10/20/2005 - Dissecting a Teishoku Bento

O-bento, the traditional Japanese boxed lunch, has to be one of those things that has been done to death by so-called Japanese restaurants.  It's usually done as a box with about a scoop of rice, some strips of tonkatsu or a couple so pieces of tempura and a mound of yasai itame (stir-fried mixed vegetables).  In some of the nicer Japanese dives here in the Philippines, say Komoro Soba or Rai-Rai Ken, a dessert and a bowl of miso soup is added for good measure.  Of course, my Japanese friends tell me that no bento they've ever eaten here has ever come close to the o-bento their mothers used to prepare when they were in school.  Nevertheless, Zaifu on the lower ground level of the Power Plant Mall is a reasonable substitute.

On a recent trip to the Rockwell Center, I found myself smack in front of Zaifu at exactly twelve noon.  (Divine intervention, perhaps?  I really don't have a clue...)  So, I headed on in and, being more than a little famished after another gruesome interview, ordered the tempura teishoku bento.

Now, a teishoku bento differs from the average ankle-biter's boxed lunch in the sense that it's an elegantly presented meal with several side dishes along with the rice, mixed tempura, and the miso soup.  I also comes with a small amount of oshinko (sweetish pickled radish and carrot slices), the Japanese equivalent of Filipino/Malay achara.  The side dishes are changed on a daily basis and, in this particular case, were:

Tamago-yaki, cold slices of sweetish rolled omelet.  It's the same thing you encounter in a mixed sushi plate.

Yasai itame - as usual.  In this case, the yasai were cabbage, bean sprouts, and a bit of shredded carrot.  Nothing to write home about, alas.

A generous scoop of Zaifu Potato Salad completed the trio.  At first, I thought that a mound of potato salad was a bit of a disappointment.  (I'd hoped for the chilled grilled eel that sometimes came with the teishoku bento.)  However, it proved to be a delightful mix of potatoes, diced apples, walnuts, and celery in Kewpie-brand mayonnaise.

The tempura that came with the bento was delicious: crispy clouds that crumbled every time I took a bite.  The vegetable tempura - eggplant, sweet potato, and squash - were crisp-tender; the ebi tempura, on the other hand, was fried perfectly and brought back memories of those long-ago lunches with my maternal grandparents at Daikoku in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

While the teishoku bento at Zaifu are tops (I also recommend the sashimi teishoku bento for the adventurous.), the gyoza are also magnificent.

(Sorry for the blurry snapshot!)  These fabulous steam-fried dumplings are filled with a mixture of pork, ginger, Chinese cabbage, and spring onions.  They're so deliciously succulent that there's virtually no need to dip them in the accompanying dish of black vinegar.

Zaifu @ the Power Plant Mall   Lower Ground Level, The Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center, Makati