The Bento Group, a Florida-based restaurant company, announced its expansion into the South Florida market with a new Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi location slated to open in spring 2016. This restaurant, opening just minutes away from Nova Southeastern University at 2260 South University Drive in Davie, will be the brand’s eighth location and the first of 10 projected store openings in South Florida in 2017.
Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi boasts more than 3,200 square feet and seats 130 guests with both indoor and outdoor seating. The opening of their Davie location will create more than 50 job opportunities to local residents in Davie and the surrounding areas. The company’s expansion plans also include locations in Boca Raton and Tallahassee.
“The South Florida market has been on our radar for a long time,” says Johnny Tung, owner of The Bento Group. “With its diverse communities and vibrant economy, we look forward to opening 10 more locations in the marketplace as we continue our expansion throughout the state.”
Founded in 2002 by Jimmy Tung, Johnny Tung, and David Yu, Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi has become a market leader specializing in Pan-Asian cuisine, and has quickly expanded throughout the state of Florida with seven locations spanning Orlando and Jacksonville. The experience at Bento—Japanese for “boxed lunch”—offers guests a customizable way to experience Asian cuisine. Each dish is cooked-to-order using fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Diners can enjoy the concept’s signature bento box, a balanced meal combining any entrée with steamed rice, ginger salad, string beans, and lo mein noodles.
Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi offers a sushi menu with made-to-order Signature rolls such as the Crunch Roll—tuna, krab, cream cheese, and masago, then panko-fried and drizzled with eel sauce; Classic rolls include the Mexican Roll—shrimp tempura, cream cheese, avocado, and eel sauce—and the Mt. Fuji Roll—shrimp tempura, krab, cream cheese and topped with krab delite, scallions, and eel sauce. Adventurous diners will enjoy Bento’s long list of house-made signature rolls, such as the 151 roll, fried lobster tail, asparagus, krab, masago topped with eel sauce and red tobiko; the Candy Roll, a large California roll topped with slices of escolar, shrimp, salmon, tuna, smoked salmon, tilapia, drizzled with eel sauce; or the Bali Hai Mango, shrimp tempura, cream cheese, eel, topped with mango and coconut flakes and drizzled with eel sauce. The menu also features a lineup of Kawaii Rolls, a healthier alternative to traditional sushi made with fresh ingredients wrapped in rice paper and lettuce.
The restaurant’s kitchen menu leads with a mixture of Asian-inspired dishes ranging from wok stir-fry to fire-grilled items using Asian spices, hormone-free chicken and 100 percent Certified Angus Beef. Sauces are made in-house from scratch daily to create bold, distinctive flavors such as Curry Katsu, Spicy Cream, and Sriracha Garlic. Diners who are seeking lighter options, can also enjoy the Szechuan with carrots, snow peas, broccoli, baby corn, and scallions in a spicy Szechuan sauce or the Chow Fun Noodle Bowl with Cantonese wide rice noodles, onions, bean sprouts, and scallions in ginger soy sauce.
