I’ve passed Oishii Bento (the yummy lunchbox) hundreds of times and not gone in but I finally managed to find them not crammed full of students and popped in the other day for bento  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento .

Actually something had my mind on bento all day so I had already printed out their menu at http://www.oishiibento.com  so I could get in and out with my Spicy Pork Bulgogi Bento. Additionally, the website is as clean and friendly as the restaurant- something you don’t always experience.

I was delighted to find the restaurant clean and airy with window seating and plenty of traditional yet modern Japanese decorations you’d find in the home. The staff was pleasant, polite and quick and it took about 5 minutes for my order, totalling $7.40-something. I ended up having to walk across Oakland to get a 40 minute bus home so it’s a good thing I ordered bento, which is one of the most portable dishes on earth. Well-packed, it survived the trip with the miso soup unscathed in its styrofoam bowl and everything at exactly the right temperature- no reheats. 

So here’s what you get: my bento had a choise of soup or salad and I took soup. A generous portion (I’m having the rest today for lunch) of spicy pork and steamed rice w/sesame seed, 2 potstickers, a cold rice salad, miso soup and kimchee. The pork wasn’t as spicy as I was anticipating but the flavour was nice and complex and I’m not a fan of mushrooms but they were blended into the dish quite well.  I’ll never turn down a potsticker (excuse my American english, I’m not even sure what these were called besides yummy) and I tried kimchee and miso soup for the first time.

Let’s just say I didn’t hate the kimchee but it is strong and I loved the miso soup- it’s a unique and lovely light tasteing broth. And okay, I’ll admit I didn’t touch the cold salad- I have this thing against cold salads in general but it didn’t smell too bad.
  Oishii Bento’s menu includes both Japanese and Korean offerings from udon to sushi, rice bowls to bento, and very reasonably priced sides such as miso, edamame, kimchee and tempura amongst others. This is definitely a place I’ll hit up again, and they have a pretty cool business card too. You’ll find it on Oakland Avenue on the right hand side before Citizen’s Bank- ironically it’s across the street from Sushi Boat and a door or two past Sezchuan.  Visit their site http://www.oishiibento.com  for online coupons.

Oishii Bento
  proprietor: Si Hyuk Choi
  119 Oakland Avenue
  Pittsburgh, PA 15213
  412.687.3335
  Mon-Fri 10:30a-9p
  Sat: 11a-9p

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