Wadakura: Lunch Bento Present

I had stayed at the Palace Hotel prior to its renovation and although it was a little faded in its grandeur, its location overlooking the Imperial Palace complex cannot be beat.

Room with a View - Imperial Palace complex and moat with Shinjuku in the background

After its renovation in 2012 though, the new Palace Hotel was modern and luxurious, with custom artwork conveying various aspects of nature.

Little thoughtful touches were everywhere in the room - from the cast iron teapot to the monogrammed cotton nightshirt. I especially liked the mysterious pink welcome box when I first entered the room.

 The box is a little off-kilter as I moved it but rest assured the box and piece of paper was placed perfectly symmetrical on the wooden tray. This is what I love about Japan! The minimalistic beauty in small things.  The contrast between the round tray and a square box with a rectangular piece of paper. The contrast in 3 colors. The box was lifted to reveal some savory peanuts coated in a crunchy soy coating. Note how the sides of the bottom box opened up like a flower.

The breakfast was ridiculously expensive and did not seem worth it for coffee and pastries - JPY4,000 for a continental breakfast! However, lunch was another matter and I had the good fortune of having a kaiseki set lunch at Wadakura, the Palace Hotel's Japanese restaurant. Like the hotel, the surroundings were modern. The lunch was an absolute delight.

We started with a delicate stewed egg dish - chawanmushi with a little unagi (eel) and jizu-na (a gel-like seaweed) on top. It's been a long time since I enjoyed jizu-na and I must admit I love the gelatinous texture.

Next was a stack of bento boxes for each individual. Everyone loves getting presents. Half of the fun of opening boxes is the anticipation and excitement as you pull the ribbon and lift the lid.

Once the ribbon is pulled and you lay out your lunch boxes, it looks like this:

I'm not sure if there was an order but I started with the cold dish on the right which was silky tofu and asparagus. I then moved on to the fried karaage as it was piping hot. The top left dish was an assortment of fish and vegetables - all prepared slightly differently at room temperature. We were also given a side dish of sashimi:

The flowers are shiso flowers so I copied my colleagues who used their chopsticks to remove the flower buds off the stem to enjoy with the tuna sashimi. To finish, dessert was a creamy blancmange with a cup of matcha green tea.

This was an incredible lunch - the food presentation was impeccable but more importantly, everything tasted wonderful. Wadakura is located at The Palace Hotel in Marunouchi - http://www.palacehotel.co.jp/english/