Grrrr NYTimes
Mar. 21st, 2010 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldSo I am awaiting the New York Times to approve my comment for the Q&A section of the Travel Section. For those who don't know, I love reading the Travel Section, even when it is about places I am unlikely to ever or even want to go. I just find the idea of travel completely fascinating. But this particularly Q&A was rather near and dear to my heart. lol
As it was on Vegetarian options in Tokyo The person answering the question obvious is not vegetarian and has not spend any time researching this question at all. They recommend two Shojin Ryori places, one of which I am pretty sure got an awful write up in the 2007 Vegan Pocketguide and both are like 7000 yen a person lol Not everyone going to Tokyo has quite that budget for meals ~.~ The responses following are vaguely helpful and yet not. The person mentioning Indian doesn't even bring up Nataraj the Indian chain that is JUST vegetarian has at least 3 branches in Tokyo, one of which is on the main shopping street in Ginza. The Japanese respondent has some even worse recommendations... Cucumber and Mayo sandwiches on white bread?!?! I do not know ANY vegetarian who wants to eat that gross crap. It's like suggesting to foreigners how amazing Corn, Tuna and Mayo pizza is. If I want to eat a vegetarian sandwich in Tokyo I am going to go to Dean and Deluca and get a real sandwich on non-Wonder-esque bread.
The thing is, having been to Japan many many times there are places where being a vegetarian is a challenge. In Aomori I brought my own food and eventually got pizza at Cappricosa once I discovered the chain was there, since pizza is usually a sure bet. Towada city and Towadako both were not very vegetarian friendly and only a few full service restaurants in Tokyo Disney Sea had any options vs say Disney parks in the US. I've been many places where it is a challenge to be vegetarian in Japan... but Tokyo is not one of those places. I can highly recommend the following restaurants that are all mostly VEGAN: DevaDeva Cafe (popular with meat-eaters too!), Loving Hut (so convenient now that I know where it is) Eat More Greens (open super late! and their new menu is amazing) Brown Rice Cafe and the Pure Cafe (2 good places in Harajuku!) and my beloved Chien Fu out in Tachikawa for when you want to schlep. I also enjoyed Govindas, and my crazy chinese Vegetarian buffet Saishoku Kenbi. I want to try J's Kitchen and if the weather was good I would do the take out falafel in Roppongi. The only place I've tried that truly sucked was Vegan Healing, which was very Diet For A Small Planet early vegan cooking. I liked It's Vegetable but the portions were tiny! But the food we got was good. And there are so many more places listed I've not even tried because they're just not places I normally sightsee. And these are strictly Vegetarian/Vegan places as in no meat at all in the menu. This is not even including how easy it is to find pizza through out Tokyo (the dairy eating Vegetarian's refuge)
I look forward now to all my trips to Tokyo not only to see my friends, but for the chance to go back to favorite restaurants.
As it was on Vegetarian options in Tokyo The person answering the question obvious is not vegetarian and has not spend any time researching this question at all. They recommend two Shojin Ryori places, one of which I am pretty sure got an awful write up in the 2007 Vegan Pocketguide and both are like 7000 yen a person lol Not everyone going to Tokyo has quite that budget for meals ~.~ The responses following are vaguely helpful and yet not. The person mentioning Indian doesn't even bring up Nataraj the Indian chain that is JUST vegetarian has at least 3 branches in Tokyo, one of which is on the main shopping street in Ginza. The Japanese respondent has some even worse recommendations... Cucumber and Mayo sandwiches on white bread?!?! I do not know ANY vegetarian who wants to eat that gross crap. It's like suggesting to foreigners how amazing Corn, Tuna and Mayo pizza is. If I want to eat a vegetarian sandwich in Tokyo I am going to go to Dean and Deluca and get a real sandwich on non-Wonder-esque bread.
The thing is, having been to Japan many many times there are places where being a vegetarian is a challenge. In Aomori I brought my own food and eventually got pizza at Cappricosa once I discovered the chain was there, since pizza is usually a sure bet. Towada city and Towadako both were not very vegetarian friendly and only a few full service restaurants in Tokyo Disney Sea had any options vs say Disney parks in the US. I've been many places where it is a challenge to be vegetarian in Japan... but Tokyo is not one of those places. I can highly recommend the following restaurants that are all mostly VEGAN: DevaDeva Cafe (popular with meat-eaters too!), Loving Hut (so convenient now that I know where it is) Eat More Greens (open super late! and their new menu is amazing) Brown Rice Cafe and the Pure Cafe (2 good places in Harajuku!) and my beloved Chien Fu out in Tachikawa for when you want to schlep. I also enjoyed Govindas, and my crazy chinese Vegetarian buffet Saishoku Kenbi. I want to try J's Kitchen and if the weather was good I would do the take out falafel in Roppongi. The only place I've tried that truly sucked was Vegan Healing, which was very Diet For A Small Planet early vegan cooking. I liked It's Vegetable but the portions were tiny! But the food we got was good. And there are so many more places listed I've not even tried because they're just not places I normally sightsee. And these are strictly Vegetarian/Vegan places as in no meat at all in the menu. This is not even including how easy it is to find pizza through out Tokyo (the dairy eating Vegetarian's refuge)
I look forward now to all my trips to Tokyo not only to see my friends, but for the chance to go back to favorite restaurants.
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Date: 2010-03-22 02:55 am (UTC)I usually like Indian in Japan, but then I tend to like my Indian mild XD; When being cheap, Samrat is the best chain but overall Natarj is my favorite. And the lunch buffet is really quite reasonable.
Someday I want to go to the amusing sound vegan place in Fukuoka. Sadly, I didn't have my improved guide when I went there.