Lunch Review: Oishii Bento

The "bento box" concept doesn't seem like much, at first -- just a bunch of different foods in a tray. And the trays aren't even big enough to sled down a hill on, like we did in college.

But take that small, sealable, square little tray and add a selection of light, healthy Japanese food, and you've got something.

Oishii Bento exploits this simple formula to good effect. There are a few tables in the storefront, and a dining room upstairs, but mostly, it's college kids in cutoffs and flip-flops waiting for takeout.

Oishii Bento ($7.75), the entree, hosts shrimp on top of eggy clumps of onions, sliced carrots and mushrooms, slathered in a light soy broth. It's messy and a little unsightly, but actually quite delicious. Other divisions in the tray contain sticky sesame glass noodles, steamed rice and yellow Japanese pickles.

The Ton-Katsu Bento ($6.50) is an even better deal, even if it's kind of heavy -- thin slices of breaded pork with a light, salty sauce, with all the pickles, rice and noodles that seem to be standard in an Oishii bento box.

Making sushi in a hurry with assembly-line precision isn't easy -- and the stoic, middle-aged Japanese guy working behind the counter is lucky to still have all his fingers. So we'll cut Oishii some slack, even though the sushi is merely OK. My lunch companion got a six-piece Sushi Plate ($7.95) with (almost) one of everything. She was impressed by the freshness, especially the barbecued eel. But she thought some were in need of wasabi paste between the topping and steamed rice, because they all fell apart upon contact with chopsticks. The octopus sushi was sliced so thin that it was almost translucent, which isn't good.

But the Inari ($4.95) -- rice in a sweet, sticky tofu-skin wrapper -- were delicious, as were the tiny, fresh Vegetable Rolls ($4.95).

Kimchi ($1) is a good side, if you like napalm-spicy Korean pickled cabbage. Too hot for me, but another lunch companion thought it was just right. Additional Information:

Oishii Bento

Address: 119 Oakland Ave., Oakland

Phone: 412-687-3335

I didn't get to try ...

Oishii Udon is the house take on thick rice noodle soup and probably is worth a shot. But the Spicy Pork Bulgogi Bowl may have to wait for cooler weather.