Did we discover a cat cafe?

We saw this sign in Shinjuku. We should investigate this. I think it's a cafe where you pay to play with cats. My friend told me she went to a place like this when she was in Japan, and my mom saw one featured on a Sunday morning talk show. Themed restaurants are popular in Tokyo. My only concern is how the cats are cared for after business hours. They help the business make a profit, so they are being commodified. Making animals into commodities typically runs against vegan values, but I'd love to play with kitties since we are pet-free in our apartment.

Vegan Pancakes!!

Another food post! A friend recently tagged me on a blogger's post on facebook. The blogger is on vacation in Asia. When she was in Japan, she posted a photo of vegan pancakes. Based on her other photos, she was in the Roppongi and Shinjuku areas. We're in Shibuya, which is fairly close to those areas. With some internet sleuthing, we discovered the vegan pancakes are at a restaurant called Ain Soph in Shinjuku. We went there for dinner one night. The pancakes are on the dessert menu, rightly so because they are very rich. We took a little bag of donuts to go.

Vegan Ramen!!!!

A couple friends told us to try T's Tantan in Tokyo Station before we even arrived in Japan. Ramen is an easy find in Japan, but the broth is generally made with fish or other meat. The dude is less strict about byproducts like animal broths, but won't eat meat, and I'm a devoted vegan. The dude met another American at a vegan meetup event. We met for dinner at T's for vegan ramen. The dude ordered a ramen bowl that looked more traditional, I picked one with a cream sauce under the noodles. We got the set meals with a ramen bowl and a side bowl of rice with a topping. I picked fried soy nuggets and he picked curry. This place had a line waiting at the door, and now we know why! The food was delicious!

VEGAN RAMEN!!!! T's Tantan in Tokyo Station

A couple friends told us to try T's Tantan in Tokyo Station before we even arrived in Japan. Ramen is an easy find in Japan, but the broth is generally made with fish or other meat. The dude is less strict about byproducts like animal broths, but won't eat meat, and I'm a devoted vegan. The dude met another American at a vegan meetup event. We met for dinner at T's for vegan ramen. The dude ordered a ramen bowl that looked more traditional, I picked one with a cream sauce under the noodles. We got the set meals with a ramen bowl and a side bowl of rice with a topping. I picked fried soy nuggets and he picked curry. This place had a line waiting at the door, and now we know why! The food was delicious!

Farmers' Market - Weekend #2

I think going to the market is going to be a standard weekend activity for us. We weren't able to find the lady with vegan English muffins, but we did find another vegan booth selling muffins. Go Muffins Go sells only sweet muffins. They had a little flyer for Vegfest at their booth. We saw an animal rescue group showcasing their available dogs. We stopped for puppy kisses, of course! We had lunch at the Cori vegan truck again. This time we stopped at the tahini booth and bought a bottle. The food processor is almost here, so we can make hummus!

Costco!

After spending 1 hr on 2 trains and a bus, we made it to Costco! Fruit is expensive in Japan, particularly berries, so I wanted to get frozen berries. We also haven't been able to find dairy-free chocolate chips at the markets nearby. A vegan blog said Costco had vegan chocolate chips here, which I knew they had in the US. The dude wanted the chocolate chips for cookies. We also picked up some spices, flour, salsa, frozen french fries, vegan margarine, cashews, and popcorn kernels. We put everything into backpacks and tote bags to make the trek home. We were worn out by the time we got home, but it was so worth it. Next time we need something from Costco, I might go by myself during the day time to avoid crowds on the train... And I might bring a bag with wheels!

Frijoles

There is a Chipotle knockoff in Roppongi called Frijoles. They have vegetarian black beans, but haven't made their pinto beans pork-free. We saw Frijoles on our walk, so we took a bus the next day to try it out. They offer two sizes for the burrito bowls, so we picked the regular size. It was definitely smaller than American version. It was a few dollars more expensive than the American version too. They had a soda fountain! But it had Pepsi products. I noticed they had a tip box, which is odd because tipping is considered rude in Japan.

Roppongi Hills

We went to Roppongi thinking we'd have dinner at The Pink Cow, they had a buffet set up and we wanted veggie burgers with fries. We decided to walk down the street to Chien-Fu in Roppongi for vegetarian Chinese food. After dinner, we went to the Roppongi Hills mall. There are Halloween decorations inside designed in collaboration with Tim Burton. I loooove Tim Burton, I saw an exhibit devoted to his work at the LA County Museum of Art several years ago. The mall has a Japanese garden and you can see Tokyo Tower from the garden. We walked around Roppongi for a bit before heading home.

Sights from My Daily Walks

I take walk almost everyday. I go to the grocery stores nearby and to the gym. I even went on a very long walk on a quest for vegan cheese recently. Here are some sights from those walks.

Shabu Shabu

A popular experience in Japan is shabu shabu. The dude went to try shabu shabu already with coworkers, but he said he really wanted me to try it. It's so fun! We went to Neboza in Shibuya. Shabu shabu is the method of cooking food in hot broth at your table. The broth is heated on a hot plate, then you can dunk your food into the broth. Normally people dunk very thinly sliced meats, which cook very quickly in the hot broth. Being a veg couple, we ordered the only meat-free broth and got the veggies from the buffet. The broth is called Sukiyaki. We picked several types of mushrooms, tofu, several types of greens, bell peppers, onion, rice noodles, and udon noodles from the buffet. We each prepared a little bowl with garlic, ginger, and hot pepper sauce to pour onto our food and rice. Our favorite veggie was the enoki mushrooms. NOM. This is a great experience. You pay for the time at the table (1.5 or 2 hours), instead of the quantity of food. We were there for a little over an hour. NOM. We will definitely take any future visitors here.

Shibuya Station

The Shibuya station is undergoing construction for the 2020 Olympics, but that's not slowing down the crowds in Shibuya. It's the downtown area closest to us. It reminds me of photos of NYC. There are large electronic billboards everywhere making noise. The intersection is one of the busiest in the world. The lights all turn red for people to cross, and it feels like a thousand people cross at a time. It is really sensory overload! We even saw people dressed in Mario costumes driving go-karts through the area! After seeing that and crossing the intersection, we went down an escalator to the Tokyo Big Food Show. It's a market with lots of prepared foods and a grocery area. We saw Halloween candy and pumpkin decorations for sale! I'm so happy Halloween is a thing here. We didn't buy any of this candy, but I was happy to see it nonetheless. :)

Dinner at Pure Cafe

After a nap, we used the Happy Cow app to find a place to have dinner. We found an all vegan cafe called Pure Cafe. We were there before 6, so we were stuck ordering from the lunch menu. The food was fine, but the little orange mix contained peanuts so we didn't eat it. I liked the bread and soup, but didn't even think to ask what the vegan butter/margarine was. I don't know what to look for in the store to identify vegan butter. Even though we ordered off the lunch menu, we still ordered a dessert from the case. We picked carrot cake and cheesecake. I bit into the cheesecake and immediately tasted peanut butter. Thankfully the dude only took a bite or two before me. He asked about it, and yes, it had peanut butter. It looked like his bottom lip swelled and darkened a little, but he did not have a severe reaction to the peanuts. We got lucky this time. We need to learn to say no peanuts!

Konnoh Hachimangu Shrine

After dropping off our items at home, we went on another walk. We went to a more affordable grocery store called Life. I'm glad we invested in new shoes before leaving the US. We are definitely going to be walking a lot! On the walk, we passed a shrine. We decided to check it out. We weren't sure if photos were allowed. The building in the back looked rather large, but we didn't know if we could go inside. The booklet was on a table in front of the building, which helped us identify the shrine. We saw a group enter, so maybe we can get a tour in the future. I'm looking forward to exploring Japanese culture.

Shabu Shabu at Nabezo - Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

A popular experience in Japan is shabu shabu. The dude went to try shabu shabu already with coworkers, but he said he really wanted me to try it. It's so fun! We went to Neboza in Shibuya. Shabu shabu is the method of cooking food in hot broth at your table. The broth is heated on a hot plate, then you can dunk your food into the broth. Normally people dunk very thinly sliced meats, which cook very quickly in the hot broth. Being a veg couple, we ordered the only meat-free broth and got the veggies from the buffet. The broth is called Sukiyaki. We picked several types of mushrooms, tofu, several types of greens, bell peppers, onion, rice noodles, and udon noodles from the buffet. We each prepared a little bowl with garlic, ginger, and hot pepper sauce to pour onto our food and rice. Our favorite veggie was the enoki mushrooms. NOM. This is a great experience. You pay for the time at the table (1.5 or 2 hours), instead of the quantity of food. We were there for a little over an hour. NOM. We will definitely take any future visitors here.

Rice Milk Ice Cream

After we enjoyed our lunch, we walked down to the Natural House market. They sell rice milk ice cream by the scoop! Can you believe that?! The dude loves dairy-based ice cream and he has tried several varieties of vegan ice cream with me. He knew I would be excited to find a vegan dessert and it's not too far away to walk there. He picked berry right away. I thought that sounded great. We rarely order the same thing, but the berry flavor (bottom right) looked too good to pass up. I was originally thinking about ordering the chocolate, but that's the power of suggestion!

Pure Cafe - Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

After a nap, we used the Happy Cow app to find a place to have dinner. We found an all vegan cafe called Pure Cafe. We were there before 6, so we were stuck ordering from the lunch menu. The food was fine, but the little orange mix contained peanuts so we didn't eat it. I liked the bread and soup, but didn't even think to ask what the vegan butter/margarine was. I don't know what to look for in the store to identify vegan butter. Even though we ordered off the lunch menu, we still ordered a dessert from the case. We picked carrot cake and cheesecake. I bit into the cheesecake and immediately tasted peanut butter. Thankfully the dude only took a bite or two before me. He asked about it, and yes, it had peanut butter. It looked like his bottom lip swelled and darkened a little, but he did not have a severe reaction to the peanuts. We got lucky this time. We need to learn to say no peanuts!

Cori Vegan Food Truck

The dude discovered the Cori vegan food truck on a previous trip to the farmers' market. I was really excited to try it! The truck says "Pure Vegetable Food" on the front and the signs are very clear that it's vegan. We waited a bit for the truck to be ready to serve food, but it was so worth it. He ordered a curry bowl and I ordered bimbibap with little soy nuggets. Nom. We took our food into the breezeway between two buildings. There are tables for seating amongst the tables for the antique market.

Rice Milk Ice Cream at Natural House - Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

After we enjoyed our lunch, we walked down to the Natural House market. They sell rice milk ice cream by the scoop! Can you believe that?! The dude loves dairy-based ice cream and he has tried several varieties of vegan ice cream with me. He knew I would be excited to find a vegan dessert and it's not too far away to walk there. He picked berry right away. I thought that sounded great. We rarely order the same thing, but the berry flavor (bottom right) looked too good to pass up. I was originally thinking about ordering the chocolate, but that's the power of suggestion!

Farmers' Market Misc

We saw a couple booths with signs that said No Pesticides. In the natural foods market, we saw the word organic on several labels on the shelves. I don't know if it's regulated the same way it is in the US. We also passed a booth with kale!! A good vegan knows where to buy kale. ;) We picked up a flyer at the market that appears to be advertising a vegan festival. On our walk to the natural foods market, we passed a coffee shop with a sign out front advertising fall varieties. I guess some trends are universal. I read on Google that Halloween is celebrated in central Tokyo with people wearing costumes out in Shibuya. I still was happy to see Halloween advertised though, it's always such a fun holiday. :)