2021 Members’ Ranking of Restaurants

After taking a break in 2020, we resumed our annual poll of members to determine the best - or at least the most popular - veg*n restaurants in Tokyo Met. The top-10 can be seen below. Members of the group can review the process used in this poll at the below links. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/vegtokyo/posts/6643332375708926/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/vegtokyo/posts/6499279143447584/

Tokyo 101 (FAQ), including area guide

A selective guide for visiting or beginning vegans and vegetarians. As of March 2019.

Visiting or moving to Tokyo as a veg*n (=vegan or vegetarian) requires preparation, especially for those who are very strict with their consumption habits. The number of vegans here is minuscule and even ovo/lacto-vegetarians number only a few thousand at best.

Eating fish is seen as integral to Japanese culture. Fish is everywhere, including in many broths, or as an ingredient in sauces and condiments. Japanese food labels aren't always precise which means that sometimes there is no way of telling whether an ingredient, e.g. an emulsifier, is made from animal sources or not.

It's not all bad though. As far as shopping goes, almost every imaginable ingredient is available (except for the new meat replacements like BeyondMeat), if not in a brick-and-mortar stores, then online. Eating out in Tokyo has become much easier in recent years, too. There are many quality eateries where veg*ns can eat well. It's a big city though so getting from A to B can be tiring.

2019 Guide to frozen, chilled or dry substitutes and junk foods shipped from overseas

Japan residents can have the latest meat and cheese substitutes from the West shipped to Japan  during the cold season of the year. I've done it numerous times, works just fine. See the section about shipping at the bottom of this post.

In A Nutshell

If you're only going to order one product, order the "beefless ground" from Matchmeat. This is the most universally usable product, great for burgers, kebabs, mince etc. The BeyondBurger is fabulous, too, but less universally usable. Other top products: BeyondMeat Chik'n (but good only after frying and refrigerating, not good warm); Gardein fishless fillets; VBites fish fingers; and some of Miyoko's raw cheeses. For cheeses to be used on pizza and such we now have reasonably good products in Japan,  no huge need to order from overseas. If you find the ones available in Japan to be too mild-tasting, then the "cheddar" from Daiya is good. On the other hand, the new "Cutting board" line from Daiya is superior to anything local.

The Reviews

A "*" means "chilled/refrigerated". A "**" means frozen.  Most of the chilled products survive freezing just fine (but cheese slices tend to become brittle). If there is no asterisk then that means the product can be stored at room temperature. Ratings: 5/5 is perfect and 1/5 is a total fail. A 3/5 hence doesn't mean "bad" or "meh" necessarily but it does mean that probably most folks won't want to buy tons of it. I also indicate where the product is from. "US" means US or Canada (sorry), and "EU" means from Europe, not necessarily from within the EU. Some of the European products, such as Quorn and Cavi-Art, are also available from the US.

Stuff I ordered from the Vegan Essentials. 

2018 Members' Ranking of Restaurants

As every year, we ran our popular poll to rank the most popular veg*n restaurants in Tokyo again this November. Method was basically the same as in previous years. Here are the results:

Veg*n friendly omni restaurants in Tokyo

A recurring request in our group is for recommendations of restaurants that serve both omni and vegetarian/vegan food. Ovo/lacto-vegetarians in general have an easier time with this than vegans since most Indian and Italian restaurants can accommodate them by default. So-called macrobiotic restaurants normally serve vegan food along with fish. In some cases the fish is so integral to the menu that no vegetarian can eat there, but in other cases there are sufficient fish-free options.

Happycow.net allows searching for veg friendly restaurants so it's highly recommended to look there as this blog can never be as up to date and complete as Happycow.  Vegewel allows searching for macrobiotic restaurants.

Here is a list of restaurants that are frequently mentioned in our group., Ordered roughly from north to south and from west to east of the city.

* = affordable
** = mid-market pricing
*** = premium pricing


Rouran @Ikebukuro (Chinese; vegan menu available) *
Chikyu Tabi Cafe @Takadanobaba (multinational menu, more vegetarian than vegan options available but will suffice for vegans, too) *
Titchai @Shimokitazawa (Thai food, many items can be veganized) *
Los Barbados @Shibuya (African and Arabic; extensive vegetarian and vegan options) **
Blu Jam Cafe @Daikanyama and Azabu Juuban (all-day dining, mostly brunch style foods; sufficient vegan and vegetarian options available) **
Tamana Shokudo @Aoyama (high quality western and Japanese food; mostly vegan, some fish) ** - ***
Cicada @Aoyama Perfect for lacto-/ovo-vegetarians, borderline for vegans. Upscale. ***
Pizzakaya @Roppongi (American style pizza; vegan options available) **
Pink Cow @Akasaka  (pub; various vegan and vegetarian menu items) **
Cantonese En @Tokyo Station (high end Chinese food, the vegetarian menu is in fact vegan) ***
The Earl @Akasaka is a veg*n-friendly sandwich shop that also does catering **


Chains with several locations
Coco Ichibanya @everywhere; literally ubiquitous Japanese style curry chain, with vegan options *
Homeworks @Hiroo, Azabu and Shinagawa  (sandwich shop, the vegetarian items mostly contain cheese but can be veganized) **
Hobgoblin @Shibuya, Roppongi, Akasaka (pub; several vegan items on the menu) **
Mr Farmer @Omotesando; Shinjuku; Roppongi; Komazawa (Cafe with good vegan and vegetarian options) **
Chaya @Shinjuku, Yoyogi (Tomigaya), Hibiya & Shiodome (Japanese/western macrobiotic and omni, good vegan options) ** - ***
Bills @Ginza, Odaiba, Omotesando, Futakotamagawa, Yokohama ***

"Is it vegan?" in Japanese (printable explanations)

You can download a printable PDF of the file here.

Here are three statements you can print out and show to staff at restaurants or shops to ask whether something is vegan or not/can be made vegan. The Japanese word “Dame” (pronounced “dah-meh”) means “No good” or “No go.” The English word “Okay” is also used in Japanese.

For restaurants / cafes (the part in blue can be left out by those who do not wish to insist on this)

I am vegan, in other words strict vegetarian. I cannot eat any kind of animal foods. This includes meat, fish, fish eggs, things that contain fish/chicken/beef broth, chicken eggs, milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt and honey. Would you be able to cook something that I can eat? (Examples: fried tofu, vegetable stir fry, vegetable curry, or pasta with arrabbiata sauce).

Is it vegan? 乳化剤, the confusing 'emulsifier'

Many members of our Facebook group have raised questions surrounding a common ingredient found in sweets, drinks and other products: 乳化剤 (nyuu-ka-zai). Dictionaries tend to provide the English translation emulsifier, but concern often arises from the presence of the character 乳, which represents milk. Hence the question: Is 乳化剤 vegan?

The truth is, 乳 does not imply dairy. For example, the Japanese word for soy milk is 豆乳 (tou-nyuu). Thus, the presence of 乳 is not itself an indication of whether a product is vegan or otherwise, as is the case in 乳化剤.

This leaves us with the unsatisfying conclusion that it is impossible to tell whether an ingredient listed as 乳化剤 is safe for vegans without further information. Emulsifiers can be both plant- and animal-derived. To see a list of common emulsifiers along with an indication of whether or not they are suitable for vegans, please refer to this link.