Vegetarian Dining in Tokyo: Best Places to Eat
SOLO GUIDES
When you think of Japanese food, the first thing that often comes to mind is sushi, which consists mainly of fish, or ramen which traditionally is served with pork.
While that does account for a large portion of Japanese cuisine, there are so many other delicious Japanese food, many of which have vegetarian variations. These includes noodle dishes like yakisoba or ramen, Japanese curry, and tempura donburi.
While visiting Japan, my goal was to strike a balance between finding vegetarian options while also still having the opportunity to try Japanese dishes and flavors.
Listed below are some awesome places in Tokyo that serve vegetarian dishes based on Japanese cuisine. They offer an amazing level of flavor, despite not containing any meat.
T Tan Tan’s
Their specialty is vegan tantanmen, offering a few different choices for ramen bowls. They also have tasty side dishes, such as the vegetable gyoza.
Their signature dish is the Sesame Tantanmen, which has a creamy sesame-based broth, served with fresh ramen noodles, and an assortment of delightful veggies. The broth was incredibly flavorful and rich.
This shop is entirely vegan, so there’s no fish, dairy or meat products in their menu. The service was efficient, many of the tables have communal seating which is convenient for those dining solo.
One of the best vegetarian meals I had in Tokyo was at T’s Tantan. There are 2 locations in the city; one inside Ueno Station, the other inside Tokyo Station. As they are located inside two busy metro stations, the restaurant is convenient to get to.
Tendon Tenya
Tendon Tenya is a chain of restaurants with various locations around Tokyo. It’s an amazing spot for solo travelers to enjoy a quick and affordable meal. They serve delicious tempura donburi, which are bowls of rice served with an assortment of crispy tempura.
Their menu includes seafood tempura, as well as vegetable tempura. You can choose to have udon noodles instead or rice with your tempura.
The vegetarian tempura includes pumpkin, eggplant, lotus, green bean and mushroom. You can add additional vegetables such as sweet potato. There’s also combos where you can opt for a miso soup and/or side dishes.
If you’re dining by yourself and looking for a tasty meal at a great price, this is the spot to go to. You conveniently order through a tablet with an option for an English menu.
CoCo Ichibanya
This popular chain of casual restaurants specializes in Japanese curry, which is the ultimate comfort food. CoCo Ichibanya is considered to be the go-to place for an affordable and delicious bowl of Japanese curry.
Ordering through a tablet, you can customize your curry dish by selecting the toppings, portion of rice, and spice level.
Surprisingly, there are many options suitable for vegetarians, such as the spinach curry, mushroom curry, and potato + vegetable curry. There’s also the option to choose a vegetarian curry base for your meal, rather than the standard curry base.
You can find CoCo Ichibanya locations all across Tokyo. An excellent choice for solo dining, CoCo Ichibanya is a great place to stop by for a hearty meal after a long day of exploring.
Jikasei MENSHO
This ramen restaurant is located in the Shibuya district, specifically in the Shibuya Parco mall. It’s an excellent stop if you’re exploring the Shibuya district and would like a bowl of vegan ramen.
The restaurant serves regular ramen with meat, however they offer a few different vegan options that have a tasty broth. The seating arrangement consists of stools at shared tables, which is perfectly suitable if you’re eating by yourself.
For the vegan ramen, there is miso vegan ramen, spicy miso vegan ramen and vegan tantanmen (with or without the soup). I opted for the miso ramen, which is a miso base with an assortment of vegetables. The flavor was excellent, and it’s worth trying if you’re craving a bowl of hot vegan ramen.
If you’re interested in tasting more ramen dishes, check out the Vegan Ramen Guided Tasting Tour.
Suzukien Asakusa
Lastly, we can’t forget about dessert! This is a top place for matcha ice cream, located only a short walk from the famous Senso-ji Temple in the Asakusa district.
This shop specializes in matcha ice cream, with 7 levels of intensity. They range from level 1 which is a more sweet and mild matcha flavor, to level 7 which is less sweet with a bold matcha taste.
I opted for level 5, which I found to be a bit stronger than I was expecting! In hindsight, I should have known by now that the matcha in Japan is much stronger than what I am used to in North America. Nonetheless, the quality was fantastic and it was definitely worth trying.
Read More About Tokyo:
SOLO GUIDES
Popular Reads
