Sometimes I really love the little things about living in Japan, like my little bento box I get for lunch. It costs 390 yen, which would be around (gosh better get the calculator out or Matt'll be after me!!) 3.55 USD or 4.75 AUD!!!! It's the perfect lunch really - two healthy rice balls, one filled with pieces of konbu (seaweed), a little dish of beef and gobo (burdock root), a small piece of Japanese-style egg omelette (so yummy), another little dish filled with pickled daikon, a little spring roll, a little cream/corn croquette, some shredded cabbage (which Darin tells me is filled with lots of nutritional good stuff - we had our doubts), and to top it off a little piece of kiwi fruit and some strawberries!!!!
Go Japanese food!
Yum, I want me a bento box! In Hawaii, bento boxes are the norm. In Seattle, "teriyaki" is the norm. Teriyaki here means putting the same "teri" sauce on every type of meat they sell in the store. On top of that, you get about 2 cups worth of rice piled on your plate with cole slaw on the side. I just want a teensy-weensy bento box filled with "good things".
Posted by: sharlyn | March 18, 2004 at 12:55 AM
Yummy! I love bento! When we lived in Japan for a year, I became a rice junkie. If I didn't eat it daily, I would go into withdrawals! I know those fast food bento places like Hoka Hoka Tei or whatever it's called are kind of gross, but they are also kind of yummy, if you know what I mean. And Sharlyn is right--bento in the US sucks. They just douse everything in teriyaki and call it Asian!
Posted by: Mariko | March 18, 2004 at 06:24 AM
I'm not into the fish part of the bento, but I dig gobo and tsukemono - sweeeeeeeet.
Posted by: Kinki | March 18, 2004 at 09:54 AM
Isn't just unwrapping a bento and digging into the rice a great experience? Long live bentos.
Posted by: Jennifer | March 18, 2004 at 10:07 AM
yeah, everything here is delicate rather than doused - I like that. Not overdone.
Mariko, I LOVE Hokka hokka tei and was *crushed* when I moved last year and discovered that there are NO bento places near where I live. I used to live right next to one so when I didn't want to cook, I'd just pop in and buy an oyakodon - cheap, delicious and hot (that was my fav)... I've even been on the Internet searching for one in my area, but no luck.
Posted by: kat | March 18, 2004 at 11:13 AM
so i stumbled across your page thanks to mariko. wow! is all i can say, great site. i'll be studying abroad in tokyo next year and so far i've gone through some of your archives and look forward to taking advantage of the japan links in the fall. thanks!
Posted by: julie | March 18, 2004 at 12:59 PM
What a perfect sounding lunch! I wonder if there is somewhere in Perth that does a Bento box??
Posted by: krissy | March 18, 2004 at 02:29 PM
I used to live in Japan and would eat at Hokka Hokka Tei everyday.I now live back in the states but would like to know what type of spice they give for the chicken basket.I know they give lemon juice but I would like to know the spice because my friends don't beleive me when I tell them that it was the best food I have ever had.
please help
Jason
Posted by: jason | July 07, 2004 at 10:43 PM