Home to the most people in the world and also ranked as one of the most expensive places to live, Tokyo has an abundance to offer visitors looking for an authentic travel experience. But what about vegan cuisine? After a week in this chaotically vibrant capital city, we had a clear picture of the green scene, no sushi required.
1. Cori – Vegan
Address: 〒154-0011 4-2-20 kamiuma, setagaya, tokyo
Hours: Thu 6PM – 11PM; Fri – Mon: 12 – 4PM, 6PM – 11PM
Phone: 03(6450)7556
Jazzy, cozy and — slightly a secret — this hard-to-locate vegan bistro is worth the extra scavenger hunt necessary to find it. Their soy chicken Namban Burger is juicy and saucy and comes topped with a creamy tartar sauce to offset the sweet and sour chicken nuggets and their potato wedges were crispy and perfectly fried, though we wish there were more than four small pieces! They also serve organic beer and have a few homemade desserts.
2. T’s Tan Tan – Vegan
Address/Hours/Phone: multiple locations
Hearty, savory vegan ramen at palatable set meal prices abound at T’s Tan Tan, an all-vegan restaurant with convenient locations inside Tokyo train stations (yes, this is a thing in Tokyo: fully stocked malls and restaurants inside train stations!). We stopped by the Ueno location, which had two choices of ramen sets and two rice sets paired with an excellent quality coffee or tea (their coffee was, by our estimation, the best tasting one during our whole trip!).
3. Organic Table by La Paz – Vegan
Address: 3-38-11. Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0001, Japan
Hours: 11AM – 4PM
Phone: +81 3-6438-9624
Cool, trendy vibes abound at Organic Table by La Paz, a glass-walled eatery with a green and modern flair. Once a furniture and lifestyle store focused on organic elements, La Paz dedicates as much detail to their interiors as they do their menu. They specialize in flavorful burgers made with top-notch ingredients and in-house sauces, with their teriyaki tempeh burger being one of our favorites when we visited. Pair with a fresh fruit smoothie or iced matcha latte for the perfect meal.
4. Ain Soph. Ripple – Vegan
Address: 歌舞伎町2-46-8日章ビル 1F新宿区, 東京都 〒160-0021Japan
Hours: 11AM – 9:30PM
Phone: 03-6380-3205
The low-key, affordable sister of the Ain Soph. family, Ripple makes it easy to eat vegan on the go with their super-tasty variety of vegan burgers. The Ripple cheeseburger had a hearty wheat-soy patty covered with creamy cheese and while we wanted to try their crispy soy-chicken burger, they were sold out— actually, they were sold out of quite a few items including their french toast, almond milk and their tiramisu, which was disappointing. They also use single-use containers for their drinks and smaller entrees, which was puzzling; opt to bring your own drink cup and food container if possible to avoid waste. We did love their waffle a la mode, which was fluffy and soft, the perfect dessert any time of the day!
5. Ain Soph. Ginza – Vegan
Address: 4-12-1 Ginaza, Chuo 104-0061, Tokyo Prefecture
Hours: Sun – Sat 11:30AM – 4 PM; 6PM – 9PM
Phone: +81 3-6450-3952
The most pricey restaurant out of our list is also one of the most stylish, for good reason. A carefully curated menu and dessert list that includes macrobiotic bento boxes, homemade tiramisu and cake-like fluffy pancakes a la mode. A takeaway patisserie is on the first floor, while seated dining is located on the second. While we loved the flavors, the high price point and small portion size was forbidding.
6. Loving Hut – Vegan
Address: 101-0051 Chiyoda 1-54 Kanda Jimbocho, 2F Okada Bldg.
Hours: Sat 11AM – 3PM; 5PM – 8:30PM
Phone: n/a
Sometimes the best food is the simplest — Loving Hut proves that with their unadorned, Asian mom’s style cooking. For just ￥2000 (¥800 for kids), you can indulge in all sorts of dishes which include pan-fried veggie dumplings, textured sauteed soy skin, veggie kebabs, curry, herbal date soup, fried turnip cake and walnut banana bread. Everything tastes both healthy and tasty, and dishes are replenished frequently so the buffet aspect is inconsequential. The drawback? They are open only on Saturdays.
7. Good Town Doughnuts – Vegan-friendly
Address: 150-0001Jingumae6-12-6 Jingumae, J-Cube Bldg-B, 1F
Hours: Everyday 10AM – 8PM
Phone: 03-5485-8827
For a truly hipster-level of service; ie: inattentive and clueless, look no further than Good Time Doughnuts. Only due to the fact that their doughnuts were delicious do we include them on this list — unfortunately, it’s worth putting up with rude service. The doughnuts are fluffy and chewy without denseness, and the glazes have just enough coating to be the right amount of sweet. We had the plain glazed and the matcha, both of which were outstanding. They tend to sell out quickly, so go early for the best selection. The bakery next door (same owners) has vegan cinnamon rolls.
8. Botanist Cafe – Vegan-friendly
Address: 150-0001 Shibuya6-29-2 Jingumae, Shinagawa Bldg. 2F
Hours: Everyday 11AM – 8PM
Phone: 03-5766-3778
Where can you go to do your beauty shopping AND a bit to eat after? Botanist Cafe is the perfect place for all of the above. Earthy, clean and green beauty products mingle with whole food American cuisine, and it works surprisingly well. Their Botanist Burger has a savory, smokey flavor and comes with crisp fries, and their Botanical Carbonara has a subtle cream sauce that isn’t overbearingly so. The portion size is on the smaller side so we actually ended up ordering their Veggie Bolognese as well to tide us over.
9. Wired Bonbon – Vegan (desserts only)
Address: 160-0023Shinjuku1-1-5 Nishishinjuku, Lumine Shinjuku Lumine 1-6F
Hours: Everyday Mon-Sun 11AM-9PM
Phone: 03-6304-5755
Another tough-to-locate treasure is the ever-popular Wired Bonbon, located in Lumine 1, which is quite literally adjacent to the carbon copy Lumine 2 building. We spent a good 25-30 mins hunting it down before finally finding it (at least it worked up a good appetite!). Once you finally have your butt in one of their trendy seats, Wired Bonbon is a definite treat for sweet tooths. Choose from over 20 different desserts, of which we chose the Bonbon Vegan Sweets Plate, Roasted Green Tea Soy Tiramisu, Coffee Jelly Soft Cream and Berry Banana Parfait. If you’re coming here after dinner, you definitely need to save room for dessert — we were absolutely stuffed!
10. 8ablish – Vegan
Address: 107-0062Minato5-10-17 Minamiaoyama, 2f
Hours: Mon-Thu 11:30AM – 2:30PM; 6PM – 10PM, Fri 11:30AM – 2:30PM; 6PM – 10:30PM, Sat 11:30AM – 10:30PM, Sun 11:30AM – 10PM
Phone: 03-6805-0597
High on clean, minimal and eco-friendly style and a bit low on flavor, 8ablish is a good pick for those worried about their waistline. A rotating menu is featured everyday, with all choices written in neat markerboard. We had both their special (yellow mung bean Italian stew) and their fixed menu item (tempeh, grilled vegetables and tofu skewers with pitabread and rice). Everything was pretty flavorless and we left still a bit hungry. On Mondays, they give you a shot-sized dessert in honor of Meatless Monday.
