There are many “bowl” shops reminding me of the old days in Chinese restaurants in America where you chose one from Column A, one from Column B and garnishes, usually with steamed rice. Those places were banal, uninteresting, even with the sense of agency given you by choice. Contemporary bowl shops, like the proliferation of poke shops, offer you a starch, a protein, vegetables and sprinkles and sauces. There’s not much thrill in that configuration either. I come to want a dish a chef has imagined and created.
Nagomi, a new-ish Japanese “bento” shop on Massachusetts Avenue near Shepard Street, is not a “bowl” place, though the container qualifies as a bowl. You choose a dish, not ingredients, whose elements have been chosen by a chef who knows what goes well with what – and are these ever delicious. Trust the cook and the recipes, which are informed with knowledge of what makes a great combination. The bento selection is what I often see in Japan: salmon, eggplant, beef, tofu and chicken.
Bento took on many meanings when it left Japan. Classic bento were meals in a box served between acts of Noh drama, or during sumo tournaments, or taken to eat under cherry trees in full bloom. They have their regional and aesthetic styles and seasonalities. Many years ago, gazing happily at her spring festival bento, each lovely food in its own lacquered compartment, my daughter said, “it’s a dollhouse for food.” And then there are ekiben, “station bento,” referring to the boxes on sale in train stations – myriad kinds, seasonal and regional, for all tastes, prepared for eating on train rides and so delicious that I pick them up on the way out of a station to take home for supper.
Bento now seems to be a word meaning any collection of foods presented together in a square, rectangular or round container, usually including a carbohydrate, a meat or fish or tofu, and vegetables. Some are more elaborated than others. Here at Nagomi the care taken to prepare each element in the round cardboard container (not elegant lacquer, but practical for eating in or taking out) shows in the seasonings of the kimpira (tender-crisp sauteed burdock root and carrots, a small mound in several of the bento), in the dressing of the bacon-potato salad (yes, with Japanese mayo), the green bean sesame salad, beans crunchy and savory with sesame and rice vinegar.
I could go on and will: The chicken for the kara-age is moist thigh meat and marinated perfectly before the greaseless deep fry; the tofu reminds me of my favorite – agedashi tofu – but here without the broth. There are also onigiri (rice balls) on the menu, and I’m going back for those.
The simplicity of the menu should not diminish your experience, as every dish I’ve had bears repeating. I’m also going back for the coffee jelly. As co-owner Nagisa Ikemura said, “Why don’t American cafés have this?” Koohii jerii, a jelled coffee, often cubed and mounded and topped with rich whipped cream, has been a staple of old-style kissaten, coffee shops, in Japan at least since the Taisho Period (1912-1926) and is so refreshing.
The service at Nagomi is cheerful, alert, attentive: the very epitome of omotenashi, a word translated as “service” but really means a totalistic interest in the customer, paying attention to needs and wants often before the customer realizes they have them.
Ikemura said that after her degree and work in sports science and her athletic life in volleyball and track and field, she wanted a way to connect with people, and food seemed a natural link, both for sharing her Japanese culture and providing sustaining warmth through food. I think Nagomi fulfills that promise.
The shop is at two sites: Bow Market in Somerville (founded in 2024) and here on Massachusetts Avenue, on many people’s walk home who might smell the frying kara-age or the beef curry and pick up a “bento.” One of the cooks here is from Osaka, and I’d love to see him branch into Kansai (West Japan) specialties. For now, who needs more than a redolent bowl of small perfect tastes? My injunction to the diner is to be conscious as you eat, paying attention to each bite as the makers have paid attention to you in the making.
The word nagomi means calm, peace and comfort. I got it; you’ll get it. We need it.
Nagomi Bento, 1670 Massachusetts Ave., Neighborhood 9, Cambridge (11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m Mondays through Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday)
