Ekiben Aji no Jin” is held annually by JR East with the aim of communicating the attractiveness of each region and promoting regional revitalization through ekiben that take advantage of regional characteristics.
The “Ekiben Aji no Jin 2023” being held from October 1 to November 30 is being held on a large scale, with participation from regions beyond the boundaries of JR East, and the “Tokyo Meat Samadai Bento (Tokyo Station Hotel Executive Chef Supervision)” introduced here is a new entry for the Tokyo area.
As its name implies, this lavish ekiben is supervised by Chef Masahiro Ishihara, Executive Chef of the Tokyo Station Hotel, located in the Marunouchi Station Building of Tokyo Station. I am a meat lover, but the fact that it is supervised by a first-rate chef also heightens my anticipation before I even open the lid.
The main attraction of this ekiben is that you can enjoy three kinds of meat at once: black beef, pork, and chicken. When the lid of the lunch box is removed, the beef, pork, and chicken meats are packed tightly together, and the sight is very appetizing.
Each of these three meats is seasoned differently to maximize the flavor of the meat.
Kuroge Wagyu beef is grilled with sweet and spicy soy sauce made by a soy sauce brewery in Tokyo. When you hear that, you may imagine sukiyaki flavor. It certainly looks that way, but in fact it has a clean, refreshing flavor with a hint of sweetness. Thanks to this, the flavor of the black beef can be felt well, making it even tastier than you might imagine. It is a bit surprising to be able to enjoy such flavorful beef in an ekiben.
Next is pork. This is pork loin finished with ginger yaki. It has a strong ginger flavor and a safe ginger-yaki taste. The meat is a little chewy, but has no peculiarities, and a very fine flavor fills the mouth. The meat is a little chewy, but has no peculiarities, and the flavor of the meat is very high quality, filling your mouth with flavor.
And chicken. This chicken is grilled with miso using Edo sweet miso. The sweet miso has a relatively strong sweetness to it, but it is a perfect match for the chicken. Although it is an ekiben and therefore cold, the juiciness of the meat itself has not been lost, and it is quite tasty. Of course, there is no tastiness peculiar to chicken at all.
The meats are all seasoned somewhat strongly, so the rice underneath the meat will go down a treat. The chopstick rests, such as carrot, burdock, green bean, and shiitake mushroom stew and kinpira (fried lotus root), have a refined taste that will reset your palate. I was impressed by the fact that these dishes were prepared under the supervision of a top chef.
One thing that bothered me was that it was cold, which is the fate of ekiben. The meat definitely tastes better when it is warm, so it is a little disappointing to think that it would have been warmer. If you want to enjoy the maximum flavor, it might be better to take it home and heat it up in a microwave oven.
Priced at 1,850 yen, it is one of the more expensive ekiben. Even so, there is no doubt that the taste is well worth the price. I felt that this is an ekiben that meat lovers in particular should definitely pick up.
© Source travel watch