YAY! Ichiban Kan is now selling the Natural Colors Collection in their online store. I got all of them of course and I love them. Word of warning though, the cups are great but the seals cannot stand up to the carbonation of soda. My sister found that out the hard way. She usually packs a bento in her purse when she goes out to run errands. Well, we just got in the new bentos on errand day so she decided to take her new cup, untested. She filled it with soda and put it in her bento bag and put that in her purse. She called me when she got on the bus to tell me that her cup exploded in her purse. Luckily her bento bag was insulated and kept the stuff in her purse safe. So I guess there is two lessons here.

1. Always test your bentos and accessories before leaving the house.
2. When putting your bento in your purse/backpack/book bag/etc use a thermal bag protect your items from possible leakage.

Anyway, I guess this is technically a review so… This set is great, all sorts of matching accessories, and the mini chopsticks that come with the leaf brown (striped) and cherry pink (polka-dotted) are really neat. They come in a cloth bag but have these cute little plastic covers that just cover the tips to keep your bag clean after eating. The rectangular 2-tiers are a little on the small size but since each set has also a small oval 2 tier or a tight bento there is plenty of room for a bigger appetite or to pack snacks or even extra food to share with friends. I wish these sets had been out when I first started buying bentos because these sets are something I would highly recommend for a first bento. I am thinking of buying extra sets to keep on hand as gift sets for friends. Also with the undecorated lids they are great for all ages and genders and also are going to be a great pallet for my sister and me to paint on. You can get plastic paint at just about any craft shop in either tubes, spray, or even pens so anyone could customize these easily. The tight bentos that come with the leaf brown and cherry pink have a really good seal on them and seem to hold together well. The gasket removes easily for cleaning. The cups have a great seal on them but as stated before they cannot hold sodas, but juice, water, kool-aid and such would work fine.

I give it - (5/5 sushi rolls)

Links: Natural Color Picnic Series Beige | Natural Color Picnic Series Green | Natural Color Picnic Series Pink | Leaf Brown Bento Collection | Cherry Pink Bento Collection

This entry was posted June 7th, 2008 on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 4:00 pm. . Filed under Bento, Ideas, Reviews, Shopping . Entry word count = 694 . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.