Bento ain't cheap & nasty!

Bento (packed / boxed lunch). 

It's not as simple as you think. It's our culture. It's our history. It's our sweet memory.

For many years, Japanese parents have taken huge pride in making quality Bento for their children. In most cases, they've got to get up at 5 or 6 am & start to cook for both their breakfast & bento simultaneously. Some moms keep this daily routine as long as 6 years or more. However, it's way later when those "bento eaters" finally have appreciation for their parent's incredible hard work.

Once you graduate from high school, the definition of bento could be changed a bit. We start to "procure" it through some different channels such as a convenience store, pop-up stand you see in a business district during a lunch break, and specialty bento shop on the basement floor of department stores (only right after our payday!)

When it comes to bento, what I'd like you guys to try here is "Orijin Bento", one of the take-out bento chains selling a variety of homey bento. Though made-to-order is their principle, you can find some already packed. ( generally, they are still warm! )

This is what I ate recently, Bibimbap (Korean style mixed rice) @ ¥420 ( about $4 ) Despite its reasonableness, it tastes quite good! Off curse, it's not as good as the one you'll be offered at an authentic Korean restaurant, but sliced beef with source on top is priceworthy.

If a weather is nice while you're staying in Japan, why don't you get some freshly made bento at Orijin & go to a park?

Thanks for reading.

Posted by 3e-Tokyo