Bento Boxes Are the Way to Go at Dainobu

Dainobu What I love about the area where my new job is, is how close I am to a lot of Japanese places. Maybe I can finally try out the vegetable soup from Menchanko Tei that Brownie raved about, or the Philly Lamb Steak sandwich from Sunrise Mart Ultraclay recently had. But what I REALLY wanted the other day for lunch was a cheap spider roll from Dainobu. Spider roll is one of my favorite rolls ever and I’m just few blocks away from it, so I had to go check it out.

It was probably my fault for going to lunch around 2:30pm because by the time I got there I didn’t see any spider rolls (actually there weren’t many boxes of sushi left). So plan b it was but I wasn’t too sure what plan b was. I was first tempted by mixing and matching different small items (a plum and cucumber roll, a rice ball and a croquet) but that quickly fell through when I spotted the bento boxes. The worker had just placed few fresh bento boxes which meant no need to reheat (yes I’m quite lazy about reheating my food but really who wants to eat hot pickled vegetables?)

Dainobu

I settled on the grilled mackerel with multigrain rice ($7.99) and I was pretty happy with my choice. The great thing about bento boxes is that you get a little bites of many items. This bento box came with 2 types of pickled vegetables, 2 siu mai, and a tamago. Oh and the 2 generous sized pieces of mackerel were great. It tasted fresh, not overcooked and the meat kind of flaked off nicely. And I liked that it came with multigrain rice, making me feel a little bit healthy. Another plus, the piece of lemon wasn’t the usual dried up thing you get from take-out places. A squirt of lemon juice brightened up the already tasty pieces of fish.

Now if only they can improve on their hot food options then Dainobu may just become my go-to lunch spot.

Dainobu, 129 E 47th St (btw. Lex+3rd) (212) 755-7380

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