BENTO BOX (Camden)BENTO CAFE (Camden)

Category:Budget

Bento Cafe is one of my favourite cheap little Japanese places in London. I just went there again recently for a sushi fix with my lovely girlfriends N. and C.

Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon it was busy –it usually is. It is just off the buzz of Camden Market (which is usually a relief),and I have the suspicion that most people there are returning customers.

Bento Cafe offers a variety of sushi and maki,loads of appetizers and warm dishes and has a changing menu of specials. Very hard to choose…

We started off with edamame beans (3.20) (very nice) and some miso soup (1.80),which was light and salty and comforting.

They have a huge variety of classic and rather experimental maki to choose from and we decided on:Alaska maki (3.50) with avaocado and salmon,Crazy Boy Maki (5.00) with eel,avocado and tamago (egg thing)  and  Osaka Maki with soft shell crab and avocado (7.50). all yummy and moreish.

We shared one warm dish from the specials:capsicum beef (9) (supposedly a beef terryaki with pepper sauce) which didn’t blow me away I have to say. The beef was a bit tough and the sauce uninspired.

Very lovely and competitively priced though is their chicken curry udon (7)  and their spicy chicken ramen (7). Furthermore their nasu dengaku (grilled aubergine with miso sauce) (4) is among the best I have ever tasted.

Now the downside:

The service is bad. I mean they are relatively fast and efficient,but they are so unfriendly! The girl who was in charge of refilling the green tea looked like she wanted to attack us with the tea pot. They of course have the service already included in the bill…

By the way,watch out for their lunch menu and lunch bento boxes (served from 12-4pm) –very good value for money.

• Food:7/10
• Service: 4/10
• Ambiance: 5/10
• Value for money:7.5/10
• Chances of returning:100%
• Verdict: very good,reasonably priced Japanese.

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