Here’s a continuation of our time in Tokyo, this time not featuring a single ramen. I don’t think we had a single ramen-free day, so these were simply accompanying the many ramens we tried! I did briefly wonder on our trip if we were making a mistake by eating so much ramen, but I think it really is the best dish, and it’s so much better in Japan than the Czech Republic (obviously) so, ultimately, no regrets! Here are the few other dishes we tried though…

Isakaya Masaka

This was one of the best meals of our entire two month trip, in a rather unassuming little eatery in the basement of a mall. It’s all vegan. The staff generally spoke in Japanese when announcing the dishes and gesturing us towards a table, but not a lot of communication was required – we ordered through a QR code at the table, the menu was available in English, and paying at the counter was very straightforward.

We were there at lunchtime, so we each ordered a lunch set, which is meal that comes with rice, soup, and pickles. I had the karaage set, and it was sensational. The coating was crisp and the texture was incredible. I’ve had a lot of mock chicken, and this was right up there with the best. There were a few choices of sauce and I chose the yuzu and pepper mayo which was just incredible, really zingy and tasty. We reminisce about both the chicken and the mayo regularly.

Dr HH ordered the mapo tofu set. Mapo tofu is one of his favourites. It had loads of silken tofu and some flavoursome mince as well. It tasted good, but he wished it was a bit spicier and more tingly. As someone with a much lower tolerance, I can tell you it was still pretty spicy to me!

In the interest of thoroughness, here’s the rice, soup, and pickles that completed the meals. This meal was one of the highlights of the trip, so I definitely recommend visiting if you can. The menu was quite extensive too, it looked like there would be lots of fun things to try. You can’t make reservations unfortunately, so just try your luck and queue if you have to.

Vegan Gyoza Yu Cafe

We almost didn’t visit this spot, as I was expecting it to be a bit style over substance. Actually, it was amazing! This restaurant serves 11 different types of gyoza, and each one has a different coloured wrapper. If you order the 11 piece set, it means you have a lovely rainbow of dumplings to try. It’s so visually pleasing that I kind of assumed it was all about the aesthetics and not about the fillings, but I was very wrong.

We did each try the 11 piece set. Each one was generously filled, so this was an extremely hearty meal. Each one also had a distinctive flavour and really tasted of what it was supposed to. My favourite was the green onion and miso, which was really savoury and meaty. The only minor quibbles we had were that the kimchi one was quite mild (this was a problem for Dr HH, who loves kimchi and spicy food, but not for me – I don’t love kimchi, and I really enjoyed this!), and that we got two shiitakes with different coloured wrappers, so that was a bit boring. But otherwise, this was an incredible meal! We had lots of gyoza as side dishes throughout our stay, so it was fun to elevate them to the star of the show here.

We were also thrilled to have the opportunity to try cream sodas, which are everywhere in Japan but usually not vegan. They were really fun!

EN Tea House (teamlab: Borderless)

This was an unexpected delight! The teamlab art projects had been recommended to us before our trip, so I’d booked us tickets for Borderless. It’s essentially a digital art museum, with lots of video mapping and mirrors and fun art. We knew that there was a tea house within the museum which does some image projection onto your food and drink, but we did not know that they had vegan milk and ice cream there – what a fun discovery! So, in we went. For full clarity, the tea house is right inside the art exhibitions, it’s not just a cafe you can enter from the street. It’s only accessible to ticket holders. Also, the museum is a total maze, so it may take you a while to find it, though the tea house is one of the few things signposted within it.

We had to join a queue to wait for a table. When we got to the counter, we ordered and paid for our teas and ice cream – it’s not an extensive menu, there’s one gelato (clearly labelled vegan) and a few teas (some of which are lattes with plant based milk). The staff at the counter gave us a few little pots which would indicate to the servers within the tea house what we had ordered. But we had to continue waiting until there was space inside. The tea house is in a dark room with some art projections on the wall and on the tables. There are two big tables. Once we sat down, the staff took our little pots, confirmed our orders, and then returned with our items. When they put the tea and gelato on the table in front of us, the projections started and we got to enjoy eating our little art works!

Dr HH had a barley tea rice milk latte, which had a nice sweet and nutty start to it but the after taste was quite bitter and not quite to his liking, unfortunately. I had the roasted tea chamomile rice milk latte and really enjoyed it. I don’t have much of a palate for tea, but this one had a discernible flavour and the roasting added a real depth to it – I got quite into roasted teas on this trip!

We also both got the green tea and coconut milk gelato. It was really rich and creamy and tasted pleasant, although there were a few little ice chunks in there. All in all, it was a really fun experience.

2foods – Shibuya Loft

2foods is a vegan fast food chain with several branches around Tokyo. We were generally trying to eat as much Japanese food as possible, so we didn’t go for any of the burgers, but we couldn’t resist getting some doughnuts for breakfast. We were there around 7pm (picking up for the next day), and they’d sold out of two varieties but still had five in stock.

We tried the chocolate doughnut, which was not lying about being chocolatey – it was really rich and delicious. The chunks added a good texture.

Dr HH also tried the lemon doughnut, which was tart and zingy. It came with a little packet of sherbet to sprinkle on top, which he really enjoyed. In both cases, the doughnuts themselves had a good texture and were well made.

Activities Around Tokyo

In the last post, I mentioned a few activities we enjoyed in Tokyo. Here’s one we enjoyed around Tokyo – a day trip to Hakone. In 2019 we actually stayed overnight in Hakone at a ryokan that provided vegan meals, and we really wanted to go back. Unfortunately they no longer offer vegan food and we couldn’t find an alternative, so we just did a day trip. It was action packed!

The main attraction for us was the Hakone Open-Air Museum, which we were too jet-lagged to visit in 2019 but were fully ready for this time! It had loads of fun outdoor art and was set in really beautiful scenery with rolling hills.

From there, we went on a ropeway and cable car up the mountain, a boat cruise around the lake, and wandered along to a shrine. It’s tiring stuff, but definitely worth a visit!