[Pork-free] If you are headed to Tsutaya Books at Pavilion Bukit Jalil, be sure to check out Hinode Bento.
This quaint little Japanese bento shop is located in a shop lot a hop and a skip away from the mall’s main entrance.
Hinode serves some of the most beautiful Japanese bento sets – from luscious unagi served over Japanese rice to cute “chicken” onigiri packed in bamboo bento boxes.
Hinode Bento in Bukit Jalil
Hinode first opened back in Nov 2020 – offering bento sets for takeaways to locals in the Bukit Jalil area. It was not until June this year that the Hinode expanded its space to allow more seats for dine-in.
We really appreciate the Japanese minimalist approach to its interior, with clean lines and neutral elements to inspire zen-like calm during our dining experience.
Don’t be fooled by its unassuming storefront – its entrance may look like a small set-up, but keep walking and you’ll find tables and a sushi bar behind the ordering counter at the back.
Beautiful made-to-order bento
Hinode specialises in made-to-order bento sets with no pork or lard used.
The Artisan lunch sets here are definitely competitively priced to attract the working crowd in BJ.
We found the Sanshoku Unagi Bento set to be reasonably priced at RM36.90, with its generous amount of unagi, tamago, and seasoned spinach.
The Sakura Chirashi Bento set (RM33.90) caught our eye too – with its colourful toppings of ebiko, sakura powder, shime saba, salmon, ebi, and kinshi tamago, on a bed of sushi rice. The lunch sets are served with miso soup and a side dish.
Sanshoku Unagi Bento
We arrived for an early dinner at 6pm on a Saturday (before our visit to the newly opened Tsutaya Books in Pavilion BJ).
Max opted for the Sanshoku Unagi Bento (RM36.90). The bento immediately appealed to him with its tri-colour toppings of grilled eel drizzled with sweet homemade sauce, Kinshi Tamago, and seasoned spinach on a bed of rice.
We enjoyed the dish! The unagi was perfectly grilled, tender, and fatty.
We found the sauce to be well-balanced in terms of sweetness and savoury, but what really surprised us was the amount of unagi for the price.
We received about six good slices of unagi in our bento box. We also enjoyed the light sweetness of the tamago and hints of sesame nuttiness from the blanched spinach.
Shio Salmon Onigiri Bento with Gyoza
Ming also enjoyed her Shio Salmon Onigiri Bento with Gyoza (RM34.90). We found the Japanese rice balls to be seasoned with just salt and nothing else, which worked well as an accompaniment for the rest of the ingredients.
The Malaysian chefs at Hinode seem to have mastered the art of cooking tamago – as the Nori Tamagoyaki had the right sweetness and texture with subtle umami from the seaweed.
The salted grilled salmon was fresh but what really amazed us was the fried handmade chicken gyoza.
Due to its golden brown colour, we had expected the dumpling skin to be hard or dry but it was surprisingly crunchy and not oily. The filling was also juicy.
Hinode offers two soups as a side – Nori Misomaru (RM5) and Goma Misomaru (RM4), which are essentially miso & dashi soup served with seaweed or sesame.
We opted for the latter – which was a bit too plain-tasting for Ming, but Max enjoyed the lightness of the soup to complement his grilled unagi.
Matcha Roll Cake with free drip coffee
We ended the meal with the Matcha Roll Cake (RM16.90) which came with free drip coffee (yay!).
While not the best we’ve eaten in town, the roll cake was a good end to our meal as it was sufficiently light with lots of cream filling.
Verdict
Overall, we really enjoyed our meal here at Hinedo.
The bento sets are more than just picture-perfect, as we found the ingredients to be well seasoned and put together, and tasted like what a homemade Japanese meal would be like.
Bonus points for hygiene too as the cutlery came in a sealed plastic bag even for dine-in customers, and we loved the bento boxes the dishes came in.
We want to return to try their Chicky Tori Kyaraben sets which feature onigiri shaped to look like chickens! Hinode also offers no-rice bentos for those avoiding carbs.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Hinode Bento
Address: F-5-1, Pusat Perdagangan Bandar, Persiaran Jalil 1, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 11am-7.30am (Tues-Thurs)
11am-8.30pm (Fri-Sun)
Closed on Mondays
Phone: 016-327 9512
Website: hinodebento.com
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beautiful bento! can’t wait to check it out