Restaurants / Reviews
Bento Boss
Budokan, Three Coqs and Creole Brasserie have all come and gone at Whiteladies Gate in recent years.
Alongside the unit on Baldwin Street most recently occupied by Guerilla Burger, this must be the most difficult site in Bristol to make work.
The latest to have a go at it is Bento Boss, whose pan-Asian fusion food harks back to Budokan days.
Whatever the food, however, you still have to find the front door around the back of a shop and walk up stairs that feel like an emergency exit.
At least Bento Boss have tried to make their entrance more welcoming with an awning and some outside seating.
I wouldn’t recommend sitting here, however.
A rare selling point for this site is its views, ideal for people-watching/spying on the passers-by on Whiteladies Road below.
A new display between dining room and window has some of the goods you usually only find in Japan, with some intriguing looking drinking contraptions on the top shelf.
Naming a restaurant after a specific dish is always a bold move. It’s worked well in Cardiff for The Potted Pig and at least here at Bento Boss, their name applies to the way a particular dish is served rather than the food itself.
My bento box was made up of sushi – salmon, tuna, squid and more from a list of more than 50.
Over the other side of the table a tofu katsu curry was met with much approval, as was the child option of salmon teriyaki which also got thumbs up for the cartoon box in which it was served.
Bentos are priced from £7 up to £16 for the goji berry sirloin beef teriyaki, with small dishes of edemame, spring rolls and dumplings, and main dishes the likes of Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean curries.
Alongside the bentos, I was also tempted by their baos, already well known in Bristol thanks to Bao Wow, a food business working well on Baldwin Street.
Here, their signature buns are steamed and then fried, with my lobster tobiko the highlight of my meal.
Will Bento Boss will last longer than its predecessors? I wouldn’t bet on it.
There are two other restaurants within a few hundred yards already doing good Japanese food and they don’t have to be found by climbing up an emergency exit.
Bento Boss, 1 Whiteladies Gate, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2NN
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