JBento — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

Finally found it! New favourite Japanese place! If you're looking for something that's closer to a modern Japanese cafe you would find in Osaka this is the place. Funky, minimalistic decor, awesome jazzy tunes playing from a record player and character to boot.

Thankfully, they cover the staples us Aussies know and love but do them perfectly and even go beyond with flavours and fresh ingredients. Don't expect your typical Asian-fusion confusion, it's deliciously Japanese and done with care (even a Korean flavour here and there). Their bentos look to die for and we'll be back to try everything else. They were busy packing big ubereats orders when we arrived so you know it's good.

We were dying for a donburi so my partner and I arrived 5 min after opening (our bad!) We ordered and the food was quick, came out hot and with a smile. I was tossing up with my favourites so I got the unagi on my donburi and a side of the agedashi tofu. My partner got the Nagoya miso katsu donburi and a side of takoyaki.

Everything was delicious. Familiar enough that it hit the spot but then everything was so fresh and abundant. The takoyaki was packed with octopus! The Nagoya miso came out as a separate sauce with the katsu and was outrageously good (we argued if it was karaage or katsu but alas!). My unagi was a touch muddy but nothing beyond what isn't standard with the unagi available in Aus. The agedashi tofu was perfectly crisp with a mild sauce that wasn't overpowering in the slightest.

Everything was phenomenal and will be our new go to spot when were wanting Japanese. They do BYO and have a super cute table set up outside - we'll be...

Not a great experience! We didn’t order a lot as we only wanted to try and see what is the rave is about.

The price you paid versus what you get is not what I expected. The teriyaki salmon was salty , small and rice was hard is not onigiri to say the least ( no vinegar in rice and is not wrap in seaweed ) ….Not the Japanese rice you eat then I look at the kitchen obviously it is not run by Japanese . Is just the simple sprinkle of flakes from shaker to called it onigiri. The karrage was just ok but nothing fancy. It is overpriced and overrated for bento 🍱 and stingy. I guess because it is in mt pleasant .

Personally I wouldn’t serve something like this if I was a cook or chef as it does not seem presentable the quantity is very little even the cold seaweed and potato give little . Somemore the ventilation is not good inside and we came out our clothes smells like deep fried foods . Service wasn’t great too. We rather go to Sunday everyday to get our Japanese fix at least the rice is Japanese and owner is Japanese.

We...

On a Thursday night, with one kid away on school camp, I decided to try something new that the rest of the family had not tried before. Upon seeing the menu online, I thought "great value" and the place looks clean and welcoming from the photos, in a minimalist style that is typical of Japan.

Ordering was simple and the bento boxes we ordered came out quicker than they estimated.

I immediately appreciated the really fresh ingredients (no wilted salad here), The bento boxes have great variety of tastes and textures. We really enjoyed our meal there.

Very good value for money (all of our bento boxes were under $18 each) and they didn't charge anything extra for "corkage" or green tea.

The desserts we tried were unique and delicious too. It's a BYO restaurant but there is a bottleshop across the road that also has a few Sake wines available too if you want to stay on-theme.

Friendly staff too. This was our first time there (we live in Como - about 8 minutes away by car) and we'll be...