Bento: Missing Japanese Food
A Bento refers to a Japanese packed home-made or restaurant take-out meal for one person. Most Japanese restaurants serve bento as a form of cheap deal food package for the customers convenience. There are many Japanese restaurants in the Philippines like Rei Rei Ken, Tokyo-Tokyo, Kureji, etc. and I loved eating in those places whenever I had the chance. Ramen, Katsu-don, Curry, Karaage Fried Chicken, Sushi, Tempura, Gyoza, and Potato Salad (stfu; Kureji's has the best potato salad.) are some of my favorite picks whenever I went out to a Japanese restaurants; The food was expensive, around PhP200+ depending on where you were eating, but was still very much worth it nonetheless. Maybe there was some weeb/otaku bits inside me made me yearn to learn more about Japanese food and culture; or maybe I wanted to taste the food I usually see in Studio Ghibli films (which look too fucking awesome). Either way, I really liked Japanese food.
It was rare for me and my family to go out eating in restaurants when we go to malls because of how pricey everything is; how much traffic was outside; and me and my family hated the possibility of wasting too much money over bad food. There are only a few times when my family would opt to eat out, mainly when we have relatives and friends joining us, when we are celebrating something, or when we get hungry and going home was too long of a journey. Going to a Japanese place specifically was even rarer, since the restaurants my parents picked depends on which one my dad liked or a family friends recommendation. It was extremely rare for me to pick the restaurant during, and that was usually during my birthday.
I have many fond memories of going out and eating food, whether it be with family or friends. I remember that there was a time in SM Megamall where me, my friends, and our families went out to eat together in a Japanese place. The restaurant was a Japanese Grill and Resto-bar; It was a very tightly packed place. Me and my friends, and our families, sat in separate tables, and each table had its own grill (cos its a grill place). One of the two was very squeamish of trying most foods in general, and me the other friend had to pressure him in trying new stuff. I distinctly remember there being a San Miguel draft beer tap next to the drinks machine, but I never touched it. Eventually, after a few hours of eating and talking about stuff, we went out to get another round of food for the grill (cos, still, it's a grill place). When the 3 of us came back from the buffet of raw meats, fish, and salad, one of my friends had a soup (i forgot what that soup was, and if there was a soup heater on our table). Whilst we were grilling the meats and chatting around with iced tea, one of the three of us got the big brain idea, and decided to pour some of the soup into the grill... I don't know why, but it didn't change much of anything. In the end of the day, we all had our fun and celebrated something, forgot exactly what, but we went to timezone and gambled there.
Another memory I had eating out in a Japanese place was with my cousins, who were like sisters to me, and my mom while we were in AliMall. I forgot exactly why we were out, my best guess is just for shopping and buying stuff from a Japanese retail store (they had rubber chickens). All I know is that we went to a place called Kureji, one of the newer restaurants to open since the mall finished renovations a few years ago. It was a nice place, and it had awesome food. They had a sizzling tomato ramen, where you have to wait for a certain amount of time before pouring water into it to cool down, and the fizzles were satisfying for everyone to listen to. There was also a lot of Japanese action figures around as decoration, which was cool. I ordered a bento meal there, since I was hungry, and a bowl of Japanese potato salad along with it. I REALLY LOVED THE POTATO SALAD! It was godly! I don't know why, I just really liked eating potato salad. While we ate, I talked to one of my cousins about Japanese stuff, because she was learning Japanese while living with us and planned to work in Japan as an OFW. It was fun, and I helped her around with some things, mostly printing learning material out for her.
Those were the times before the pandemic; before everything was put into a screeching halt; before we were told to lock ourselves down; and before the restaurants closed their doors.
There is no arguing that the COVID-19 Pandemic has heavily hit every sector of the economy, and thus, every aspect of our lives. During the first months of the pandemic, the restrictions were extremely strict: closing down all non-essential businesses; restricting movement of all persons, unless essential; and implementing general lockdown measures enforced by both police and military. It all began on early March when the memo on how dangerous COVID-19 finally reached the government after the Philippines got its first few cases. There are a plethora of issues about COVID in the Philippines, but I wont discuss them here. Also, the school year ended early, which was nice.
Luckily, restaurants were still classified as essential businesses, because they provided food (dumbass). I got the FoodPanda app, which allows you to order food, in your phone; it's kind of similar to what GrubHub is in the US, but without the cringe commercials. I never ordered Japanese food off it, just McDonalds and PizzaHut food, which were crazy expensive at the time due to the delivery fee's. From then, I kinda knew that this was going to be a large part of life now, food delivery and convenience technology, just not expecting it to be because of the pandemic.
Fast forward a few months, and in mid-May I moved out from Quezon City to Angono, Rizal Province. After a lot of stuff that affected my mental health, which I will discuss in a different blog post soon, I somehow managed to get my shit together. YouTube was my only source for entertainment at this point since it had more variety than whatever was on ABS-CBN TV+ and their limited range of channels. The videos I mostly watched Asian cooking videos because the food looked so good; Uncle Roger's egg fried rice video's are top tier comedy cooking. I tried cooking some foods for myself, but I was always anxious since it was seen as "selfish" by my parents to not cook enough for everyone, and I liked eating alone at home most of the time.
After sometime, travel restrictions were eventually eased to Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) for most provinces in the Philippines, and GCQ for Metro Manila. This meant that limited travel is permitted and malls can open again to a small capacity. Because of that, my mom and I can travel back to NCR just so we can go to the mall for errands, and there are only 1 or 2 times when we ate out at a Japanese place. We only ate in Rei Rei Ken, but the food there is good; I really liked the tempura and katsu-don there.
Those were the last times I ever ate in a Japanese restaurant. It really made me think on how we take really good things for granted before the pandemic and only realized how good we had it after being deprived of it for so long. "Why not just order food online like before?" you may ask yourselves, and to that I say: It's not the same. Japanese restaurants weren't just about the food, no restaurant was. They were all about the experience. The friends and family you ate there with; the thing you all were celebrating which led to you guys eating Japanese food there; and the fond memories made in a Japanese restaurant. There are also feelings when you ate cooked Japanese food, authentic or otherwise, like that warm feeling of comfort from ramen, and the excitement from crunching on karaage fried chicken and tempura. The food runs very deep in the cultures of all peoples; food unites us; food makes us explore; food means different things to different people!
This article is dedicated to not only Japanese restaurants and food, but to all the people working in the culinary industry amidst the pandemic, and those who see food as a form of comfort when either cooking or eating. The next time I make egg fried rice will be a salute to you all restaurant owners, chefs, home cooks, and food delivery peeps out there.
The next time you all order a bento box in a Japanese restaurant, try too look back to all the memories made and how food was a part of it. Take your time to eat and savor every bite; do not waste a minute for that cliché Instagram shot. Enjoy that bento, because you will never know the next time you will be Missing Japanese Food.
- YugiBearz
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