Vegan in Tokyo: A Helpful List

It seems that with age I am getting increasingly snarky about the morality of eating animal products.While I am by no means 100% vegan yet, I have definitely tried to severely reduce the amount of milk products and eggs I eat.

Since I know many others have similar moral (or health) concerns, I started listing some of my favourite haunts across the city, where you can get cruelty free tastiness!

Lets start in Roppongi, of all places. A short stroll from Mori Tower you will find Chien Fu (which also has a sister restaurant in Kunitachi). They specialize in Taiwanese style vegan food, with the fake meat the country is so famous for. The sweet and sour 'pork' is a major favorite, and their huge teishoku sets are all around 900yen. You can buy bags and cans of fake meat, vegan ramen and tofu mayonnaise on your way out too!

Next up is Kagetsu, a major ramen chain. During the spring they have vegan ramen, gyoza and fried rice. Cheap and cheerful. 

(NB. This is the last year they will be serving it, although you can buy the gyoza and ramen from their online store!)

(I ❤ gyoza, can you tell?)

While not a restaurant, the health food store Natural House, which has branches across the city, usually has several choices of macrobiotic bento. They are a bit on the pricy side, but allow you to have the traditional bento experience minus the meat and fish. My favorite is the 'meat' stew Nagomi set.

A hidden gem, if you so happen to be between Azabujuban and Shirokanedai station, is King Falafel. This used to be a twice monthly treat, when I worked in the area. The owner is lovely, and the full sized sandwich is a serious meal, with freshly fried falafel. Serious yum, but only two little chairs outside for seating.

On the same lines, Shamaim near Nerima is a bit of a hike from central Tokyo (unless you live there, of course), but has a fabulous falafel set and hummus set.

For something with a more American flavor, Good Honest Grub (housed in what appears to have been a normal house, between Shibuya and Ebisu) has an excellent Mexican bean wrap and smoothies. 

I have already written extensively about Eat More Greens (near Azabujuban Station) here, where the menu changes with the seasons (and has the most amazing Valhrona chocolate vegan doughnuts).The same goes for Deva Deva in Kichijoji (info here). Both T's Kitchen and T's Tantanmen are fabulous, with the first being one of my go-to lunch places when I lived on the Toyoko line.

There are several more places I wish to go, and there are definitely some that have slipped my mind at the moment.

Any recommendations? I would love to hear from other veggies in Tokyo!

Strange culinary experiences, and where to find them

Being a vegetarian in Japan kind of precludes one from most of the 'weird' culinary experiences so many people have when visiting or living here (raw chicken or horse sashimi, fugu, dancing shrimp, Kobe beef etc...).

However never fear, there is enough weirdness to go around, even for us!

One of the oddities I have come by recently is the new 'SpoonVege' ice cream from Haagen-Daaz (which comes in cherry/tomato and orange/carrot flavours). I tried the cherry/tomato version, which was interesting. I have actually had tomato softserve in Aizu before, and this was a much richer version thereof. I could barely make out any cherry in the mix, but it was certainly not unpleasant. I intend to try the carrot one as well, to see if the fruit flavour is more noticeable.

The second interesting spot is a 'instant curry' and canned food restaurant (if one can use that term) right near Ekoda station. They have a HUGE selection of curries, from vegan curries from India to grape-flavoured curry from Yamanashi, and everything in between). They provide rice, drinks and, if you need something extra, lots of canned delicacies (from the usual yakitori, to more exotic things like snails and dolma). Sounds like a fun, cheap night out to me!

T's Tantan: Vegan Ramen in Tokyo Station

After much anticipation, I finally managed to drag myself and a couple friends to Tokyo Station, to try out the famous T's Tantan.

Having already dined at their excellent main restaurant in Jiyugaoka, I had high expectations for the ramen, and they did not disappoint!

I got the basic set of tantanmen (noodles with minced 'meat') and a small jyajya don (spiced eggplant rice bowl). The ramen has deeply flavourful, with just enough oil to give the full experience without being overly heavy. Perfection.


They have a series of other ramen styles, including a shoyu-based one with vegetarian chashu (on my list for next time) as well as their phenomenal vegetarian friend 'chicken' (it sells out fast, so may be gone by the dinner hour).

The shop is inside of Tokyo station, near the Keikyu line. It is right behind one of the omiyage areas, so can be a bit tricky to find, but is completely worth the search (and the entrance ticket you need to buy to get into the station!)