Seattle’s latest food trend is pandemic perfect

Nobody wants to sit inside anymore, but even when people gather outside in a sensible way and remember what it means to share a meal with friends, a family-style picnic dinner with everyone serving from large bowls doesn’t come out in question. Fortunately, there is one meal that offers the perfect solution to this problem: take-away bento boxes.

From super simple to ornate and decorative – both the boxes themselves and the food inside – bentos have been popular in Japan for more than 1000 years. With compartments for rice, egg whites and pickles, the portable single-serving meals have proven to be a long-lasting concept for travelers, school lunches and quick meals in the supermarket. Now, in the time of the pandemic, they found a new niche: the perfect picnic to unwind on the way to an outdoor meal.

Bento box specialty spots have started making their way to Seattle in the past few years. Before the pandemic, the area had a plethora of bento shops, such as Bento-ya Goemon, which opened in 2019, serving classic Japanese dishes in its boxes, including mackerel teriyaki, chicken katsu, yakuniku, and tempura.

In Belltown, the Aburiya Bento House opened in 2018 and serves boxes of Aburi sushi – a style that uses fried fish instead of raw – and has nigiri and sashimi boxes of miso soup, salad and a variety of sushi .

Sashimi box from Aburiya Bento House

Courtesy Angela K. via Yelp

When the pandemic canceled cooking teacher Kanako Koizumi’s classes, she shifted all of her energy to the other aspect of her business, Kozmo Kitchen: a rotating selection of meals for pick-up and delivery, including bento box options like her current mini-onigiri version with rice balls, fried chicken, potato salad, vegetables, cucumber and fruit as well as an upcoming Mother’s Day version.

And while it offers a lot more than just boxes, Seattleites have been picking up traditional Japanese-style bento boxes from Georgetown’s Maruta Japanese grocery store for nearly three decades. Perhaps the most important new development during the pandemic is the rumor that the time at 5 p.m. that day’s bento boxes are cut in half to clear them out for the day – and wait for the regulars – is getting earlier and earlier.

But over the past 14 months the bento scene has accelerated, adding places offering bento styles from all over East Asia so you can easily find one near you – or in your local park.

The newest bento spots in Seattle

The owners of the long-standing Wallingford sushi shop Musashi and its younger offshoots started serving bento boxes of Korean food from this Bellevue shop back in August. Classic Korean dishes such as beef bulgogi and japchae, as well as yeti-sized portions, as well as rice, kimchi, dumplings and various side dishes.

Bentoful

Courtesy Claire C. via Yelp

This newly opened space in an Amazon building is the latest addition to the local bento scene and features only one menu item – however, that one item is a fully customizable three-tier bento box. Choose a base tier of white, brown, or fried rice, yakisoba, or a salad, then choose a main course from options like teriyaki, grilled salmon, and even hot wings for the second tier. Then each box is given a three-part third tier with side dishes, which can be vegetables, dumplings, salads or eggs.

This tea shop opened just weeks before the pandemic shutdown began and responded to the take-away rush with a focus on its Taiwanese-style bento boxes. These box meals feature rice in sauce, vegetables, tofu, and egg, as well as the Taiwanese specialty of your choice, including options like popcorn chicken, sausage, or pork chop.

Lunch on the plate

Courtesy Evelyne K. via Yelp

This Taiwanese bento truck started roaming the region last fall but has really kicked off this spring with a busy schedule in local breweries, taphouses, and apartment buildings. The “Bento but Better” menu, as the slogan suggests, includes classic Taiwanese dishes such as braised pork, as well as a vegetarian option for braised tofu. Each dish includes rice, a braised egg, and vegetables, and has additional side dishes. But the best thing people want to do here is the deeply hollow, creamy pancakes they often offer for dessert.