Bento

Take Away noodle soup… you can get it a lot nowadays, but I find most of them disappointing. First time we ordered from this take away was shortly after we moved into our new flat. It was a good choice. The food is really nice and they have a genius system for noodle soup … a DIY soup. You get the broth in one container and the noodles, vegetables and meat in a separate container. Its up to you how you mix it up. Love it!
Just the right thing on such cold winter nights.

When it comes to sushi, sometimes location trumps quality. Rarely, but yes it does.
So when we were close by the other night, we gave it a try.
Meh, I don’t know. I don’t like to give negative reviews, so let’s focus on the positive. We only had the sushi, which was ok, except for the crunchy prawn roll, which was double meh. The deluxe mix was actually not bad, and the fish was pretty fresh.
All in all, not deathly, but not amazing.

Not bad, but nothing special. Service was average.

Bento is a great Japanese for takeout, I’m not a huge fan of their interior nor do I recommend their Thai curries the ingredients of which are pretty poor (gelatinous reconstituted chicken anyone?) that being said their sushi is excellent. We love the tuna tempura crunch, the sashimi and maki rolls. Stick to the sushi menu and you should be fine.

Too many styles of food– fails to deliver

Don’t bother!
Being new to the area I wanted to start finding some new favourites and as my husband was out for the night I decided to wander up and get some take away just for me.
As you go in they have REALLY heavy doors and so I struggled to get the buggy (had my son with me) through the doors none of the staff helped me in — there was no one in the restaurant. Being a mummy I guess you have to deal with these things but might say something for the service.
Wander up to the bar and ask for the take-​away menu and was left waiting — had to call someone over so I could order. So I waited and another couple came in with a child & sat down and were given menu’s just after I ordered.
The stil hadn’t had there order taken when I left 5−10min later with my dinner and the staff (there were lots of them and only 3 adults + 2 babies in the restaurant) still didn’t help me out the double doors with the buggy.
My dish was cooked — went for the thai style bento box — my recommendation to anyone is just dont order it! I saw someone elses comment just now about ordering thai from here and maybe they’re right — I was contemplating that I should have ordered Japanese…
Anyway back to it the bento box:
— chicken satay — the sauce was runny (watered down?) and sweet and really not like satay at all if you forget that there were a few little bits of peanut in it. There was another meat dish in there, but really unworthy of being in the box and a few bits of salad. Let’s just say I left it in the fridge for my husband to eat when he came home drunk but even he wouldn’t touch it.
So my advice here — don’t bother! Still looking to find some nice oriental food in Balham — contact me if you have recommendations ;)
Oh by the way, i thought the restaurant fit out was nice pity the food & service weren’t as good.

We got a takeaway from here and were impressed. The bento boxes are big and satisfying, the yaki udon was perfect to fill a noodle-​shaped hole (better — and cheaper — than wagawotsit). Above all, it wasn’t all horribly greasy like bad japanese restaurants can be, mentioning no names.
We did only eat the Japanese food, so I can’t comment on the other cuisines — it’s likely they are not as good, but then I’m not sure why you’d go here for Thai when there are a good handful of other Thai places within walking distance. But the fact they have such a variety would be good for a group dining in.
Their sushi was very fresh, and the miso soup was great.
I’d definitely eat in, and I’m pretty sure they’ll end up on speed dial for noodle and raw fish emergencies. (A surprising number of these occur).

Great quality Japanese /​Thai /​Chinese food (bit of a mixed bag on the menu, but really good food) pretty reasonable prices — around 7 – 8 quid for a noodle dish — highly recommend the beef in pepper sauce noodles.
Takeaway is also good — delivery usually inside 20 mins — (although they always say 40 on the phone…)

Seeing as this was once of the only Japanese fusion type places (that served sushi) in our local area, we decided to have a taste and do order delivery from Bento from time to time. They have one of those menus — jack of all trades, but not all that great any any one cuisine in particular.
You’ll find a massive list of Thai, Chinese, Japanese and even Singaporean food on their menus. The interior is bench style seating (think Wagamma) and service is quick and quite good. The letdown though has to be the food. I never quite know what to get since there are so many choices. I frequently have the vegetarian Bento box as I think it’s the best value for what you get really — a main, soup, salad, rice and side for a whopping £8. However, as my love for sushi is what really drew me here I have ordered an array of fish before.
They have the standard types of maki and sashimi but it was just not up to par. Not only that but on more than one occasion I had a bad tummy afterwards (and I have a strong stomach, I tell you). This experience is enough to put me off ordering sushi from there again, who know how fresh it all really is. But their food isn’t all bad — my husband frequently ordered the shoyu ramen with salmon and loves it. Their tofu teriyaki is average but in a Bento box, is a bargain for London.
Overall, okay — nothing to rave about.