Bento Bento, Glen Waverley

Many restaurants are participating in some kind of promotion or other in this challenging retail times. It is even more commonplace where the competition is significant, like on Kingsway in Glen Waverley. Many Asian restaurants on the strip has daily promotions, Groupon, or promotion with purchase type advertising. 

After the first lockdown ended, we went to Bento Bento on a Groupon voucher. It was nice to dine out again. The restaurant was quiet but livened as lunch hour progressed. There were a number of take away orders but many people also preferred to dine in. One of the things I missed during the lockdown was dining out, and not needing to wash the dishes afterwards!

Under the Groupon promotion, we were given a serve of endamame each and allowed to order one rice bowl and a soft drink each. Gaz ordered the Gyu Don and I had the Katsu Curry Don. 

The Gyu Don came with an onsen egg and pickles. The beef was cooked in a flavourful soy based sauce. The beef slices were thin with distinct strips of fat i.e. tender!

I enjoyed my Katsu Curry Don because as always, I find Japanese curry delicious and heartening. The Katsu Curry Don reminded me of the time we went to a mountainside town in Japan during offpeak ski season. We ventured out at night for dinner but strangely could not find any restaurants open except for a small neighbourhood eatery that served their last two bowls of curry udon to us. It was a scary moment for me - imagine starving through the night! But thankfully we found something to eat and even if it was an ordinary bowl of curry udon it filled the hole.

Ordinarily the rice bowls would cost $15 each but we got a good deal with Groupon. Each of our meal ended up costing below that but included endamame and a drink. 

Our order was served quickly and were freshly prepared. Except for a few hiccoughs at the beginning where the soft drinks of our choice were unavailable, the service was prompt. 

There are already a few Japanese restaurants on the strip like Ajisen Ramen and Waya so I do think that this restaurant would need something more to differentiate itself to survive in these challenging times. 

Update: This restaurant has permanently closed

Forage Food Store, Boronia

When brunch was a thing in Melbourne (sigh... those days look so long ago!), we would go to Forage. They serve hip dishes like pulled pork, apple kimchi slaw, watercress. They're always busy but the waitpersons are friendly and the service is prompt. One thing though - if you're having a girly brunch, don't sit on the stools. They're not very comfortable. 

The last time we were here shortly before the lockdown, we ordered the Benny with Pulled Pork Shoulder ($18). This comes with poached eggs on potato rosti, pulled pork, kimchi slaw. I like the potato rosti and the eggs were poached perfectly. The hollandaise sauce was creamy and rich, to be cut with the acidity from the kimchi slaw. I would rather prefer the real kimchi though, as the kimchi slaw was a bit meek for my taste. 

Gaz being the big man ordered the Big Meat Breakfast ($21). It was laden with bacon, sausages, potato rosti, eggs sunny side up, mushrooms, grilled tomato and in case you didn't have enough carbs, toast as well. I love big breakfasts and this was no exception. I just love the meats and wished there was more kransky sausages but this is portion control by the restaurant and I am glad for that. Otherwise I will be eating far too much processed meats for my own good. 

Forage is currently open for takeaways only, which lessens the attractiveness of any dishes so it would be wonderful to be able to dine in once again. They have outdoor seating at the back as well as along the side of the shop so if you prefer to sit outside during warmer days or just to be socially distanced from others, that is a good option to keep in mind.