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!)

Hama Life

Most of my friends had 10 days off for Golden Week, but sadly that was not my case. I decided to use the 4 day weekend to get started on pre-training for a marathon ( like the training to be able to do the actual marathon training... very convoluted). Since the first week of doing 24 km is the toughest, being able to take naps in the middle of the day is very helpful.

However, one cannot live exclusively in running gear, so a few visits to Yokohama were a good excuse to get dressed in actual clothes and wander about.

I had an amazing gorgonzola and honey pizza at Lu's Cafe, while leafing through a book about interesting hikes and (of course) little restaurants hidden in the mountains. There seem to be a bunch in Nagano, another good excuse to visit the region.

Near the station I also came across a classy store called Papilloner, which has some really neat bags. One particular Furla-esque bag caught my eye, so now I finally have a summer purse. It can be worn 4 different ways, so awesome!

Since it is spring the ramen chain Kagetsu once again is purveying their green, 100% vegetarian Nana ramen. Great stuff, and the fact that a whole bowl is only 411 calories is just icing on the cake (bowl?).



Also, how adorable is the poster for the Yokohama Triathlon? Love it, very clever.

Up by Yamate, I finally got the chance to stop by one of the fancy cafes located in the old ijinkan. The Yokohama Jyubankan is a beautifully kept Showa building, with a menu to match ( they do not have cappuccinos, only cafe' au lait). The Baiser cake (chocolate and raspberry deliciousness) is also classically French, one of those perfectly balanced cakes. I totally recommend checking out the rose gardens nearby, for a very British feel.

Round out the weekend with a special Cinco de Mayo Sumo Hash run (including a piñata!), dinner with friends and a koto lesson, and all in all it has been a nice Golden Week.