Bento shopping in San Francisco Japantown

It’s been a long time since my last bento gear shopping update, so there’s a lot to cover! Today I cover San Francisco Japantown, with a couple of new stores on the list. Highlights are the new Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift store with a variety of bento gear, the conveniently located (but partially hidden) Daiso dollar store, and the Sanrio store with a new shipment of heatable aluminum bento boxes.

Full store info and shop addresses are at the bento gear shopping guide for the San Francisco Bay Area, and you can also find reader updates at the Bento Store Locator with Google Maps. Photos of shop inventory were taken and used with store permission (click on any of the small photos for a larger version). (Click to read the full post.)

* Daiso (NEW)
* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gifts (1st floor) (NEW)
* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (2nd floor)
* Daikoku by Shiki
* Ichiban Kan
* Moritaya
* Nijiya Market
* Sanko
* Sanrio (NEW)
* Soko Hardware

(Warning: Photo-heavy post ahead!)

* Daiso (Japantown branch)

First off, there’s a small branch of Daiso in the same building as Ichiban Kan, on the bottom floor behind the staircase. Everything’s $1.50 unless otherwise market, and they have a fair selection of bento gear (including boxes, matching bags and bento bands, silicone food cups, onigiri rice ball molds, kitchen gear, food picks and other accessories). The quality of their bento boxes isn’t high, but prices are super-low, so I look at them as being semi-disposable boxes that I don’t mind Bug losing or breaking at school.

Daiso also has a small snack section, with things like interesting non-oil dressings (especially shiso and goma sesame flavors), and flavored seaweed. It’s much smaller than the large Daiso at Serramonte Mall in Daly City, and they don’t accept credit cards yet. But if you’re in the neighborhood to go to Ichiban Kan anyway, be sure to stop by and check out their inventory.

Here’s about half of the store’s bento boxes (the other half are shown in the photo above):

And their insulated bento bags and matching lunch cloths:

Daiso

22 Peace Plaza
Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94115

* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (#2)

This store opened late November 2009 on the first floor of Japan Center Kinokuniya Bldg. (by Japan Video store, under the main Kinokuniya bookstore), an extension of Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift on the second floor. It has a sizable selection of cute bento boxes, nesting/stacking boxes, utensils in cases, onigiri rice ball cases, cute food containers, and bags. Prices are on the higher end, but they stock San-X brand boxes that you won’t find at other stores. Definitely worth checking out.

Interesting trivia note: this is run by the same company as Kinokuniya Stationery on the second floor above it (see entry below), but these Kinokuniya gift stores aren’t actually the same company as the famous Kinokuniya Bookstore. The Kinokuniya Stationery stores are both part of NBC Inc., the same company that is behind MaiDo Stationery & Gift. Evidently executives at the two companies are friends, so Kinokuniya Bookstore allowed NBC to use the Kinokuniya name in some of its U.S. stores.

Here’s a look at about half of their bento gear:

And additional bento boxes:

The store manager said that bento boxes sell better at their New York branch than the San Francisco one, so he thinks that bento lunches are more popular in New York. I suspect that people just don’t know about this new SF store and their good selection of bento boxes, though.

Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift

1581 Webster Street
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 567-8901

* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (#1)

Located on the second floor of the Japan Center Kinokuniya Bldg., Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift is across from Kinokuniya Bookstore (not the same company). They have some unusual and cute bento boxes for children, including sandwich cases, nesting/stacking bento boxes, and snack boxes (see photo below). Prices are on the higher side, but quality is pretty good overall.

Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift

1581 Webster Street
Suite 218
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 567-8901

* Daikoku by Shiki

Daikoku by Shiki has a nice selection of more elegant, traditional-looking bento boxes by Hakoya. Prices are around $15-$20 per box, so they’re not exactly cheap, but they’re good quality. Their boxes are sized for adults, as opposed to the smaller Hakoya boxes at Ichiban Kan. Soko Hardware has some similar Hakoya boxes, but a smaller selection (see entry below). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Daikoku by Shiki here.

Shiki

Kintetsu Mall
1737 Post St, Ste 360
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 563-4550

* Ichiban Kan in SF Japantown
Oh Ichiban Kan, why oh why did you have to go and close your lovely online store? That place where people all over the U.S. could order bento boxes and accessories for $1-$1.50 a piece? We miss your online store! Store manager Rumi apologetically told me that they couldn’t make it work with the amount of upkeep the website required given their constantly changing inventory (something that makes the retail stores so fun to visit regularly).

So it feels a little cruel to show Ichiban Kan’s store inventory (their retail stores in the S.F. Bay Area remain open for business as usual), but here goes. Here’s their wall of bento boxes, matching bags, bento bands, side dish boxes, and utensils:

And small Hakoya-brand bento boxes, just US$6 each. Unlike the Hakoya boxes at Daikoku by Shiki, these are sized for children, with the yellow rectangular box sized at 380ml (150ml top tier, 230ml bottom tier), and the gingham checkered oval boxes measuring 415ml (180ml top tier, 235ml bottom tier). (These boxes are not microwave safe; see my care guide for bento gear.)

Ichiban Kan also has a line of cheaper, smaller boxes from Hakoya that appear quite sturdy, matching utensils, and fancier boxes with antibacterial silver ion coating (like this large bento box on J-List) for packed lunch food safety. If you find a Hakoya-brand box at Ichiban Kan, it’ll likely be cheaper here than anywhere else in San Francisco. They also have a few silver-colored Don Don Lunch Boxes (Hakoya) for packing donburi lunches, priced at $19. Surprisingly, these are $1 more than nearby Sanko Cooking Supply is selling their new stock of Don Don Lunch Boxes, in a wider variety of colors (see entry below).

In a neighboring aisle is their wall of cheap bento accessories, which include egg molds (make boiled eggs in the shape of bunnies, cars, fish, bears, hearts, & stars), food picks, silicone lunch cups & baran dividers, sauce containers, etc. Make Daiso and Ichiban Kan your first stops in Japantown so that you don’t kick yourself for spending too much money at other stores first, just to discover you could get things here cheaper.

Ichiban Kan

1625 Post St
Miyako Mall 22 Peace Plz, Ste 540
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 409-0472

* Moritaya

No photo updates here as they wouldn’t allow pictures in the store. Moritaya has character-themed bento gear for the preschool set, with characters like Thomas the Tank Engine, Miffy, Cars, Gaspard & Lisa, Totoro, Ponyo, etc. The downside is that everything’s seriously overpriced, with huge mark-ups on bento gear  (including boxes from Ichiban Kan that they resell). If you can’t live without a particular anime character box but can’t find it locally, you may have luck here (but you’ll pay dearly for it).

Moritaya

1737 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 674-1345

* Nijiya Market

If you’re looking for a plain, sturdy, non-cutesy bento box that won’t embarrass the man in your life, stop by Nijiya supermarket and pick up one of their four Asvel-brand boxes (pictured below). Kamei (out on Clement St. in the Richmond) and Kukje Supermarket (Daly City) are the other good places to get these type of plain boxes at comparable prices. But if you’re in Japantown anyway, Nijiya fills this niche. Your teenage son will thank you for not packing his lunch in a pink Hello Kitty bento box…

Nijiya Market

1737 Post St
(between Buchanan St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 563-1901

* Sanko Cooking Supplies
Sanko has a surprisingly good selection of unusual, better quality bento boxes and some interesting accessories, albeit at high prices. Most interesting was a new shipment of $18 donburi bento boxes in three colors (the Don Don Lunch Box by Hakoya, reviewed here), and a cute shaping mold for tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) with three removable shaping plates (pricey but cute). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Sanko.

Some unusual bento accessories and Hakoya bento boxes with antibacterial silver ion coating. The egg molds and some of the red/blue Hakoya boxes are $4 cheaper at Ichiban Kan across the street.

Sanko Cooking Supply

1758 Buchanan St
(between Post St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 922-8331

* Sanrio

The Sanrio store in the Japantown mall didn’t use to stock much of anything interesting in the way of bento gear, but that’s changed with their recent shipment of aluminum bento boxes that can be heated in the toaster oven. The drawback to these kind of boxes is that they’re not watertight, but the unique twist is that you can actually cook dishes like a gratin right in them, and heat up the whole thing without using the microwave (I know there are some of you who avoid microwave ovens). See my earlier post on metal bento boxes.

Sanrio is the company behind such characters as Hello Kitty, Shinkansen, My Melody, Chococat, Cinnamoroll, The Runabouts, etc. Accordingly, they’ve got a selection of character-themed bento boxes, utensils, thermoses, food jars, and lunch bags at slightly high prices (licensing fees, anyone?). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Sanrio.

Sanrio

Kintetsu Mall
1737 Post Street #315
San Francisco, CA 94115

* Soko Hardware

Soko tucks its bento box collection in an out-of-the-way corner on the top floor back behind the staircase, not downstairs with the kitchen stuff. Here you’ll find good-quality Hakoya and Tatsumiya Shikki-brand boxes for adults and children, as well as picnic-sized juubako boxes for tabletop use. Prices are very reasonable for this quality; definitely check out Soko Hardware before buying the more elegant or traditional boxes elsewhere.

Downstairs you’ll find fairly run-of-the-mill rice molds, sushi molds, cooking equipment and middle-of-the-road prices (not as cheap as Daiso or Ichiban Kan for the same molds, but not an outrageous markup either).

One unique niche Soko Hardware fills is with all of the fun gadgets for making spam musubi! In addition to spam musubi presses (both single and double-size versions), they even carry a spam meat slicer that evenly slices an entire can of spam at once — just like a hard-boiled egg slicer. It’s an unnecessary gadget (got a sharp knife?), but fun nonetheless.

Soko Hardware

1698 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 931-5510

FURTHER READING:

View the original article here

Japanese Cooking 101: Fresh ingredient shopping list for Week 1

We’ll be starting Japanese Cooking 101: The Fundamentals of Washoku next week. If you’re cooking along with the course as the lessons are listed, this is your shopping list of fresh ingredients. This is in addition to the staple ingredients on this list.

For Week 1 your fresh ingredient shopping list is pretty short. Basically I want you get something that can go into miso soup (omisoshiru) or clear soup (osuimono or osumashi). Here are some suggestions for some classical ingredients, but you can go with something else if you like too.

For miso soup - choose 1 or 2 of the following (you don’t need the whole list):

Potatoes and wakame seaweed (which you have already in your staple list) Soft (silken) tofu, on its own or with wakameCabbageOnionDaikon radish Spinach leavesAburaage (fried tofu skins)

For clear soup - again, choose 1 or 2 of the following; if any of these ingredients are unfamiliar to you, just go with something else:

Green onions (scallions)Wakame seaweed (on your staples list) Mitsuba MizunaSpinach Soft (silken) tofu)Fresh shiitake mushrooms or regular mushrooms Chicken breast meat Kamaboko

If you haven’t gotten all the ingredients on the staples list yet, the ones you will be needing are:

konbu seaweedkatsuobushi (bonito flakes)OR dashi granuleswakame seaweed (if you’ll be using it in your soup)miso

You’ll also need some salt, which I’m going to assume you have anyway. (Any old edible salt will do here, you don’t have to get expensive sea salt or anything unless you want to.)

And that’s it! The first lesson will be posted early next week.

View the original article here

Building a Japanese Pantry and Mizkan Shopping Guide

June 21st, 2011 | Endorsement, Sponsorship | 26 Comments

One of my favorite things to do is shopping, especially for food and ingredients that I use a daily basis to prepare all the mouthwatering dishes you see on Rasa Malaysia. I can spend hours walking the aisles of supermarkets, scouring the shelves looking for produce, sauces, spices, etc. Because of my focus in Asian cuisines, I tend to shop more at Asian supermarkets and specialty stores that carry Asian ingredients. Lucky for me, I live in Orange County, Southern California…the diversity here means that I can pretty much find any ingredients, be it fresh produce, imported goods, or hard-to-find items at the many food stores here.

I get many emails from my readers, many of them are very keen to try my recipes but have no idea where to shop for the ingredients called for in the recipes, for examples: salmon teriyaki, Japanese beef rolls, and hand roll (Temaki) recipes where Mizkan Japanese condiments are the key ingredients. So, today, I am taking you all shopping—albeit virtually—to my favorite food stores where you can get practically all Japanese ingredients. It’s going to be fun, let’s go…

Our first stop is Mitsuwa Marketplace, which is the largest Japanese supermarket in the United States. There are currently eight (8) stores here; the one I go to is at Costa Mesa, Orange County. I love Mitsuwa a lot—the store is always clean, and most importantly, you can find really fresh fish (sushi-grade fresh) and all kinds of Japanese products in that store. If you wish to stock a Japanese cooking pantry, go to the aisle where Shoyu (soy sauce) and Cooking Sake are. You will find the basics such as a variety of Japanese soy sauce, sake, mirin, rice vinegar, BBQ sauces, and more.

You can also find the complete range of Mizkan Japanese condiments at the same aisle: Mizkan AJIPON® Ponzu, Mizkan (Bonito Flavored) Soup Base, MIZKAN HONTERI® Mirin Seasoning, Mizkan Rice Vinegar, Mizkan Sushi Seasoning.

These Mizkan Japanese condiments can be used for a wide range of dishes in Japanese cooking. For cooking ideas, you can check out the Japanese recipes on Rasa Malaysia.

Other than the market, the Japanese food court inside Mitsuwa Marketplace beckons with stalls selling ramen, soba, udon, and bento boxes. There are also stores selling Japanese bakery, mochi, kitchenware, Japanese books and magazines. If you are a fan of Japanese food and culture, you ought to check it out.

Next, we are going to H-Mart, a Korean supermarket which has many stores in the United States, especially in the East Coast. There are four (4) of them in Southern California, one very close to where I live.

Even though H-Mart is a Korean store, you can find non-Korean products in the shop, for examples: Japanese, Chinese, and even Vietnamese food products. The first aisle is where you will find all the Asian sauces and seasonings. Unlike Mitsuwa, the sauces and condiments in H-Mart are grouped by types and not by brands. If you are looking for the complete line of Mizkan Japanese condiments, please check out the various sections of the aisle: the ponzu shelf, the mirin shelf, the rice vinegar shelf, and so on.

Here is a bottle of Mizkan AJIPON® Ponzu, which is great as a dipping sauce for gyoza, marinade, and pour-over sauce.

If you live in California or Hawaii, there is Marukai, a Japanese food specialty store that offers some of the best selections of Japanese products (I love the Japanese utensils and serving ware sold at Marukai!). You can also check out Nijiya Market. All in all though, it’s easier than ever to stock a pantry of Japanese ingredients. Retailers such as 99 Ranch Market, Uwajimaya, Chinese, and Korean stores usually carry a supply of Japanese food products. You might also find Japanese condiments at Vietnamese stores, case-in-point: the first picture of this post was shot at a Vietnamese market in Little Saigon, Orange County. If you live in a small city and have no idea where to shop for the ingredients, reach out to your local Japanese restaurants for help. I am quite certain that they will point you to a good source.

Once you find a store, always start at the condiments aisle and purchase the basics: soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, ponzu, and soup base. Then move on to the other aisles for other ingredients such as sushi rice, kombu (seaweed), bonito flakes, and the ingredients called for in the recipe. If you are an online shopper, you can buy Mizkan Japanese condiments online at AsianSupermarket365. The other online options are Marukai and Amazon.

You will soon realize that it’s rewarding to build a Japanese pantry. Have fun shopping for Japanese ingredients and happy cooking!

View the original article here

Bento shopping in San Francisco Japantown

It’s been a long time since my last bento gear shopping update, so there’s a lot to cover! Today I cover San Francisco Japantown, with a couple of new stores on the list. Highlights are the new Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift store with a variety of bento gear, the conveniently located (but partially hidden) Daiso dollar store, and the Sanrio store with a new shipment of heatable aluminum bento boxes.

Full store info and shop addresses are at the bento gear shopping guide for the San Francisco Bay Area, and you can also find reader updates at the Bento Store Locator with Google Maps. Photos of shop inventory were taken and used with store permission (click on any of the small photos for a larger version). (Click to read the full post.)

* Daiso (NEW)
* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gifts (1st floor) (NEW)
* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (2nd floor)
* Daikoku by Shiki
* Ichiban Kan
* Moritaya
* Nijiya Market
* Sanko
* Sanrio (NEW)
* Soko Hardware

(Warning: Photo-heavy post ahead!)

* Daiso (Japantown branch)

First off, there’s a small branch of Daiso in the same building as Ichiban Kan, on the bottom floor behind the staircase. Everything’s $1.50 unless otherwise market, and they have a fair selection of bento gear (including boxes, matching bags and bento bands, silicone food cups, onigiri rice ball molds, kitchen gear, food picks and other accessories). The quality of their bento boxes isn’t high, but prices are super-low, so I look at them as being semi-disposable boxes that I don’t mind Bug losing or breaking at school.

Daiso also has a small snack section, with things like interesting non-oil dressings (especially shiso and goma sesame flavors), and flavored seaweed. It’s much smaller than the large Daiso at Serramonte Mall in Daly City, and they don’t accept credit cards yet. But if you’re in the neighborhood to go to Ichiban Kan anyway, be sure to stop by and check out their inventory.

Here’s about half of the store’s bento boxes (the other half are shown in the photo above):

And their insulated bento bags and matching lunch cloths:

Daiso

22 Peace Plaza
Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94115

* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (#2)

This store opened late November 2009 on the first floor of Japan Center Kinokuniya Bldg. (by Japan Video store, under the main Kinokuniya bookstore), an extension of Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift on the second floor. It has a sizable selection of cute bento boxes, nesting/stacking boxes, utensils in cases, onigiri rice ball cases, cute food containers, and bags. Prices are on the higher end, but they stock San-X brand boxes that you won’t find at other stores. Definitely worth checking out.

Interesting trivia note: this is run by the same company as Kinokuniya Stationery on the second floor above it (see entry below), but these Kinokuniya gift stores aren’t actually the same company as the famous Kinokuniya Bookstore. The Kinokuniya Stationery stores are both part of NBC Inc., the same company that is behind MaiDo Stationery & Gift. Evidently executives at the two companies are friends, so Kinokuniya Bookstore allowed NBC to use the Kinokuniya name in some of its U.S. stores.

Here’s a look at about half of their bento gear:

And additional bento boxes:

The store manager said that bento boxes sell better at their New York branch than the San Francisco one, so he thinks that bento lunches are more popular in New York. I suspect that people just don’t know about this new SF store and their good selection of bento boxes, though.

Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift

1581 Webster Street
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 567-8901

* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (#1)

Located on the second floor of the Japan Center Kinokuniya Bldg., Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift is across from Kinokuniya Bookstore (not the same company). They have some unusual and cute bento boxes for children, including sandwich cases, nesting/stacking bento boxes, and snack boxes (see photo below). Prices are on the higher side, but quality is pretty good overall.

Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift

1581 Webster Street
Suite 218
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 567-8901

* Daikoku by Shiki

Daikoku by Shiki has a nice selection of more elegant, traditional-looking bento boxes by Hakoya. Prices are around $15-$20 per box, so they’re not exactly cheap, but they’re good quality. Their boxes are sized for adults, as opposed to the smaller Hakoya boxes at Ichiban Kan. Soko Hardware has some similar Hakoya boxes, but a smaller selection (see entry below). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Daikoku by Shiki here.

Shiki

Kintetsu Mall
1737 Post St, Ste 360
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 563-4550

* Ichiban Kan in SF Japantown
Oh Ichiban Kan, why oh why did you have to go and close your lovely online store? That place where people all over the U.S. could order bento boxes and accessories for $1-$1.50 a piece? We miss your online store! Store manager Rumi apologetically told me that they couldn’t make it work with the amount of upkeep the website required given their constantly changing inventory (something that makes the retail stores so fun to visit regularly).

So it feels a little cruel to show Ichiban Kan’s store inventory (their retail stores in the S.F. Bay Area remain open for business as usual), but here goes. Here’s their wall of bento boxes, matching bags, bento bands, side dish boxes, and utensils:

And small Hakoya-brand bento boxes, just US$6 each. Unlike the Hakoya boxes at Daikoku by Shiki, these are sized for children, with the yellow rectangular box sized at 380ml (150ml top tier, 230ml bottom tier), and the gingham checkered oval boxes measuring 415ml (180ml top tier, 235ml bottom tier). (These boxes are not microwave safe; see my care guide for bento gear.)

Ichiban Kan also has a line of cheaper, smaller boxes from Hakoya that appear quite sturdy, matching utensils, and fancier boxes with antibacterial silver ion coating (like this large bento box on J-List) for packed lunch food safety. If you find a Hakoya-brand box at Ichiban Kan, it’ll likely be cheaper here than anywhere else in San Francisco. They also have a few silver-colored Don Don Lunch Boxes (Hakoya) for packing donburi lunches, priced at $19. Surprisingly, these are $1 more than nearby Sanko Cooking Supply is selling their new stock of Don Don Lunch Boxes, in a wider variety of colors (see entry below).

In a neighboring aisle is their wall of cheap bento accessories, which include egg molds (make boiled eggs in the shape of bunnies, cars, fish, bears, hearts, & stars), food picks, silicone lunch cups & baran dividers, sauce containers, etc. Make Daiso and Ichiban Kan your first stops in Japantown so that you don’t kick yourself for spending too much money at other stores first, just to discover you could get things here cheaper.

Ichiban Kan

1625 Post St
Miyako Mall 22 Peace Plz, Ste 540
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 409-0472

* Moritaya

No photo updates here as they wouldn’t allow pictures in the store. Moritaya has character-themed bento gear for the preschool set, with characters like Thomas the Tank Engine, Miffy, Cars, Gaspard & Lisa, Totoro, Ponyo, etc. The downside is that everything’s seriously overpriced, with huge mark-ups on bento gear  (including boxes from Ichiban Kan that they resell). If you can’t live without a particular anime character box but can’t find it locally, you may have luck here (but you’ll pay dearly for it).

Moritaya

1737 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 674-1345

* Nijiya Market

If you’re looking for a plain, sturdy, non-cutesy bento box that won’t embarrass the man in your life, stop by Nijiya supermarket and pick up one of their four Asvel-brand boxes (pictured below). Kamei (out on Clement St. in the Richmond) and Kukje Supermarket (Daly City) are the other good places to get these type of plain boxes at comparable prices. But if you’re in Japantown anyway, Nijiya fills this niche. Your teenage son will thank you for not packing his lunch in a pink Hello Kitty bento box…

Nijiya Market

1737 Post St
(between Buchanan St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 563-1901

* Sanko Cooking Supplies
Sanko has a surprisingly good selection of unusual, better quality bento boxes and some interesting accessories, albeit at high prices. Most interesting was a new shipment of $18 donburi bento boxes in three colors (the Don Don Lunch Box by Hakoya, reviewed here), and a cute shaping mold for tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) with three removable shaping plates (pricey but cute). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Sanko.

Some unusual bento accessories and Hakoya bento boxes with antibacterial silver ion coating. The egg molds and some of the red/blue Hakoya boxes are $4 cheaper at Ichiban Kan across the street.

Sanko Cooking Supply

1758 Buchanan St
(between Post St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 922-8331

* Sanrio

The Sanrio store in the Japantown mall didn’t use to stock much of anything interesting in the way of bento gear, but that’s changed with their recent shipment of aluminum bento boxes that can be heated in the toaster oven. The drawback to these kind of boxes is that they’re not watertight, but the unique twist is that you can actually cook dishes like a gratin right in them, and heat up the whole thing without using the microwave (I know there are some of you who avoid microwave ovens). See my earlier post on metal bento boxes.

Sanrio is the company behind such characters as Hello Kitty, Shinkansen, My Melody, Chococat, Cinnamoroll, The Runabouts, etc. Accordingly, they’ve got a selection of character-themed bento boxes, utensils, thermoses, food jars, and lunch bags at slightly high prices (licensing fees, anyone?). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Sanrio.

Sanrio

Kintetsu Mall
1737 Post Street #315
San Francisco, CA 94115

* Soko Hardware

Soko tucks its bento box collection in an out-of-the-way corner on the top floor back behind the staircase, not downstairs with the kitchen stuff. Here you’ll find good-quality Hakoya and Tatsumiya Shikki-brand boxes for adults and children, as well as picnic-sized juubako boxes for tabletop use. Prices are very reasonable for this quality; definitely check out Soko Hardware before buying the more elegant or traditional boxes elsewhere.

Downstairs you’ll find fairly run-of-the-mill rice molds, sushi molds, cooking equipment and middle-of-the-road prices (not as cheap as Daiso or Ichiban Kan for the same molds, but not an outrageous markup either).

One unique niche Soko Hardware fills is with all of the fun gadgets for making spam musubi! In addition to spam musubi presses (both single and double-size versions), they even carry a spam meat slicer that evenly slices an entire can of spam at once — just like a hard-boiled egg slicer. It’s an unnecessary gadget (got a sharp knife?), but fun nonetheless.

Soko Hardware

1698 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 931-5510

FURTHER READING:

View the original article here

Shopping Food

biochem among other things and is my go to guy for nutrition. Some of this stuff is hard to come by, you guys get involved enough in it I am sure we can get Leever’s to start stocking it. I am stunned by a few facts: 1-People do not know how to cook in general. Microwave meals and fast food seem to predominate. Sandwiches and other grabn-go crap are the norm. Food quality matters. You need to learn how to cook. Acknowledge, accept, move on. 2-People are “too busy”. If you are “too busy to cook” you need to reevaluate your life. How much time do you spend watching TV? Be honest and realistic because if you legitimately do not have time to feed yourself correctly you are heading towards serious health problems. 3-People go absolutely fetal if they do not have their bread, rice, pasta and all the other garbage carbs. Inevitably the question arises “how do I cook this?” It is simply a cover for “I want my comfort food”. If you want results you need to alter what you are doing. I know this seems obvious, but apparently it is not! If you want to keep doing the same old thing join a Globo gym, don’t go (most people don’t) and keep eating what you have been eating. Wasn’t that easy?! Not surprisingly you will continue to get the same results. 4-As day follows night, eating can only follow shopping. You cannot and likely should not eat out all the time. That means you need to stock your pantry and have the vittles on hand to cook nutritious, possibly even tasty meals. Hence the handy guide that follows. You CAN do this. We have clients who are not very bright (not naming names) who do this. They are committed and will not accept failure. If they fall off the pony, they get up, catch the lil’buggar and get back on. If you are not committed to this please step away from the ride, do something else and leave this hour open for someone who will listen, grow and reap the rewards this program can offer. All right, enough finger wagging, here is your shopping guide.

Fruit & VeggiesTrader Joes has a great selection of frozen berries and Vegetables. Hit the farmers market and buy what is in season. Avoid bananas and other tropical fruit. Buy local. FoodMax actually has a very good produce section. I think they sell enough volume that they constantly turn the stock over. Many of the supermarkets have anemic looking produce sections…I’d swear I see the same avocado from week to week in one store. Try buying some non-traditional veggies like Napa cabbage and some other goodies. Expand your horizons for crying out loud! That said however you should ALWAYS have the following in the freezer from Trader Joes: Broccoli, green beans, asparagus, blue berries. TJ’s has some other frozen veggies that are good but you MUST have these on hand. You can easily throw together a meal with some meat or chicken and a half bag of these veggies. Remember the excuses above of not having enough time? Keep this stuff on hand and you will have no problems. FYI-We make random checks to peoples homes to verify veggie stocks…just kidding, but man we should! Fresh meatTrader Joes is good for grass fed meat. This is your first choice with all varieties of meat. Grass fed is better than organic. Free Range chicken, wild meat if available. Conventional cuts like London broil for beef and pork loin are good options if the organic and or grass fed options are not available. The Chico State farm is an excellent source but they are only open Thursday and Friday so plan ahead. Costco has good prices and good quality. Stock up! People tend to make bad food choices when they run out. Don’t be on of “those” people. Vegetarian? Find another trainer, I will not work with you. You won’t make progress and all we will do is argue. Someone else can take your money and watch you not make progress. Fish and shellfishS & S-is the place locally. Trader Joes (No, I do not have stock in them) has a good selection of frozen fish and shellfish. They also have a canned

Wild Alaskan Salmon. Great stuff for salads. When you buy any type of salmon make sure it is WILD. “Fresh” does not mean wild. They also carry a mild sardine called “Bella Olhao”. I cannot stand other sardines. These are actually pretty darn yummy. Again great for salads, just pour in the olive oil they are packed in. Raleys- They are another good seafood option. They carry some less popular fish like mackerel that are pretty strong tasting but amazingly nutritious. BBQ mackerel outside or your house will smell like fish for a year. Raleys on east ave. is pretty good. Notre Dame…not nearly as good. Eggs- Omega-3 enriched only. Costco has a great deal on these and they are top quality. Trader Joes is even better! Any major supermarket carries these however. Store Interior: Coconut milk- If you like curries this is a great carrier. Safeway and Raleys carry a Thai brand “ Chakoh”. No idea on the pronunciation. The two Asian food stores in town carry this one as well. Just a personal favorite but any coconut is good coconut milk. olive oil- Pacific Sun or one of the other top shelf brands will lighten your pocketbook a bunch but they are amazing. You get what you pay for with olive oils. Trader Joes has a good base model that is ~$7.99/liter. This is a good day-to-day olive oil. Tomato paste/sauce Trader Joes to the rescue again. They have a canned marinara called “Sugo di Pomodoro”. You can pour this over any meat/veggie dish and LOVE it. Spices- The more the better. If you do not know how to cook, learn. We have a DVD in the works. Google specific recipes, look for examples on youtube. If you MUST watch television then watch the food network…unless Battle Star Galactica is on. You MUST watch BSG. Green tea-Any

Coffee- Raleys carries an espresso called “Café La Llave”. Buy a stovetop espresso maker from Pete’s coffee and prepare to get wired. All Items listed below can be found at either Trader Joes, the Farmers Market or S&S produce. seeds nuts (raw, but not cashews or peanuts) nut butters organic fruit and vegetables unsweetened coconut flakes nut flours (almond, pecan, and chestnut) Based on the shopping list you could probably figure out what you are supposed to eat…here is a hint: it’s not bread, rice, pasta nor potatoes. What IS on the menu? Glad you asked: Protein - Every Meal: Chicken – 3-4oz Beef – 3-4 oz Fish – 3-4 oz Eggs – 2-3 whole eggs Now…I’m assuming you are pretty sharp but oddly enough a few things seem to slip by people…repeatedly. When I say “every meal” I in fact mean EVERY BLESSED MEAL. This is especially critical if you are trying to lose body fat. Another frequently confused point is the topic of “protein”. If you are fighting for survival in a 3rd world country then yes, beans and rice count as protein. At NorCal S&C it most assuredly DOES NOT. You need chicken, beef, fish, pork lamb, turkey…are you picking up what I’m putting down? If you think beans, nuts or Tofu count as protein please re-read the vegetarian clause above and follow those directions appropriately. Vegetables - Every Meal: Vegetables – all varieties…as much as you want, especially: Broccoli Spinach Kale Cabbage

Asparagus Onions Tomatoes Newsflash-More vegetables exist than those listed above, you may eat those…unless they appear on the “no-no” list below. Fat - Every meal: Nuts: raw or LIGHTLY roasted and preferably unsalted – small handful Almonds Cashews Pecans Walnuts NO PEANUTS Avocado – ½ of medium sized one Olive Oil – use as salad dressing – 1-2 Tbs. Newsflash 2- Fat does not make you fat. We recommend a moderate to low carb diet. It is healthy and effective. Ask questions, check blood lipids but for crying out loud, just do this stuff for a month! Do you see ANY processed food in this? Any sugar? Trans fats? No, no and no. It’s whole, natural foods and you will thrive on it. Fruit – Occasionally, always with protein! In order of preference: all berries melons oranges grapefruit tangerines apples Eat what is in season and local. Coffee – Espresso or Americano’s only – preferably black - no sugar or artificial sweeteners!

ABSOLUTELY NOT!
All flour products (bread/cake/cookies/scones/tortillas/pastries etc.) All sugars No Jamba juice! – too much sugar! No Dairy (cheese/milk/butter/cottage cheese, etc) No Mochas, No Latte, No Frappaccino’s No Artificial Sweeteners No potatoes, corn beans or other starchy vegetables Now…similar to the admonition to “eat this at every meal” the “absolutely not” category means….don’t eat it! You have a month of introduction in which we will help you get your insulin levels normalized, clean up your digestive health and likely a whole slew of other considerations, all while losing fat and feeling better. After a month you can tinker with re-introducing some of the banned foods, but you need to know that non-compliance in the first month is grounds for termination. No messing around. I have limited time and love what I do and I WILL NOT waste my efforts on someone who cannot hang in at least a month. Like I said previously, there are a slew of trainers who are fine with taking your money and allowing you to continue along with bad nutrition. Not me. You will get results; you will feel and look better. Why? Because you followed these guidelines and reaped the benefits from sound training and nutrition.

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Bento shopping in San Francisco Japantown

It’s been a long time since my last bento gear shopping update, so there’s a lot to cover! Today I cover San Francisco Japantown, with a couple of new stores on the list. Highlights are the new Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift store with a variety of bento gear, the conveniently located (but partially hidden) Daiso dollar store, and the Sanrio store with a new shipment of heatable aluminum bento boxes.

Full store info and shop addresses are at the bento gear shopping guide for the San Francisco Bay Area, and you can also find reader updates at the Bento Store Locator with Google Maps. Photos of shop inventory were taken and used with store permission (click on any of the small photos for a larger version). (Click to read the full post.)

* Daiso (NEW)
* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gifts (1st floor) (NEW)
* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (2nd floor)
* Daikoku by Shiki
* Ichiban Kan
* Moritaya
* Nijiya Market
* Sanko
* Sanrio (NEW)
* Soko Hardware

(Warning: Photo-heavy post ahead!)

* Daiso (Japantown branch)

First off, there’s a small branch of Daiso in the same building as Ichiban Kan, on the bottom floor behind the staircase. Everything’s $1.50 unless otherwise market, and they have a fair selection of bento gear (including boxes, matching bags and bento bands, silicone food cups, onigiri rice ball molds, kitchen gear, food picks and other accessories). The quality of their bento boxes isn’t high, but prices are super-low, so I look at them as being semi-disposable boxes that I don’t mind Bug losing or breaking at school.

Daiso also has a small snack section, with things like interesting non-oil dressings (especially shiso and goma sesame flavors), and flavored seaweed. It’s much smaller than the large Daiso at Serramonte Mall in Daly City, and they don’t accept credit cards yet. But if you’re in the neighborhood to go to Ichiban Kan anyway, be sure to stop by and check out their inventory.

Here’s about half of the store’s bento boxes (the other half are shown in the photo above):

And their insulated bento bags and matching lunch cloths:

Daiso

22 Peace Plaza
Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94115

* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (#2)

This store opened late November 2009 on the first floor of Japan Center Kinokuniya Bldg. (by Japan Video store, under the main Kinokuniya bookstore), an extension of Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift on the second floor. It has a sizable selection of cute bento boxes, nesting/stacking boxes, utensils in cases, onigiri rice ball cases, cute food containers, and bags. Prices are on the higher end, but they stock San-X brand boxes that you won’t find at other stores. Definitely worth checking out.

Interesting trivia note: this is run by the same company as Kinokuniya Stationery on the second floor above it (see entry below), but these Kinokuniya gift stores aren’t actually the same company as the famous Kinokuniya Bookstore. The Kinokuniya Stationery stores are both part of NBC Inc., the same company that is behind MaiDo Stationery & Gift. Evidently executives at the two companies are friends, so Kinokuniya Bookstore allowed NBC to use the Kinokuniya name in some of its U.S. stores.

Here’s a look at about half of their bento gear:

And additional bento boxes:

The store manager said that bento boxes sell better at their New York branch than the San Francisco one, so he thinks that bento lunches are more popular in New York. I suspect that people just don’t know about this new SF store and their good selection of bento boxes, though.

Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift

1581 Webster Street
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 567-8901

* Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift (#1)

Located on the second floor of the Japan Center Kinokuniya Bldg., Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift is across from Kinokuniya Bookstore (not the same company). They have some unusual and cute bento boxes for children, including sandwich cases, nesting/stacking bento boxes, and snack boxes (see photo below). Prices are on the higher side, but quality is pretty good overall.

Kinokuniya Stationery & Gift

1581 Webster Street
Suite 218
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 567-8901

* Daikoku by Shiki

Daikoku by Shiki has a nice selection of more elegant, traditional-looking bento boxes by Hakoya. Prices are around $15-$20 per box, so they’re not exactly cheap, but they’re good quality. Their boxes are sized for adults, as opposed to the smaller Hakoya boxes at Ichiban Kan. Soko Hardware has some similar Hakoya boxes, but a smaller selection (see entry below). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Daikoku by Shiki here.

Shiki

Kintetsu Mall
1737 Post St, Ste 360
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 563-4550

* Ichiban Kan in SF Japantown
Oh Ichiban Kan, why oh why did you have to go and close your lovely online store? That place where people all over the U.S. could order bento boxes and accessories for $1-$1.50 a piece? We miss your online store! Store manager Rumi apologetically told me that they couldn’t make it work with the amount of upkeep the website required given their constantly changing inventory (something that makes the retail stores so fun to visit regularly).

So it feels a little cruel to show Ichiban Kan’s store inventory (their retail stores in the S.F. Bay Area remain open for business as usual), but here goes. Here’s their wall of bento boxes, matching bags, bento bands, side dish boxes, and utensils:

And small Hakoya-brand bento boxes, just US$6 each. Unlike the Hakoya boxes at Daikoku by Shiki, these are sized for children, with the yellow rectangular box sized at 380ml (150ml top tier, 230ml bottom tier), and the gingham checkered oval boxes measuring 415ml (180ml top tier, 235ml bottom tier). (These boxes are not microwave safe; see my care guide for bento gear.)

Ichiban Kan also has a line of cheaper, smaller boxes from Hakoya that appear quite sturdy, matching utensils, and fancier boxes with antibacterial silver ion coating (like this large bento box on J-List) for packed lunch food safety. If you find a Hakoya-brand box at Ichiban Kan, it’ll likely be cheaper here than anywhere else in San Francisco. They also have a few silver-colored Don Don Lunch Boxes (Hakoya) for packing donburi lunches, priced at $19. Surprisingly, these are $1 more than nearby Sanko Cooking Supply is selling their new stock of Don Don Lunch Boxes, in a wider variety of colors (see entry below).

In a neighboring aisle is their wall of cheap bento accessories, which include egg molds (make boiled eggs in the shape of bunnies, cars, fish, bears, hearts, & stars), food picks, silicone lunch cups & baran dividers, sauce containers, etc. Make Daiso and Ichiban Kan your first stops in Japantown so that you don’t kick yourself for spending too much money at other stores first, just to discover you could get things here cheaper.

Ichiban Kan

1625 Post St
Miyako Mall 22 Peace Plz, Ste 540
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 409-0472

* Moritaya

No photo updates here as they wouldn’t allow pictures in the store. Moritaya has character-themed bento gear for the preschool set, with characters like Thomas the Tank Engine, Miffy, Cars, Gaspard & Lisa, Totoro, Ponyo, etc. The downside is that everything’s seriously overpriced, with huge mark-ups on bento gear  (including boxes from Ichiban Kan that they resell). If you can’t live without a particular anime character box but can’t find it locally, you may have luck here (but you’ll pay dearly for it).

Moritaya

1737 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 674-1345

* Nijiya Market

If you’re looking for a plain, sturdy, non-cutesy bento box that won’t embarrass the man in your life, stop by Nijiya supermarket and pick up one of their four Asvel-brand boxes (pictured below). Kamei (out on Clement St. in the Richmond) and Kukje Supermarket (Daly City) are the other good places to get these type of plain boxes at comparable prices. But if you’re in Japantown anyway, Nijiya fills this niche. Your teenage son will thank you for not packing his lunch in a pink Hello Kitty bento box…

Nijiya Market

1737 Post St
(between Buchanan St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 563-1901

* Sanko Cooking Supplies
Sanko has a surprisingly good selection of unusual, better quality bento boxes and some interesting accessories, albeit at high prices. Most interesting was a new shipment of $18 donburi bento boxes in three colors (the Don Don Lunch Box by Hakoya, reviewed here), and a cute shaping mold for tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) with three removable shaping plates (pricey but cute). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Sanko.

Some unusual bento accessories and Hakoya bento boxes with antibacterial silver ion coating. The egg molds and some of the red/blue Hakoya boxes are $4 cheaper at Ichiban Kan across the street.

Sanko Cooking Supply

1758 Buchanan St
(between Post St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 922-8331

* Sanrio

The Sanrio store in the Japantown mall didn’t use to stock much of anything interesting in the way of bento gear, but that’s changed with their recent shipment of aluminum bento boxes that can be heated in the toaster oven. The drawback to these kind of boxes is that they’re not watertight, but the unique twist is that you can actually cook dishes like a gratin right in them, and heat up the whole thing without using the microwave (I know there are some of you who avoid microwave ovens). See my earlier post on metal bento boxes.

Sanrio is the company behind such characters as Hello Kitty, Shinkansen, My Melody, Chococat, Cinnamoroll, The Runabouts, etc. Accordingly, they’ve got a selection of character-themed bento boxes, utensils, thermoses, food jars, and lunch bags at slightly high prices (licensing fees, anyone?). The SF Japantown website has a printable online coupon for Sanrio.

Sanrio

Kintetsu Mall
1737 Post Street #315
San Francisco, CA 94115

* Soko Hardware

Soko tucks its bento box collection in an out-of-the-way corner on the top floor back behind the staircase, not downstairs with the kitchen stuff. Here you’ll find good-quality Hakoya and Tatsumiya Shikki-brand boxes for adults and children, as well as picnic-sized juubako boxes for tabletop use. Prices are very reasonable for this quality; definitely check out Soko Hardware before buying the more elegant or traditional boxes elsewhere.

Downstairs you’ll find fairly run-of-the-mill rice molds, sushi molds, cooking equipment and middle-of-the-road prices (not as cheap as Daiso or Ichiban Kan for the same molds, but not an outrageous markup either).

One unique niche Soko Hardware fills is with all of the fun gadgets for making spam musubi! In addition to spam musubi presses (both single and double-size versions), they even carry a spam meat slicer that evenly slices an entire can of spam at once — just like a hard-boiled egg slicer. It’s an unnecessary gadget (got a sharp knife?), but fun nonetheless.

Soko Hardware

1698 Post Street
(between Buchanan St & Laguna St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 931-5510

FURTHER READING:

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