A bento containing a whole pacific saury, now a luxury fish, costs just 600 yen. Regular customer: "It's a relief, but I wonder if it's okay." The price makes customers worry. Regular customer: "It's always like this, the lid won't close." Meanwhile, at this popular diner, they serve a ginger pork set meal with pork and soy sauce. All for just 350 yen? Regular customer: "I wonder if they're making a profit." Behind the low price lies the owner's painstaking efforts. We tracked down the secret of this super cheap gourmet food that worries customers. ■Regular customers are also worried...A super popular bento shop where everything is 600 yen At the end of the long line is "Obento no Kawano," located about a 10-minute walk from Shinbashi Station. Open only during the day, this super popular restaurant sells about 800 meals a day. Regular customer: "The daily bento is 600 yen. You can eat things you can't get at convenience stores." "It's a large serving. It's 100 yen extra, so it's about this much." The daily bento for this day was "Deep-fried Chicken Tatsuta" with fried horse mackerel. The fish bento was a luxurious bento with a whole "Pacific saury". The side dishes that accompany it are all homemade. All bentos of this quality are 600 yen. Regular customer: "I wonder if it's okay. Even if it's a little more expensive." "It's an unbelievable price. Nowadays. I'm always worried." With rising prices, the prices are so low that even customers can't help but worry. How does the owner, Koichi Inoue (49), achieve such low prices? The secret goes back about 10 hours before the store opened. ■A battle for the items? Cutting costs with "special items" It's just after midnight. Inoue's day starts here. He only sleeps about three and a half hours... In order to cut labor costs, he prepares the food alone late at night. The fish purchased that day was Pacific saury. It is now a luxury fish, with some supermarkets selling one for nearly 300 yen. Is it okay to use it in a 600 yen lunch box? Inoue: "It's a little scratched and scuffed here. That's how it is. It's B-grade." It has slight scratches and scuffs on the skin from when the fish was caught, making it what is known as a "B-grade" product. But it tastes first class. In addition, in between preparations, we headed to Toyosu Market. There, Inoue was looking at bent, scratched and cut-off radishes, as well as eggplants and other "defective" vegetables that are not often sold in the market. Inoue: "Well, I guess it's OK." Hosokawa Michihisa, fruit and vegetable wholesaler Washio Shoten: "Once they're peeled, there's no problem with freshness. Price-wise, it's not half the price (of regular products), but it's still completely different." "You don't order (defective products) so you have to." Inoue: "A scramble" With rising prices, a scramble for "defective products" has now broken out. Inoue was the first to stock up late at night before other stores. Bell peppers that were misshapen are cut into irregular slices. Eggplants are cut away to remove any blemishes. Inoue: "If you cut them irregularly, you can adjust the shape even if they're not perfect." The menu is tailored to the condition of the vegetables. The side dish for this day is "stewed and stir-fried." The bentos sell out... "We agonized and agonized and sweated" After 7am, the staff joined us. On this day, they prepared 300 fish bentos and 400 daily specials. They also prepared 100 rice bowls and other meals. If any of the vegetables go unsold, they'll end up in the red. What will they do? Regular customer: "Sanma is a precious fish, so I came here to buy some because it's a high-class fish." "Today I'm here for sanma. I'll eat this and then I'll try again in the afternoon." Two hours after opening, 300 sanma bentos were sold out. And it was just after 2pm. All 800 of the target had been sold, but with prices rising, it's difficult to maintain the price at 600 yen. Inoue: "The quickest way is to raise the price. I've been worrying and worrying, thinking and sweating, but I want to do my best as much as I can." ■350 yen super cheap breakfast set: "I'm worried about whether I'm making a profit" Meanwhile, at the popular restaurant "Jongara Branch" in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture. It's 8:30am. What's drawing the customers, along with the Tsugaru shamisen played by the owner, is a super cheap breakfast set for just 350 yen that makes you wonder. Regular customer: "(Q: How much does it cost?) 350 yen" "(Q: 350 yen?) Yes, it's delicious." First-time customer: "Is it really 350 yen?" "That's amazing. Is it okay?" The most popular item is the ginger pork set meal, with pork coated in soy sauce. The miso-boiled mackerel set meal is also 350 yen. The meat is thick and plump. First-time customer (in his 60s): "It's a good price for a pensioner." While saying that it's a "great price," what we hear is that the food is extremely stable, which makes customers worry. Regular customer: "I wonder if they're making a profit. The cost of the ingredients alone must be 350 yen." First-time customer: "It's a bit worrying. I wonder if they're OK. I wonder if they're managing..." ■Reducing costs with bargains and particular about the dashi stock How on earth do they manage to make ends meet? Taku Matsunaga (81), owner of the Jongara store. He is a veteran chef with 65 years of experience. All of the food on the menu at the extremely stable food menu is handmade. The stock used in the dish is made from kelp, dried sardines, and bonito flakes. It is said that using three types of ingredients enhances the flavor. More than 30 servings of the ginger pork set meal are served a day. The pork is procured from bargains at supermarkets, making it cheaper. Matsunaga: "It says bargains, right?" A fresh sashimi set meal for 350 yen. On this day, it was a thick, chewy Spanish mackerel. The secret to the low price is to buy the whole fish at the supermarket to cut costs. He fillets and cooks it himself. Matsunaga: "It's super fresh. We have to pay labor fees for filleting it." There was a trigger behind the creation of the super cheap breakfast set meal. ■A big miscalculation... "It's nice to see the smiles" In fact, the same menu is 500 yen at lunch. They say they started the breakfast set meal as a way to advertise the day, but it was a big miscalculation that lunch customers would move to the morning instead. Matsunaga: "But it doesn't work that way. They only come when it's cheap. Hahahaha. My expectations were wrong." But the reason he continues is... Matsunaga: "Some of the customers come after a night shift. Many of them live alone. It makes me happy to see the customers' smiling faces as they leave and say 'thank you.'" [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp