no comparison to the stuff they offer in supermarkets.

[misa.j]

I have been thinking of opening a Japanese lunch box stand. Japanese bento is much healthier than those Chinese fast food(no offence) which is already very poplar, but the problem is that not a lot of people know about Japanese food where I live. I still believe though, that I can target young people such as 40's and younger.

Would you buy a Japanese bento if you can in the U.S.?

[Jean-Francois]

Sure, I will buy. Before, when I was living in a small town in Connecticut we had to drive all the way to New Haven for Japanese food.

[misa.j]

That is the thing. There are a couple of Japanese restaurants in upstate NY where I live, but it is so expencive to eat enough food there, and I, too have to drive half an hour to even get there.

I thought it would be a good idea to have my own. With a Luch box stand, I can introduce how good the Japanese food is to people very humbly and deliciously.
Do you know what I mean humbly, because the bento is small...

[Jean-Francois]

In Toronto, the Janpanese sushi stands are quite successful. Before you open your own, maybe it is a good idea to take a trip to Eaton Centre at downtown Toronto and Markville Mall in Markham. Most stands are owned by Koreans (they make better J-food then HK people in general) and have good business. I think you can use some business models for emulation.

Actually, from what I observe, most of sushi eaters (aside from oriental customers which in Toronto we have a lot) are working white females between the age of 18 - 40s. And the location of your stand is very important.

I think sushi stand will do better in a mall with a lot of business buildings around it or something like that. You know what I mean? Because if it is only in the food court of a shopping mall, many customers are not in a rush and they can have a salad at a Greek fast food restaurant and fried chickens from KFC.

But if it is in a busy business neighborhood, a lot of white collars don't have time to wait during lunch time. You can just take their money and give them a box of sushi (pre-made). You can also sell some exotic healthy drinks from East Asia e.g. honey ginseng tea and etc. A lot of women buy into that kind of beauty stuffs ... Just tell them after they drink it they will have oriental girl's skin ...

Hee hee I am a very lazy person, it's only 6:55pm and I want to take a nap...

Good luck!

[Fattyaddy]

I've never had a bento box...what about the ones that have the faceless octopuses? (aren't they little hot dogs made to look like octo?)

[bezz]

what about the ones that have the faceless octopuses? (aren't they little hot dogs made to look like octo?)Michiko Sho (deceased in 2002,) who was on Today's Cooking (http://www.nhk.or.jp/partner/cooking/) TV show for twenty years, was the inventor of the cute octopus-shaped Vienna sausage. Her husband Akira Sho was a descendant from Okinawan royal family.
The culinary critic Asako Kishi is her younger sister.

Related thread (http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16023)

[Ever]

I have been thinking of opening a Japanese lunch box stand. Japanese bento is much healthier than those Chinese fast food(no offence) which is already very poplar, but the problem is that not a lot of people know about Japanese food where I live. I still believe though, that I can target young people such as 40's and younger.
Would you buy a Japanese bento if you can in the U.S.?

:cool:

Wow, it seems like this is an old post, so I don't know if you'll even check back, but I just wanted to say that I would for sure buy a Japanese bento if I could; however, there are a lot of Japanese restaurants already in my area (Wash., D.C.) although they are sort of a hybrid type which they call as Pan Asian cuisine (Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese). I still think this is an excellent idea.