I’m going to let you in on one of Rae’s secrets of life: food courts offer the best bang for the buck. You can get a full meal for under ten dollars and don’t even need to tip. The more you frequent food courts, the more you’ll know which chains are better than another, and how to avoid a nutritionally-void caloriefest.

So, I’ve been out for dinner twice since I got to Lethbridge and both times I ended up at Umi Sushi Express, in the food court of the Park Place Mall.

The first time, I went with a combination dynamite and California roll platter, simply because it had just come out of the kitchen, so I knew it’d be fresh. I paid somewhere around $8, which included extra ginger. The rolls were quite simply perfect; very fresh, flavourful, and with a good combination of textures.

Tonight, I ended up at Umi because I had to go downtown to deposit the cheque for the traffic counting job. I decided to try their $8 bento special and I was impressed by the number of choices I needed to make. It comes with rice, beef or chicken teriyaki, edamame or salad, four pieces of California or dynamite or tuna or cucumber roll, and either yam tempura fries or veggie tempura. I went with rice, chicken, edamame, four pieces dynamite (tempura shrimp, masago, cucumber) roll, and yam tempura fries.

After I placed my order, there was a very long wait that reassured me that my food was going to be fresh, not just reheated. When the meal came, I was astounded by the mountain of food. I would have paid $20, plus tip, easily in a sit-down restaurant! Well, in Canada. This price wouldn’t have surprised me in the US. 🙂

Everything was delicious. I particularly appreciated that the teriyaki chicken wasn’t overly sweet. I was a bit concerned that the yam fries were drizzled with a creamy pink sauce until I took a taste and realised it was chili mayonnaise. Not very Japanese, but the key ingredient to one of my favourite rolls (spicy tuna) so I couldn’t complain!

It has been a Day, so ending it with a yummy bento box for under ten bucks was most appreciated!