You cannot travel to Japan and not fall in love with the food! (Great news! This might be true even for all you vegetarians out there!). It is officially deemed as the best culinary country in the world, not by the powers vested in me but by some organisation called UNESCO! Japanese cuisine has been added to the ‘intangible heritage’ list and rightfully so!
Rajesh and I had heard a lot of our friends rave about the food in Japan – the sushi, takoyaki, ramen, okonomiyaki and the famous Kobe beef! We were pretty much convinced that starvation was imminent as both of us are vegetarians!
‘Surely, they must have potatoes in Japan!’, Rajesh exclaimed. For all of you who know my husband, know that he can survive indefinitely on a diet of just potatoes. I haughtily announced that I might actually try some of the local delicacies like the takoyaki for instance (which is basically a ball shaped Japanese snack filled with octopus) rather than starve myself! (I had no intention of getting as thin as my patience). To which Rajesh replied he would pay me a million dollars to do it! (We are always challenging each other to completely pointless tasks even though neither of us has any money). I chickened out when I saw the actual octopus tentacles and according to my husband, I ran away from it faster than Usain Bolt on steroids (I can neither confirm nor deny this!)
Luckily for me, I did not have to survive on potatoes for the 17 days we spent in Japan! (YAYY!) I got to experience some of the best vegetarian meals in this country!
Pro-tip: Google translate was a life-saver. A lot of local places had their menus printed only in Japanese and most waiters did not speak english either! You can also use food cards that will spell out your dietary requirements and save you the embarrassment of ordering a chikan (molester) instead of a chikin (chicken)! Here are the vegetarian and vegan cards that you can use!
Tokyo: Ramen @ T’s Tantan
Keiyo Street, JR Tokyo Station (inside station gates), 1-9-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo
90% of our relationship is deciding where to eat. 100% of the time I have the same answer! If I had to pick just one food I could eat for the rest of my life, ramen would definitely top that list. (Everybody loves ramen guys!) Rajesh and I absolutely love the veggie Ramen at Ippudo, and it is one of our go to places in Sydney! So you can imagine how horrified I was to learn that the Ippudo in Tokyo did not have the veggie version. I had to lie down for 10 minutes to recover from the blow, I might have even had a meltdown. (I AM JUST REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT MY RAMEN OK!!!)
However, we discovered this amazing vegan ramen restaurant inside the Tokyo Station with tons of delicious vegan options and even instant ramen to take away. It was hands down the best ramen I have ever had! However, it is a bit hard to locate (nothing good comes easy guys!), it is inside the JR station gates (which means you need to have a JR pass to be able to get here). Follow signs to the Keiyo Line and you will find this restaurant hidden away in the corner just before the escalators near the Keiyo street.
I had the gold-sesame tantan and Rajesh tried their white-sesame tantan ramen, both of which were really good but the gold-sesame was the winner! We loved their Ramen so much, we went back again the next day. We also bought a bunch of their instant ramen noodle which seemed like good decision in retrospect, considering it was a little hard to find vego options in some of the remote villages that we visited.
Kyoto: Teppanyaki, Vegetable Soba/Udon Noodles with Fried Tofu @ YŪU Teppanyaki Okonomiyaki
1F hanamikaikan kado Tominagachō gion, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0078, Japan
Teppanyaki is a style of cuisine where the food is cooked on a large hot iron plate. In some of the traditional izakayas, these hot plates make for your table. It was a novelty to sit around the teppan chef and watch him amuse everyone with his fantastic grilling and flipping skills. I dont have great culinary skills guys, once I tried to make pizza from scratch and ended up summoning the demon. However, I do make great cereal (if that counts). I usually like everything I “cook”! I am guessing the main reason being, one, I do not have any other choice, two, after lowering my standards I’ve found myself thinking, that tasted not terrible, maybe even in the vicinity of good (if I squint really hard?) and three, because my default hunger level is “I could eat an elephant right now! Do you have an elephant? WHY ARE YOU HIDING THE ELEPHANT!?!!”. I was obviously in awe of this Teppan chef! It was also great fun to eat right off the hot plate, your food never gets cold! There wasn’t anything vegetarian on the menu itself, however the chef was able to prepare customized vegetarian versions of any dish on the menu!
This tiny izakaya seats only 9 people and has a very intimate vibe. It’s a great way to meet the locals and catch a glimpse of their everyday life. They even had a tiny world map where they asked customers to pin locations that they were visiting from. Also did I mention how delicious the food was??! We ended up going back there the next night as well to stuff our faces with what seemed like the best fried noodles in the world!
Osaka: Gyoza @ GYOZAOH! Dotonbori Store
2-4-14, Dotombori, Chuo, Osaka 542-0071, Osaka Prefecture
We found it quite difficult to be vegetarian in the bustling city of Osaka. We spent our evenings exploring the Dotonbori region which is known for its neon lights, crowds and endless food options! However to our disappointment there weren’t many veg options here!
I have always been asked if I eat fish when I tell someone that I am a vegetarian? Since when did people think that fish was a vegetable!??!!
We accidentally discovered this amazing restaurant called Gyozaoh that had fabulous vegetable gyozas amongst other things. We had 3 orders of the vegetable gyoza and some cucumbers in sesame oil, both of which were really great! We also enjoyed some refreshing local ale at this restaurant! They sell rare Japanese hitifukujin plum wine here!
Hiroshima: Okonomiyaki @ Reichan
1-2 Matsubaracho, Minami-ku | Ekie 1F, Hiroshima 732-0822, Hiroshima Prefecture
Okonomiyaki is a delicious Japanese savoury pancake made of cabbage, flour and eggs. It is a weird Japanese cousin to pizza. This is cooked on a teppan (or hot plate) and is pretty damn good! We had it in a few different places in Japan, but the Hiroshima style okonomiyaki at Reichan was my favourite! It is slightly different from the Osaka style okonomiyaki in the way it is cooked. While I was amazed that cabbage could taste this good, I was more amazed that my husband, a person who neither eats cabbage nor particularly enjoys eggs, was devouring his okonomiyaki like a horse!
Nara: Japanese Curry @ Cfarm Kintetsu Nara
10 Higashimuki Nakamachi, Nara 630-8215, Nara Prefecture
The quintessential spicy dish in Japan is curry. It is regarded, along with ramen, as one of the top two national dishes! We tried different Japanese vegetable curries in Arashiyama, Nara and even the famous Coco Ichibanya in Tokyo. Cfarm curry in Nara was in my opinion superior to the other restaurants we tried. The food did not disappoint. We also added some green tea ice cream afterwards and my green tea seasoned soft serve was nothing short of amazing!
Tokyo: Yakitori@Piss Alley
Omoide Yokocho
No trip to Japan is complete without a visit to the Piss Alley (or in Japanese, Omoide Yokocho). Piss Alley or otherwise called Memory lane, got its name due to its lack of bathroom prior to rebuilding, after a fire in 1999. This alley is lined with closet sized restaurants known for its Yakitori pubs. It is basically a barbecue paradise, you can find all sorts of meat skewers here. Yakitori literally means “grilled chicken” but you can get a variety of skewers here – anything from vegetables to pig testicles, they have it all!
It is usually bustling with people and the restaurants are so tiny, that people were packed like sardines in a can. When someone in the back wanted to get out of the restaurant, all the other people sitting had to stand up, make way and then scoot in.
We ordered some dry Japanese beers and a bunch of vegetable skewers – there was mushroom, garlic, corn, asparagus and heaps of other delicious veggie skewers! The Yakitori master was a grumpy old man, breaking the common stereotype that all Japanese people were kind and polite! He surely did not win any awards for his friendly personality. I swear I was scared every time to ask him for more things to eat or drink because he looked at me like I had just killed his cat. However, the evening still turned out to be pretty great! A family from the Philippines came and sat down next to us and the 6 of us just had a grand ‘ole time. Nothing Mr crabby could do to ruin our evening! We also met another really nice couple from Africa. I loved the vibe of this place as we got to meet some great people from all over the world!
The food was really great as well and it was an experience that we would never forget.
Japanese desserts
The best part of any meal is the dessert and Japan has a unique taste in dessert. It isn’t overly sweet and sometimes can be a bit bitter! We tried a bunch of Japanese sweets, the first one being mochi – which is basically made from a sticky rice called mochi gome. As soon as I put it in my mouth, I realised I had made a grave mistake, it was too chewy and yet soft, the flavour was too sweet but at the same time not sweet enough. Honestly guys, I couldn’t comprehend what was going on in my mouth. But I was still eating this mysterious sweet dessert thing that I will never buy again. If I woke up dead tomorrow (not entirely sure how one wakes up dead but you get the point), it is because of mochi consumption. My advice would be to stay far, far away from mochi balls!
Another dessert we tried was the Dorayaki, which is basically like a mini pancake sandwiched together with anko (Red bean paste). To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan but it was pretty okay!
I was really skeptical of Japanese desserts at this point, but what completely blew my mind was the bamboo and sakura ice cream we had in Arashiyama! It was the most amazing flavour of ice cream I have ever had and I totally recommend everyone to try it. I was also in love with their matcha ice cream! I also spent all of my money buying the matcha kit kats, the delicious matcha and cheese cookies (and I have absolutely no regrets! It is definitely the best thing invented by man! ) and pocky!! Basically if you get a chance, try Matcha everything, it is so matcha better!
Another must have dessert is crazy pancakes in Harajuku. It definitely is food of the gods! More often than not you will find yourself waiting in line just to sink your teeth into their fluffy and delicious pancakes doused in maple syrup and filled with all sorts of goodness – fruits, ice cream and whipped cream!
In retrospect, even though it was difficult to find vegetarian food in some of the remote villages that we visited, you can make do with condiments from the convenience stores in most places. Even otherwise, the convenience stores are worth a visit, they have some great veg delicacies, also the snacks looks so cute and they call out to you “EAT ME, YOU KNOW YOU MUST EAT ME” and then you eat them and you think YES THAT WAS SOOO GOOD, MOAAAAARRR! The bigger towns and cities have a decent range of vego options. There are apps like the Happy Cow that are very useful if you want to locate a vegan/veggie restaurant near you!
It is impressive just how much care the Japanese put into every piece of food that is placed on a dish. Everything is there for a reason! The combination of all the freshest ingredients and method of preparation that results in an incredible experience whether it is on the street or in a fancy restaurant! I could honestly eat in Japan forever!
Nice blog with a very good humour. I cracked up totally when you woke up dead😂