'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

🍜 :gulp:

 

[budd]

i read this, thanks

 

[Hachiko]

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

 

[kirei_na_me]

Moved to its new home...

 

[Hachiko]

Moved to its new home...

Point well taken. Thanks, kirei. 👍

 

[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]

Links

Benmatsu is one of the oldest bento shops, since 1850.

Recent trend is the uber-bento (ﾂ･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 one is the absolute worst...

 

[Hachiko]

The first link...tasty... *drools* 🍜 :gulp:

The second link...nothing like the real thing. 😌

 

[bezz]

Ekiben

JinJapan has a nice ekiben article...

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 of ekiben; many of them feature the local specialities.
My favorite is Siumai Bento at Yokohama station...


峠の釜めし

 

[Hachiko]

JinJapan has a nice ekiben article...

This is a clickable map of ekiben; many of them feature the local specialities.
My favorite is Siumai Bento at Yokohama station...


峠の釜めし

ooooh, tasty...thanks for the links. 👍 🍜 :gulp:

 

[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

🍜 :gulp:

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]

...eeeew, that green stuff doesn't look like it should be eaten =X

 

[bezz]

天丼

...eeeew, that green stuff doesn't look like it should be eaten =X

That's probably perilla leaf tempura, nice&crisp.

The ten-don bento by Ginza Ten-Ichi (available at department stores in Tokyo) looks very nice.

銀座天一 天丼弁当 (ﾂ･1000)

I'm pretty sure that other tempura restaurant chains such as Tsunahachi and Hageten have tendon-to-go lunch menu too.

 

[bezz]

JinJapan has a nice ekiben article...

The article was recently moved to a new location. The site has a very nice summary on bento in general too.

 

[playaa]

Very nice article, I must try one of these! 🍜

 

[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 MUST have grilled fish fillet, kamaboko (fish cake slice) and tamago-yaki (omelette roll slice.) Interesting.


Makunouchi bento at Kabuki-za

 

[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.
🍜

 

[bossel]

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

 

[bezz]

行楽弁当

This is a nice article on picnic bento.

Various koraku bento sold at department store basements, much better than cheap, not-so-real ones.

 

[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.