When you ask the Yokohama citizen what is your favorite bento, the answer will be [Shumai Bento] by Kiyouken. Nothing flashy, nothing trendy, just a simple old school bento.

First of all the container, its wooden. Cardboard thin wooden sheets are bended into a bento box. Why? By using the natural wood as the container for the bento it keeps the moisture balance of the rice just right. Not too hard nor soft. The wooden smell slightly transfer to the rice which makes the rice taste like a smoked rice and that highlights the flavor of the bento too.

We can call this a minimalist bento. Every single thing in the box is important, nothing had changed since 1954. The 5 pieces of shumai, kara-age(Japanese style fried chicken), tamago-yaki(sweeten rolled egg), grilled fish, bamboo shoot simmered in soy sauce, kombu seaweed, pickled ginger, dry apricot and rice topped with plum. Nothing can be missed, there are fans for each ingredients!

These bento can be found in Train stations around Yokohama, Yokohama chinatown and in department stores. You don’t need to reheat them because they are good in room temp!