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Asian
House salad from Soho Japanese Bistro
Chicken Teriyaki & Shrimp Tempura Bento Box from Soho Japanese Bistro

My mom took me out to eat at Soho Japanese Bistro for lunch. We came at 12:30 pm on a Tuesday, and it was very empty; there were only two other parties at the restaurant. Although it was a sunny day, it was pretty dark inside of the restaurant.

Inside of Soho Japanese Bistro

Inside of Soho Japanese Bistro

I ordered a bento box combination lunch meal, which comes with the following:

  • Miso soup
  • Small House salad
  • A Choice of Two: Chicken Teriyaki, Salmon Teriyaki, Strip Steak Teriyaki, Pork Katsu, Chicken Katsu, Shrimp Tempura, Vegetables Tempura, Gyu ni [sic] (I chose chicken teriyaki & shrimp tempura)
  • Steamed Rice or Fried Rice (I chose steamed rice)
  • Spicy Tuna or California roll (I chose California roll)
  • The food was served to us pretty quickly. I guess it was good it didn't take a long time, considering there weren't many customers there.

    The miso soup and house salad was given to us before the meal. The miso soup contained tofu and seaweed and had a good savory flavor, although it was a little on the salty side. The house salad had lettuce with onions, carrots, and tomatoes, along with a few wilted leaves. It was a decent size for being just a side salad. The salad dressing tasted like Thousand Island or something similar, and it wasn't overdressed.

    From my bento box, the chicken teriyaki was a little dry even though it had teriyaki sauce. The sauce was a little sweet, but maybe also a little salty. It tasted mostly bland to me. It also came with noodles that had a texture more like spaghetti than Asian noodles.

    The California roll was a decent size, the avocado was fresh, and it tasted pretty good. I also had a taste of my mom's salmon nigiri sushi, which seemed nice and fresh, and it was a pretty decent size.

    The steamed white rice was a sticky rice, and some of the rice was a little hard. It had a weird taste... maybe buttery or oily, but I didn't like it.

    I ate my shrimp tempura last, which I guess was a good thing, because they asked if I wanted any tempura sauce toward the end our meal. I definitely needed the sauce because, while the shrimp tempura was nice and crispy, it didn't have much taste. The sauce wasn't delicious, but it helped give more flavor to the shrimp.

    Overall Rating:
    OK
    Food: Bento box lunch combination with chicken teriyaki, shrimp tempura, steamed white rice, and California roll
    Price: $13.00 for bento box lunch combo
    Source: Soho Japanese Bistro, West Chester, OH
    Rating (Miso soup): OK
    Rating (House salad): OK
    Rating (Chicken teriyaki): OK
    Rating (California Roll): Good
    Rating (Salmon nigiri sushi): Good
    Rating (Steamed white rice): Blegh
    Rating (Shrimp tempura): OK

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    Bag of Trader Ming's Kung Pao Chicken from Trader Joe's
    Trader Ming's Kung Pao Chicken Components
    Cooked Trader Ming's Kung Pao Chicken

    We tried some of Trader Joe's frozen Kung Pao chicken. The bag of Kung Pao chicken came with different packets, which included a big packet of the chicken, a packet of vegetables, two sauce packets, and a packet of peanuts. That turned out to be pretty good for us because I don't like peanuts mixed in with Chinese food, but my boyfriend does.

    I warmed up the frozen chicken following the microwave instructions since it's easier than using a stovetop. I microwaved the chicken in a bowl covered with a paper towel for 3.5 minutes. Then I added the vegetables and mixed them in with the chicken (even though the instructions didn't say to mix them yet) and microwaved them for 2 minutes.

    I ran one sauce packet under some water so that it was easy to get out of the packaging and added the sauce in. I used only one sauce packet since one packet had a lot of sauce, and I can also use the remaining packet to add to something else in the future. After mixing in the sauce, I microwaved it all for one additional minute, and it was done!

    The texture of the chicken was a little spongy but not too bad. The sauce was a little spicy from the chili peppers, but it was more sweet than spicy... kind of like a sweet soy sauce. The sauce was also a little watery, but for me that's better than being too thick. I also only used one sauce packet so perhaps using two packets might have thickened the sauce up.

    There weren't a lot of vegetables so I added some steamed broccoli to my plate and mixed them in, and that worked out pretty well. Overall, it was pretty good, and I would buy it again if I was in the mood for some easy-to-make Chinese-ish food.

    Trader Ming's Kung Pao chicken with broccoli added
    The Kung Pao chicken with steamed broccoli added in.
    Overall Rating:
    Good
    Food: Trader Ming's: Kung Pao Chicken from Trader Joe's
    Source: Trader Joe's, Tucson, AZ
    Rating: Good
    from Trader Joes

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    Bag of Trader Joe's Scallion Pancakes (Pa Jeon)
    Trader Joe's Scallion Pancakes (Pa Jeon)

    My mom used to cook Korean pancakes when I was younger, so I was excited to try these Pa Jeon pancakes from Trader Joe's.

    The oven instructions stated to cook the pancakes for 4-7 minutes at 400F, turn half-way through, and press with a spatula. When we cooked some for the first time, we cooked them for 7 minutes. We weren't sure about the press with a spatula part, but we sort of pressed them down after turning them.

    I haven't had Korean pancakes in a long time so I can't really compare them with real Korean pancakes, but they turned out to be pretty good. We didn't eat them with any sauce, and they just tasted like a savory pancake slightly textured by the cooked scallions and carrots. They had the right amount of doughy-ness and crispiness on the outside. The pancakes were also very filling so I was only able to eat one.

    Overall Rating:
    Good
    Food: Frozen Trader Joe's Scallion Pancakes / Pa Jeon
    Source: Trader Joe's, Tucson, AZ
    Rating: Good
    from Trader Joes

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