Bento Boxes @ Tomodachi

This isn’t so much a complete restaurant review as a rave about the great value lunch boxes and bento boxes at this cute little spot in the Broadway Shopping Centre at Ultimo.

The first good thing is that it’s at a food court but isn’t IN the food court. If it was a suburb, it would be called Food Court Heights. But that’s not to say it’s snooty. In Japanese ‘tomodachi’ means ‘friend’ and you can expect a warm welcome when you arrive and sit on neat little wooden benches or banquettes away from the plastic tablehood of Food Court Flats. From the brightly lit and red-decorated interior the staff hail you in loud unison with ‘Irrashaimase!’ or welcome, transporting you instantly to a Tokyo sushi bar.

There’s an active and frequently replenished sushi train and if you’re seated in the main restaurant rather than round the bar, you can still fetch little morsels to your table to keep you busy while you wait for your order. Not that you need to wait long, as the service is quick and snappy.

There are lots of options on the menu but if you’re up for a quick meal at low cost and want a selection of yummy things, go for the boxes – a smaller lunchbox of tempura, chicken or eel ($12), or a slightly larger Bento box ($18 - tempura bento top picture, chicken bento above) for a bigger appetite. All are served with rice and miso soup.

As we were unanimously hungry, Bento boxes seemed the most appropriate, plus a little extra treat of gyoza (picture left, serving of six) to share. The tempura box has prawns, fish and calamari with mixed vegetables, the teriyaki chicken a seasoned and grilled portion of sticky sweet and salty thigh meat. They both come with an array of jewel-box sections containing treasure troves of two sushi slices, three slices of salmon sashimi, a piquant dressed salad, agedashi tofu with its diaphanous bonito flakes adrift like clouds touching the top of a mountain (below), and a cleansing subdivision of mixed fruit, including pineapple, orange, and a variety of colourful melon. Apart from the main attraction, the accompanying dishes change a little depending on the season, but they're always plentiful and tasty.

Everything you need all delicately compartmentalised and ready to enjoy as you pick through the hierarchy of a Japanese meal. Or just go at it like a kamikaze if your famished brain prevents you from observing the rigors of correct flavour and texture progression.

Itadakimasu!