As part of Bupa's best blog competition for 2015
Bentoya is a mid range, verging on expensive Japanese place in the city. It is on Hardware lane just off Lonsdale st. So it would be a favourite for the office workers and some of the wealthy students. They specialise in bento and Izakaya style dishes.
The décor of the place is lovely and very Japanese like. They don't have outdoor seating nor spruikers which is great.
They do sake and very warm sake.
They also do Japanese tea both iced and hot. I had it iced ($4.90). When it came to the table it looked like a shot of alcohol. But it was tea which was shaken.
The place was steady on Saturday night. Thinking that most places are busy on a Saturday night I figured it wise to book ahead. When I got there many people had the $59 Groupon deal for a nine dish banquet. I had been doing some reading and found that most of the Groupon customers were not happy with that Groupon. In the end I suggested to the waitress that they do a Groupon on dinner bentos as that is what they do best.
Hmm I had to agree, some of the dishes on the Groupon deal looked very small. The edamame was big for that deal and so was the rice. But the others were too small. That why I hate buying Groupons for banquets. I prefer to pay the full price and go a la carte.
I opted for the vegetarian and seafood bento ($23) as it had lots of veggies and seafood and no meat. I really liked that bento and the star of the dish was the tempura and they did that right with the right amount of panko crumbs. I really like this style of batter as it is light. I also loved their sauce.
The sashimi starter was also good. The sashimi was fresh and I loved the little salad as it was all healthy. The salad was lovely although there was a little bit too much dressing. I think the dressing is better left on the side.
The vegetarian gyoza was good.
The rice was a little bit soggy and the miso soup was stock standard. I think they should have given the dessert (red bean mocha) after the meal on a small plate. It looked a little bit squashed in the box and it also had a little bit of soy sauce and other things spilled onto it by accident (my fault as I am a messy eater)
Rating: 15/20- good service and good meal. Like I said they should do a Groupon for the bento boxes rather than the nine course meal. Ming and Charlie you should go one day as you'll like it.
Bentoya is a mid range, verging on expensive Japanese place in the city. It is on Hardware lane just off Lonsdale st. So it would be a favourite for the office workers and some of the wealthy students. They specialise in bento and Izakaya style dishes.
The décor of the place is lovely and very Japanese like. They don't have outdoor seating nor spruikers which is great.
They do sake and very warm sake.
They also do Japanese tea both iced and hot. I had it iced ($4.90). When it came to the table it looked like a shot of alcohol. But it was tea which was shaken.
The place was steady on Saturday night. Thinking that most places are busy on a Saturday night I figured it wise to book ahead. When I got there many people had the $59 Groupon deal for a nine dish banquet. I had been doing some reading and found that most of the Groupon customers were not happy with that Groupon. In the end I suggested to the waitress that they do a Groupon on dinner bentos as that is what they do best.
Hmm I had to agree, some of the dishes on the Groupon deal looked very small. The edamame was big for that deal and so was the rice. But the others were too small. That why I hate buying Groupons for banquets. I prefer to pay the full price and go a la carte.
I opted for the vegetarian and seafood bento ($23) as it had lots of veggies and seafood and no meat. I really liked that bento and the star of the dish was the tempura and they did that right with the right amount of panko crumbs. I really like this style of batter as it is light. I also loved their sauce.
The sashimi starter was also good. The sashimi was fresh and I loved the little salad as it was all healthy. The salad was lovely although there was a little bit too much dressing. I think the dressing is better left on the side.
The rice was a little bit soggy and the miso soup was stock standard. I think they should have given the dessert (red bean mocha) after the meal on a small plate. It looked a little bit squashed in the box and it also had a little bit of soy sauce and other things spilled onto it by accident (my fault as I am a messy eater)
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