2 n/naka Kaiseki Jūbako available at retail price OR trade for Bento with Sushi box plus price difference
I managed to snag 2x n/naka bento boxes this morning. When I refreshed the page right at 10AM, the only option that showed up was the Kaiseki Jūbako. I rushed to buy it and had completed the purchase before realizing that the price was $85/box, not $38/box like I was expecting. Apparently they recently added this new higher priced option. I’m not entirely thrilled with spending $85/person right now, so I am looking to sell my 2 boxes, or trade with someone who has the cheaper box plus you would pay me the difference in price. My 2 Kaiseki Jūbako boxes are for pickup this Wednesday 4/8 at 7PM at n/naka. The total price for the two boxes, including tax and a $20 tip is $206.15.
Shoot me a message if you’re interested in buying the boxes outright, or trading plus paying the price difference if you have a reservation for the cheaper boxes. My preference is to trade with someone who has the cheaper box.
EDIT: Clearly if I had read the post right above this, I would have realized that there was a new higher priced option. But alas.
taste-wise i think i prefer n/naka just slightly over shunji, but shunji had the better qpr. the miso-marinated black cod, shoyu koji-roasted sweet potato and matcha white chocolate cake were the standouts. At 38 bucks I wasn’t expecting much from the a5 but it was still disappointing; miniscule and overcooked. I would have preferred a larger portion of a cheaper cut.
in shunji’s, i really liked the crab cake, shiitake tempura, and tamago.
extended car-makase part II - kaiseki jūbako#covid15
this was a little more than twice the price of n/naka’s regular bento but more than twice as good, i thought this had a much higher qpr. everything in this two-tiered box was good to great, and a lot more like what you would eat at dinner. highly recommended @Chowseeker1999, @attran99, @NYCtoLA, @TheCookie, @Omotesando, @J_L, @CiaoBob, @Hungrydrunk, @Ns1, @butteredwaffles
strawberry daifuku
as soon as i bit into this it burst with incredible sweetness and i immediately knew this was from harry’s berries; even better than the ones i’ve had in japan, incredible .
+1 on kinki, strawberry daifuku, and lobster,uni,caviar bite. So, so good. I also really enjoyed the owan soup. The kinki sort of reminds of Hayato’s nodoguro in its smokiness and oiliness, and in addition to @PorkyBelly’s comment on the daifuku, the strawberries were wonderful with the anko (red bean paste).
OK so is there a trick to snagging these boxes? I have been trying for the last 3 Saturdays and when I click on something supposedly available, it’s always in someone else’s cart. I must be doing something wrong, or I’m just old and slow
I signed up on the waitlist for every single slot and got lucky after a few weeks. They will email the entire waitlist for the particular day/time they have an opening, and the first person through wins! It helps if you have notifications on for new emails.
So just an update on this - a waitlist slot opened up and I grabbed it - there were quite a few slots (Fri, Sat) I wonder if some of the later slots got cancelled in anticipation of a continued LA curfew as the slots that had opened were 4:30 or 5:00. Will report back on the meal!
Here’s the reveal of tonight’s Kaiseki Jubako, two tiered box presentation: Included was a menu as well as a guide to the items inside the boxes.
Upper tier detail:
Lower tier detail
And the three desserts:
Included on the side was also the miso soup:
Braised abalone with liver and truffle sauce. This was a revelation - I usually have abalone in Cantonese cooking and never really liked it, so I wasn’t expecting much. But the perfectly braised abalone with that liver sauce was tender umami heaven. Truffle was quite subtle. Yes, I licked that shell to get ALL the sauce. Hey - that’s a perk of takeout, you can do things you would never do at a restaurant
Duck and firefly squid were good as well, but abalone definitely the highlight of this section.
American wagyu tataki was delicious, the daikon ponzu was a nice accompaniment to it texturally
Sashimi highlight was the toro
A bit disappointed in the tamago, but sushi nicely done:
Great way to start the lower tier with the vegetables takiawase. Snap peas were perfection, and eggplant was lightly marinated, I think. Wished the eggplant sesame sauce had a bit more punch:
Grilled kinki (fantastic flavor!) hidden under the garnish. Anyone know what it is? It had a bit of a sourness to it, I don’t recall having this herb (?) before.
Finished with the lobster nanbanzuke (extremely tasty but it would have been really amazing if it was eaten fresh at the restaurant) and the lobster chawanmushi (loved the flavor and texture, but I should have warmed it up. We actually ate outside, so just ate everything as is) Dessert!!! Matcha white chocolate cake - denser than I expected, but nice crumb and not too sweet.
Excellent rendition of strawberry Daifuku, red bean was soooooo smooth. Fun fact … Costco in Taipei sells strawberry daifuku as a seasonal item in a pack of 12 for - get this - US$10!
No closeup of the passion fruit chocolate because it disappeared in my mouth before I had a chance to take a snapshot, but the passionfruit ganache was excellent, however, the outer shell was a bit too sweet for my liking.
All in all, an EXCELLENT meal. Ah, waitlist dreams do come true! Must be that FTC karma
Taiwan Costco strawberry mochi is no joke, couldn’t even finish a pack with family it’s so big. They also have dessert strawberry custard in packs of six large containers.
First up? A collaboration with Minh Phan of Porridge + Puffs. The $48 bento features eight seasonal dishes, including a fresh summer roll filled with shrimp tempura and crab salad and served with a numbing calamansi ponzu; sweet potato and kabocha salad with pickled mirepoix; calamari tempura with herb slaw and rose pickled onion; braised beef rice spaetzle with five-spice dashi and burnt onion; grilled pork meatball with leeks and lemongrass; smoked abalone porridge with nori oil; and tarragon gooseberry cake with passionfruit meringue.
What did you think of the taste and QPR compared to Shunji? Thanks.
Included was a menu as well as a guide to the items inside the boxes.
Dessert!!! Matcha white chocolate cake - denser than I expected, but nice crumb and not too sweet. 
