Underground Bento Box Cameo Makes Surprise London Return

Chef Angelo Sato who opened Mission Sato — a bento box service in Old Street Underground station and Bermondsey — last August has announced, after having spent some months out of the country as a private chef, that he will return to London with a new brand in September. Mission Sato lasted only four three months, closing in November last year. Eater understands that Omoide will operate out of B Street Deli on Bermondsey Street.

Omoide is “a grab and go concept inspired by the kaiseki-ryōri course shokuji,” Sato wrote on Instagram. Kaiseki-ryōri (or simply kaiseki) refers to a traditional Japanese multi-course meal, whose origins lie in dishes served at the Japanese tea ceremony. The idea, and ideology, of kaiseki has since evolved — largely thanks to its huge, too often unspoken influence on western ideas of fine dining — in step with its adoption by Japan’s aristocratic classes. A useful way to think about it is as formal, or structured, rather than “elevated” or high, as its roots extend across Japanese society.

The shokuji element refers to the rice course during the meal, before dessert, alongside a miso soup and tsukemono (pickles.) Chirashi — scattered — sushi is a variant in which fish, more often cooked than raw, is mixed among sushi rice, rather than plated on top as in nigiri, or rolled. It is also referred to as gomoku or bara, in order to differentiate from another iteration of chirashi which places sashimi on top of a bed of vinegared sushi rice.

The chef first dropped the Omoide name at his Carousel residency this January; this iteration of the brand has evolved in that time, and will continue to do so as Omoide operates.

More soon.