Umami on the Prowl: Pho Twin Bento

Umami was on a random walk through downtown, trying to decide what to get for lunch, when he wandered by Pho Twin Bento on Union Mall.  It's in the old KFC spot downtown, roughly across Hotel Street from Longs Drugs.  He'd been in there before . . . it does decent Thai take out featuring various curries on rice or noodles and also Vietnamese bentos and pho.  But, recently, it added crepes and soups of the non-pho variety.  Umami gave it a try.

The crepes are made to order on a big griddle.  The chef pours out the batter and spreads and shapes it with a wooden paddle.  Word of warning . . . because this is a one-crepe-at-a-time operation, it can take a while to get your order.  Kind of time consuming, so maybe best for solo lunch runs, rather than group raids.

The toppings get piled on.  This is the Chef's special:  ham, mozzarella cheese, grilled onions, spinach . . . I forget what else.  Will have to update tomorrow.  :-)  There are about a dozen different types of crepes, from the sweet (Nutella!) to the savory (brisket!) to vegetarian.

The crepe gets folded into quarters, and basically fills a regular sized clamshell.  It makes a surprisingly hefty lunch.  Crepe by itself was $6, add a soup, $8.50 total.  I got the Kahuku corn chowder.  I thought the chowder could use a little salt, but was otherwise tasty and had a sweet corn taste to it.  And it was actually hot (!), which I consider to be huge plus!

The crepe itself was quite good, of the slightly sweet variety.  Filling nicely cooked, with the cheese melted, but the spinach still having a little crunch.  Here's a cutaway view.  In summary, it was a fun lunch . . . as Aunty Marialani might say:  "non-pretentiously elegant!"




Pho Twin Bento
900 Fort St. Mall, #105 (actually, on Union Mall, where the downtown KFC used to be)
531-5981