Pure Cafe is one of the few vegan places I've found that serves breakfast! It's located near Omotesando station. 

They serve Western-style food and the menu displayed is all in English!

Breakfast menu - 8.30am-11.30am (680 yen + tax). All items come with a soup or drink and we chose Today's Soup.

Mum's friend ordered the Grain Salad of the Month - Vege-Goreng.

Mum had Today's Muffin, which was a banana muffin. It didn't have the kueh taste present in some vegan bakes, which is great!

I chose Homemade Granola with Soy Yogurt. It tastes like how you'd expect granola to taste lol. But it seems like there's not much sugar in the granola so that's nice! We liked the soup, the ingredients are so generous.

Their drinks are served in a really cute mug with Eat Your Vegetables in cursive script printed on it, but too bad they don't sell it. :(

8ablish is a vegan restaurant under the same management as Pure Cafe. It has a more high-class feel and seems pricier (though based on the lunch menu it isn't).

It's just a short walk away so we had a light lunch there.

We ordered the Souvlaki Plate (1500 yen) which is served with a small salad and soup.

The skewer below the roasted veggies has the most delicious tempeh I've ever tasted!! It doesn't have the slightly sour bean-y taste and it's well-marinated such that even the inside is flavourful.

I also ordered their Vegan Soft Ice Cream with caramel sauce (500 yen in lunch menu, 600+ yen for takeaway I think), which I saw on their Facebook and is the main reason why I wanted to eat here lol. I forgot that I don't really like caramel oops (I should've chosen the Bergamot oil flavour instead) but this was still nice and creamy! I think this was the first vegan soft serve I've ever eaten.

I like both places but I'd prefer Pure Cafe for breakfast or lunch, and 8ablish for dinner (the menu in their sign looks great!)

Pure Cafe
Mon-Sun 8.30am-10.30pm
5 Chome-5-21 Minamiaoyama, Minato, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan
pure-cafe.com

Restaurant 8ablish
Lunch 11.00am-4.00pm (3.30pm L.O.)
Dinner 6.00pm-11.30pm (10.30pm L.O.)
Closed On 2nd & 3rd Tuesday
5-10-17 2F Minami Aoyama Minato-ku Tokyo
eightablish.com

T's Tantan is a vegan ramen place located at Keiyo Street in Tokyo Station.

We arrived there at 4.30pm because we were hungry already lol. I don't know why but there were quite a lot of customers at 5+pm! Like every day at 5+pm it seems like people have finished work and are going home o_o

This menu is in Japanese but I think there's an English one too.

I ordered the T's Tantan Noodles (800 yen). It was really oily but I guess that's how ramen is supposed to be? Under the oil is a creamy and fragrant broth which I really liked! This wasn't spicy at all, I'd like to try the spicy ones (like Shiro Tantan) next time!

It's an additional 300 yen for a small portion of curry so I got the Smile Curry to try too (the other option is Matsaman, Thai-style). It was mostly curry sauce without visible chunks of ingredients other than that cherry tomato. Usually Japanese curry is sweet but this wasn't as sweet as I'm used to so I didn't like it as much.

We were with mum's friend who's an elderly Japanese lady who doesn't speak much English. She got a culture shock when she saw me twirling my noodles around my chopsticks like spaghetti, and mixing the curry with rice before eating ('like bibimbap') LOL ^^;

So interesting, I've never thought that people normally not mix curry with rice first because that's how I've always done it for Japanese curry. But actually when mum and I ate at Coco Ichibanya on the last day (they have vegan curry - eggless but may be contaminated with dairy at processing stage) some customers mix their curry with rice too. So I guess it's a generation gap and not just a culture difference heh.

Mum ordered the T's Shoyu Ramen (750 yen)

T's Tan Tan is the only fully-vegan ramen place in Tokyo but it seems like some non-vegan places serve vegan ramen too!

But whether the ramen is truly vegan or not might be questionable. I went to Chabuton thinking that their Vegetable Ramen is vegan but to my horror I've just found out that it may contain fish stock omg?! T.T A review by VegOut Tokyo says the Shimokitazawa branch's vege-ramen is vegan (but that was 3 years ago), and it's also vegan at the closed-down branch at Akihabara but the one in Osaka isn't. It's more likely that it's vegan but I should have asked :( At least the gyoza is vegan (and delicious).

Chabuton is located within a 2 minute walk from Shimokitazawa station South exit (walk to the left). They used to have other outlets but this is the only one left in Tokyo. Shimokitazawa is apparently a young people place but it didn't really feel like it lol. Maybe we were at the wrong side.

When you walk down the street to the left (when facing Chabuton) there's a supermarket with the cheapest fruits and vegetables we've seen during the whole trip!

There's an English menu inside.

We got to experience the ticket vending machine here yay!

Vege-ramen (820 yen). The noodles contain spirulina but taste normal. Compared to the ramen at T's Tantan it's less oily and has quite a generous amount of vegetables (for ramen). I'd still prefer the one at T's Tantan because the noodles are thicker and the broth tastes richer.

The Vegetable Gyoza (300 yen) are confirmed to be vegan. Looks somewhat burnt but it wasn't bitter. The addition of vinegar removed the greasiness too! If somehow the vege-ramen isn't vegan and they can't veganise it you can have the gyoza with a bowl of rice (100 yen) ._.

T's Tantan

Daily 7.00am-11.00pm (10.30pm L.O.)

1-9-1 Marunouchi, Keiyo Street, Chiyoda, Tokyo 

ts-restaurant.jp/tantan/

Chabuton

Daily 11.00am-12.00mn

2 Chome-10-10 Kitazawa, Setagaya, Tokyo 155-0031, Japan

chabuton.com

Ain Soph. Journey is a vegan restaurant serving Western cuisine! We ate here twice for dinner with Mum's Japanese friends. It's located right outside Shinjuku-sanchome station Exit C5.

We were seated at the second floor both times. The first time we went, Mum's friend was the only guy customer in the restaurant lol!

Dinner starts at 5.30pm but we arrived before 5pm lol. We made our orders first, expecting the food to arrive only after 5.30pm, but they served us before that. How nice of them!

My Green Smoothie and mum's Carrot Juice. I think the smoothie is ordinary (tastes like banana) but the carrot juice is nice because there's small carrot bits!

I think I read some reviews saying that their vegan cutlet is worth trying, but both times it was not available/sold out. :( So we ordered the Deep-fried Veggie Meat (650 yen) instead. It surprisingly juicy when you bite it! I find it kinda oily and salty but it impresses the meat-eaters haha

The soup here is the Vegetable Soup [Large] (850 yen). It's quite tomato-y but at least it doesn't taste canned!

The Tofu Spanish Omelet (800 yen) had chunks of potato in it. Odd but not a bad kind of odd I guess! It tastes like tofu and not the "Omg am I eating eggs" kinda taste.

The Mushroom Hayashi-rice (1300 yen) wasn't so memorable.

The Veggie Tortilla Roll (1600 yen) looks simple but it's really yummy! The veggies are fresh and there's just the right amount of sauce. There's also a layer of peanut butter between the lettuce and wrap. They cut it based on the number of people you have so no need to worry about sharing. ^^

Everyone enjoyed the Vegetable Paella (1400 yen)! The rice was kinda creamy and flavourful but not soggy.

For dessert: Vegan Pancakes (1400 yen)! The pancakes look tiny but they were really thick - a little crispy and hard on the outside, and soft and dense on the inside - almost like scones. 

I also ate the edible flower. Nope don't eat it it's bitter bleugh

On our second time there we ordered the Dessert Plate (1200 yen) - a small slice of rich, fudgey chocolate cake, ice cream (same flavour as the pancake one but I'm not sure what it is - rum and raisin?), whipped cream with custard inside, and cakey waffles. I love this because it has a bit of everything!

Overall the food is on the pricier side but I think that this is a wonderful place to go to to impress non-vegan friends! I'd recommend the Veggie Tortilla Roll, Vegetable Paella and the Deep-fried Veggie Meat :)

Ain Soph. Journey
3-8-9, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan 160-0022
Mon-Sat 11.30am-11.00pm (10.00pm L.O.)
Sun 11.30am-10.00pm (9.00pm L.O.)
ain-soph.jp

Loving Hut was the first all-vegan eatery we went to during the trip! It's located near Jimbocho station, and the area is known for it's many second-hand bookstores.

It's at the second floor of this building.

We were there on Saturday for their lunch buffet, which costs just 1500 yen!

The restaurant is small and cosy, with less than 20 seats. Best to go earlier because after 12.30pm or so it gets kinda crowded!

The food is Taiwanese Japanese style I guess! There some mock meat but not too much.

My favourites were the fried carrot cake and pumpkin fritter!

Mum also liked the 'eel' sushi on the right.

The food seems to be cooked in small portions by the aunties (?) in the kitchen, so it's a very home-cooked kinda feel. It wasn't too oily or greasy too. Also, new and different food keeps on being brought out!

This mock meat in the soup looks so amazingly real right?? Mum showed photos of the soup and the eel sushi to her Japanese friends and they were like Real?? Sugoii!!

Here's the directions and address. Opening hours are weekdays 11.30am-5pm, Saturday 11.30am-

3.30pm (as in the first photo).

I'd love to go back again next time! This is definitely of of my 5 favourite eateries this trip! ^^

Hello! I'm back from my Tokyo trip with mum and we had a great time! I planned the itinerary so as expected there's lotsa vegan food and shopping in it... but I also added in some scenic spots and one museum haha. We also went on a day tour to Mt. Fuji's fifth station and to pick grapes! 

Itinerary

DATE	DAY	TIME	PLAN
23-Oct	Fri	4+pm	Arrival at Narita Airport
		5pm	Take NEX to Shinjuku Station
		7pm	(Walk) Find Airbnb
		8pm	(Walk) Dinner somewhere nearby & explore area
24-Oct	Sat	11.30pm	(Jimbocho station) Lunch at Loving Hut
		1pm	(Asakusa station) Nakamise Dori
		5.30pm	(Shinjuku-sanchome) Dinner at Ain Soph Journey
25-Oct	Sun	11am	(Harajuku station) Earth Day market
		1pm	(Walk) Meiji Jingu
		2pm	(Walk) Takeshita Dori, Omotesando Street
		5.30pm	(Walk/Otomesando station) Dinner at Crayon House
		8pm	(Shinjuku station) Shopping at Bic Camera/Uniqlo
26-Oct	Mon	9am	(Oshiage station) Tokyo Skytree
		12nn	(Asakusa station) Lunch at Sekai Café
		1.30pm	(Walk) Kappabashi Kitchen Town
		3.30pm	(Ueno station) Ameyoko
		5pm	(Walk) 2k540 Aki Oka Artisan/Chabara
		6pm	(Walk/Akihabara station) Pre-dinner at random conveyor belt sushi place
		7pm	(Shibuya station) Dinner at Hang Out
		8.30pm	(Walk) Shopping at Loft
27-Oct	Tue	11.30am	(Walk) Lunch at Lima Café
		1.30pm	(Tokyo station) KITTE building (Intermediatique museum)
		2.40pm	(Walk) Skybus tour (Tokyo Tower-Rainbow Bridge Course)
		3.30pm	(Walk) Character street/Okashi land
		4.30pm	(Walk) Early dinner at T's TanTan
		6.30pm	(Shibuya station) Shopping
28-Oct	Wed	10am	(Otomesando station) Breakfast at Pure Café
		12nn	(Walk) Lunch at 8ablish
		1.30pm	(Shin-okubo station) Korea Town
		3.30pm	(Walk) Back to apartment
		7.30pm	(Shinjuku) Dinner at Ain Soph Journey
29-Oct	Thur	7.50am	Grape-picking & Mt. Fuji 5th Station day tour
		7pm	(Walk) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
30-Oct	Fri	9am	(Walk) Breakfast at Inaho
		11.30am	(Shimokitazawa station) Lunch at Chabuton
		2pm	(Shibuya station) Tokyu Hands
		6pm	(Yoyogi-uehara station) Dinner at Asahi Soba
31-Oct	Sat	11am	(Walk) Lunch at Coco Ichibanya
		12.10pm	Take NEX to Narita Airport
		6+pm	Flight

Recommendations and reviews from HappyCow, Bon Voyage Vegan and japanvegan were super helpful in planning this itinerary! I'll be blogging about some of the places we've been to and I'll link it to this itinerary above.

We also met 6 of mum's Japanese friends (about 1 or 2 on most days). Sounds like a lot for a barely 9 day trip but thankfully they agreed to eat with us at the places already in the itinerary. ^^ 

Here's a list of vegan and vegan-friendly places by area - it'll be better to link posts here but I can't format the table here properly :(

I didn't include addresses but here's a Google Map of the eateries I've been to (orange), eateries I've not been to (red) and attractions/shopping (purple). Note that for places I've not been to, I don't know if they're still there. Also the opening hours in the table above aren't 100% accurate.

Getting Around

Navigating the streets was much more difficult than expected! We made a mistake of relying on our Airbnb's portable wifi. Since we didn't have it from the start, we got super lost when getting to our apartment. We had to ask 4 people for directions lol. We also relied heavily on Google Maps since the streets are so confusing and street names aren't prominent (or maybe they are but I can't read/find them). I didn't realise it then but in comparison NYC was a breeze with it's straight roads and obvious street signs! 

Furthermore, the portable wifi was weak and ran out of battery quickly :( Like I couldn't even google for reviews properly because pages take minutes to load. On the bright side, because of that I know where there's good wifi lolol - Tokyo Skytree cafe, Sekai Cafe and Tokyu Hands Cafe. We went back to Tokyu Hands cafe on the second last day to do flight check-in (and for me to download shows heh). Narita airport's wifi is still the best though. Like 10 times faster.

As for metro and subway, map apps help a lot but there's still some lines that aren't in the 3 apps I downloaded. Like the Shimokitazawa station is on the Odakyu line ._. And the lines are like from different companies so sometimes when you need to change from one line to another (considered the same station) you need to walk outside at road level wow. For fares, we bought Suica cards which was enough since we weren't going out of Tokyo. 

(1) NEX tickets bought at Narita airport  (2) Fixed train departure timings (about every 30 mins) (3) To reserve seats on the train back to Narita, insert tickets and select seats using this machine on the NEX platform

We stayed near Shinjuku station and we bought the Narita Express (NEX) round-trip ticket which is 4000 yen for both ways. It's really convenient because it brings you to main JR stations including Shinjuku! I think it took about 90 minutes. It's a bit pricier than taking the train but totally worth it. Imagine if we got lost in the stations in addition to getting lost finding our Airbnb omg. Here's a really helpful article by Tokyo Cheapo.

My favourite place to go to is Shibuya but Shinjuku seems like a good place to stay! We stayed nearer to Shinjuku-nishiguchi than the main station of Shinjuku, but it wasn't much further away. Shinjuku station is like a humongous station with many lines (11 lines according to wiki). Confusing but convenient at the same time I guess! Mum would like to stay in the same Airbnb next time. I don't really mind but I'd rather have somewhere else haha.

Veganism in Tokyo

Initially we were deciding between Tokyo and Seoul and my impression was that both are similarly vegan-unfriendly. But actually it's not as bad as I'd thought! There was actually a vegan festival a week or two before we arrived (omg so sad we missed it) and we saw an animal rights demonstration at Shibuya on Friday: 

Cool. I don't really understand their message though because (according to mum's translation) it seems like they ask people to switch to cage-free but in the pamphlet's summary they advice people to go vegan/vegetarian.

Since we missed the vegan festival, we went to the Earth Day Market that happens once or twice a month at Yoyogi Park and it seems environmentally friendly but there were hardly any vegan food options :(

Other than eating at the vegan/vegan-friendly places on my list, we also had conveyor belt sushi (kaiten sushi). We also got breakfast and snacks from convenience stores (combini). My favourite item to get is daifukumochi - mochi filled with azuki paste! Lol people usually have it for afternoon tea but I eat it for breakfast and supper ^^;

So uniformly red wow

The supermarkets and eateries all sell/serve really fresh local vegetables and fruits! In particular vegetables - they're really crisp and sweet. And at the supermarkets there's like giant cabbages/mushrooms/radishes etc! It's almost like their reduced-to-clear is Singapore's NTUC standard. Lol ^^;

It's not that difficult to identify egg 卵 and milk 乳 in ingredient lists (they're often prominently listed as allergens, especially at bakeries) but for ingredients like meat and honey it's not always so obvious if it's not in kanji. So I always pestered my mum to read the ingredients since she knows some Japanese haha. Here's a useful website for identifying ingredients.

Fascinating Things

I've been to Japan before so toilet seats with buttons don't amaze me, but at one place we went to there was an in-built hand dryer in the sink! Omg cool. And at some places when you purchase sanitary pads the cashier (even if it's a guy) will wrap it up in a paper bag wow! Speaking of the cashier, the cashier machine counts and sorts coins the cashier person throws in and it automatically gives the change wow!

Also, their rice never disappoints. I thought that rice is yummy already, but rice in Japan is like next-level yumminess. It's not just because of their rice, but also their rice cookers! They're like so high-tech and make rice magically delicious. Lotsa China tourists buy rice cookers back home, so much so that there's often a seperate section of 220-240V rice cookers (since Japan uses 100V) and the signs and announcements in the area are in Chinese. We didn't buy one because it's heavy - next time we will haha!

Lol there are many more instances of fascinating things and great customer service but this post is getting too long so I'll stop here! I'll continue blogging about the rest of my trip soon :)

The basic banana-oat cake I always make, in waffle form! I used a silicon waffle mold for this and it turned out surprisingly well. I had to remove the baked waffles from the mold and bake the other side further so the square holes cook properly, but this uses no oil so I don't mind the longer prep time.

I topped it with date jam (pureed dates), tahini, berries, kiwi and passionfruit. Also had yummy Yogi Caramel Apple Spice tea ^^

I think the banana-oat cake recipe is somewhere on my blog but I'm lazy to find and link it so here it is: Pulse about 1/3 to 1/2 cup rolled oats in a food processor until it turns into (coarse) flour. Puree 2/3 medium banana and stir it in. Add 1 tsp baking powder. Add non-dairy milk or water to thin it. Bake at 180 deg C for 10-15 mins (depending on baking pan/mold)

I bought the waffle mold from taobao (S$3.60 excluding shipping and fees) and I also got a stovetop waffle pan. The pan looks scary though. I might just stick to using this ^^;

Going to Tokyo tomorrow woohoo! I'll be back next month with lotsa posts on my trip - I'll keep the posts organised and consise and hopefully finish what I plan to write lol!