Houston Lunch Recommendation: Zen Japanese Izakaya

🐟After visiting the museum with my kid and planning to head to Ganni to change our clothes, I searched for a place nearby for lunch. It had been a while since I last had a bento box, and this place looked promising! 🐟I have to say, downtown restaurants really do have better food compared to the Japanese restaurants in Spring. The bento box here is so much more delicious than the ones from the local Japanese places! The side dishes are abundant and flavorful, especially the grilled eggplant, which I think is even better than what you’d get at a Chinese restaurant! The unagi donburi (eel bowl) is also fantastic—I highly recommend it! 😋I ordered a bowl of udon noodles for my kid, and they managed to finish it all by themselves. I guess that means the taste must be pretty good! For the side dish, I went with the Karaage (Japanese fried chicken), which was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—delicious! The sashimi platter featured six types of fish, with a total of eleven slices of seasonal sashimi. Although I’m not an expert, I can tell you that the texture was incredibly rich and almost “melt-in-your-mouth.” I was genuinely amazed at how smooth and refreshing the raw fish could be! 😋 The platter also included a huge abalone shell, which isn’t just for show—we were even allowed to take it home as a souvenir! 😋This place truly surprised me. Compared to the typical bento boxes from nearby restaurants that just have some stir-fried dishes and salad, Zen Japanese Izakaya is really a gem. Downtown restaurants really do have a higher standard! #HoustonFood #HoustonLife #HoustonFoodRecommendation