Bento Café: Food That’s Outside the Box

I went to Bento Café in Norcross looking for a Japanese lunch served in a square container with small portions of the country’s staples, like grilled fish, rice and pickled plums. You know, I went there craving… a bento box.  I even amused myself by thinking of a cheesy headlines as I drove: “Lunch Squared,” “Boxed In.”

But I won’t get to use them, because they don’t have bento boxes at the sparse, modern shop in the Hong Kong Supermarket shopping center. What they do have is the ever-popular “boba,” or bubble, tea and excellent Taiwanese comfort food.

The brushed metal and cinderblock décor and high ceiling lend the place a lofty feel. Cute, pop art cartoon design in the restaurant and on the menu also add to the happy, Asian kitsch vibe—and the feeling that you might actually be in a shop tucked away in a Tokyo alley and not in a Norcross strip mall.

First, for the tea, which many patrons seem to come in for by itself. It seems that teenagers across the entire continent of Asia have embraced the bubble tea craze. The shops, which usually serve a long list of uber-sweet teas with small “pearls” of tapioca in the bottom, are usually small—and packed with school kids in uniforms and blaring pop music.

The options for your bubble tea are many: You can get a “Hand Shake” tea—just a straight up Jasmine Green or Black Tea. You can get a Yummy Milk Tea, my recommendation, in flavors like Japanese Matcha, Coconut, Honeydew or Almond.  Or you can get a juice, in inventive flavors like Lychee, Kumquat or Star Fruit.

No matter what you choose expect it to come sweet—really sweet—and with the option of tapioca pearls. These are chewy little candy balls that are placed at the bottom of your tea that you’ll slurp up through the extra-wide straw. Sounds odd to slurp candy through a straw, but it is actually quite fun, promise.

This craze was born in Taiwan, so it is no coincidence that the owners of Bento Café are from the island. The menu reflects their roots as well, with comfort food like Braised Pork, Rice Huifan and big bowls of noodles.

The appetizer list is long, catering to the afternoon tea drinkers, and includes more authentic bites, like Fish Cakes and Dumplings.

The Taiwanese Stir Fried noodles came in a rich, broth-y sauce with crunchy shredded cabbage and veggies, shredded pork and—the best part—juicy, marinated shiitake mushrooms. 

The staff recommends the house-favorite, Fried Chicken Drumsticks, with two daily veggies and rice topped with meat sauce. Take that, Colonel Sanders!