Vegetablian Germany 2 - Ramen at Muku in Frankfurt

MUKU is a ramen shop that was established in Frankfurt, Germany. Because of the great quality they also have a stall at Yokohama's Ramen Museum.
Entering the restaurant the waiters greeted us by calling 'Irasshaimaseeeen' and led us to a table. This and the whole atmosphere inside the shop nearly made us forget that we are actually in Germany and not in Japan.
And the vegan ramen was delicious!!! It was definitely one of the best we have had. Depending on where you are, this shop is surely worth a trip to Frankfurt :) !

It can be quite crowded, so it might be a good idea to reserve seats before you go there, especially if you go in a group.

vegan ramen

Kirin tab-beer and vegan kimchi starter

Address:
Dreieichstraße 7
60594 Frankfurt
Germany

Vegetablian Cooking 3 - Shiso Syrup

This is a super easy recipe for shiso syrup!
If you mix it with sparkling water and squeezed lemon it makes a great lemonade. And to make a cocktail you can just add vodka to the lemonade ᵔᴥᵔ !


Ingredients:

• approx. 100g shiso leaves
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar

Preparation:

1. put water and sugar in a pot and boil it until the sugar dissolves
2. add shiso leaves and turn to low heat
3. after 5 min take the pot down from the stove
4. take out the shiso leaves after 30 min and let the syrup cool down

Vegetablian Germany 1 - Vegan Ramen in Berlin

We went to a japanese ramen restaurant in Berlin, Neukölln, called 'Men Men'. It's about a 10 min walk from Hermannplatz (U7/U8). The vegan choices are soy and miso ramen, salats, gyoza and edamame. We ate miso ramen for 7.90€, veggie gyoza for 3.50€ and wakame salat for 6.50€.
The ramen and gyoza were better and more authentic than others we have tried outside Japan. The soup was really good, the noodles itself were tasty, but if you compare them to the ones you get in Japan, they were quite different. The salat tasted good, but for that price probably not our choice again next time.
Eventhough we hoped for a bigger size for that price, it was tasty and a very atmospheric location, so we will go back when we are in Berlin and craving ramen :)!
When we checked out the other ramen places in Berlin, we will be able to compare their authenticities :).

vegan miso ramen

Address:
Weserstraße 16
12047 Berlin
Germany

Vegetablian Cooking 3 - Shiso Pesto

We love shiso! So we tried out a few recepies with it. This is one of the outcomes, if you like the taste of shiso, you should definitely give this a go! The recipe is for one glass of pesto.


Ingredients

• 100g shiso leaves
• 50g pine nuts
• 50g walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 lemon (its juice)
• 1 chopped clove of garlic

 Preparation

1. pulse the pine and walnuts and chopped garlic in a food processor
2. add shiso leaves, olive oil, salt and squeezed lemon juice and pulse it
3. enjoy the pesto mixed with pasta and tomatoes or spread on bread!

Vegetablian Cooking 2 - Natto-Avocado-Tofu-Wakame Salat

This is one of our favorite natto combinations. It's also super easy and quick to prepare :) !

Ingredients (for 2):

• ~400g tofu
• 2 avocado
• 2 natto boxes
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 2 Tbs sesame oil
• 1 Tbs sesame seeds
• 1/2 lemon (it's juice)
• wakame (sea weed)

 Preparation:

1. cut tofu into cubes and put it into a bowl
2. mix it with sesame oil, squeezed lemon juice, soy sauce and leave it for 5-10 min
3. cut avocado into cubes
4. mix the natto with the sauces inside the box until it become fluffy (if you have a natto type with a fishy sauce, just mix it with a little bit of soy sauce and mirin)
5. arrange the tofu on two plates and put sea weed, avocado and natto on top

Vegetablian Cooking 1 - Okinawan Taco Rice

This is the first time we cooked taco rice and it turned out delicious! Instead of the minced meat we used soy granules and red beans! We have eaten it at a restaurant before only with beans and it was just as amazing, so if you don't have the chance to get soy granules or something similar, just use more beans :).

Ingredients (for 2): 

• 2 cups rice
• 50g soy granules
• 1 can red beans
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tomatoe
• a few leaves lettuce
• 1 avocado
• salt, pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp sake
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• tacos
• (depending on taste: cheese and sour cream)

Salsa :

• 3 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 5 tomatose
• 1 capsicum (green)
• 1 capsicum (red)
• 1 chilli
• 1 lemon (it's juice)
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar

 

Preparation:

Salsa (~2h)

1. fry chopped onion and garlic in a pan with oil until glassy
2. add all vegetables (chopped in dices) and then everything else
3. boil at medium heat for 1.5 - 2 hours, stir regulary
4. ready when the texture is thickening

the rest (~45min)

1. cook the rice
2. chop onion, garlic and tomatoe into small cubes; slice the avocado; cut the lettuce in thin stripes
3. fry onion and garlic in a pan with oil until glassy
4. add soy granules
5. when soy granules start turning brown add beans, tomatoe, sake, soysauce, ketchup, pepper, sugar
6. arrange the rice on two plates, put the rest in layers on top (soy/bean-mix, lettuce, avocado, salsa, if you want cheese and sour cream), finally decorate the tacos

Vegetablian Tokyo 35 - Ramen Museum in Yokohama

The Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama features lots of vegetarian / vegan Ramen.
You can check out their website (English) for a list: http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/#manual
When we went, the entrance fee to the museum was 310Yen. Basically the museum's interior looks like Japan in the Showa period. It is not so much a museum though, but more a place to eat.
Several famous Ramen shops from all over the country are present. The shops frequently change, but they always have vegan options.
We had veggie Ramen at "Narumi Ippudo" and at "Komurasaki". Narumi Ippudo's ramen had a very light broth. At Komurasaki we took a "Compare veggie with non-veggie set" for 1,240Yen with a bowl of both versions. If you have someone eating meat with you, this is definitely recommendable. Then there was "Muku Zweite" a shop that originated in Germany and came to Japan later. The veggie Ramen are miso based and really good.

Ramen Museum from inside

Narumi Ippudo Vegetarian Ramen

Komurasaki Ramen: Veggy and Non-Veggy

Muku Zweite Vegetarian Miso Ramen with extra egg

Address:

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

2 Chome-14-21 Shinyokohama

Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 222-0033

Japan

Vegetablian Tokyo 34 - Vegetarian Falafel in Shibuya

Close to my favortite live house in Shibuya a friend took me to a kebab place, called 'Cleopatra Kebab'. They serve delicious falafel for 500¥. Fortunately it is open until late at night (or rather early morning, I only saw it closed once because of a holiday), so it is the perfect place to drop by when you are out in Shibuya at night and search for something vegetarian to eat, which really can turn out tricky between all the meaty ramen places....

P.S. The falafel itself is vegan, too. You should check about the sauce though. But I am sure it also tastes good if you need to leave out the sauce!

P.P.S. When you are around in that area anyway, you should check out the lovely bar/live house called 'Ruby Room'. I especially recommend tuesday nights, but you will surely have a great time any other night, too! :)

- M -

Cleopatra Kebab and the sweet staff

Address:
4-7 Udagawacho
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo-to 150-0042

Vegetablian Tokyo 33 - Himawari Sushi Shinjuku

Our favorite kaiten sushi restaurant in Shinjuku is called ひまわり寿司 (himawari sushi). It takes about 5 minutes to walk there from Shinjuku west exit.
All vegetarian options are marked (also in english) and cost 150¥ per plate. They are delicious! For vegans there is Oshinko (raddish), Ume-Shiso (japanese plum and leaf), Cucumber-Shiso, Kanpyo (type of gourd), Cucumber, Roasted Corn Sashimi (this one is 200¥) and Inari (rice in tofu bags). Our favorites are Oshinko and Umo-Shiso. If you don't know the taste of the shiso leaf you should definitely try it! Not everyone loves it though, because it's very special :).

The staff is also very friendly and during lunchtime you can also get beer for only 200¥ :) !

Address:

〒160-0023 Tokyo, Shinjuku

西新宿1丁目15-3

Vegetablian Kyoto 1 - Vegan Soy Milk Ramen at Mamezen

If you are in Kyoto you should definitely check out Mamezen (豆禅), a ramen restaurant that serves vegan and vegetarian soy milk ramen! You can chose between a soy meat or mushroom ramen. It is really delicious, but you need to remember to tell the waiter that you are vegan/vegetarian and ask to leave out the fishflakes (katsuo)!
Depending on the size you chose, the ramen costs between 850 and 1050¥.

Address:

〒606-0865 京都府京都市

左京区下鴨東高木町13-4

Vegetablian Tokyo 32 - Pizza Salvatore with salat buffet

Pizza Salvatore is a vegetarian friendly italian restaurant near Yotsuya station. On weekdays during lunchtime you can get one pizza or pasta and serve yourself as much as you like from the salat buffet for 1080¥.
The pizza and pasta is good, but the salat buffet is amazing! You can get lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, pizza bread and some other fried bread balls which are amazing.

a selection of the salat buffet

pizza margarita

Address:

1 Chome-24 Yotsuya

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Vegetablian Tokyo 31 - Vegan Taco Rice in Kichijoji

We went to a restaurant in Kichijoji's Harmonica Yokocho called Quina (クイナ) and it was the first time we found vegan taco rice in Tokyo. Taco Rice is a meal from Okinawa which is normally beef and salat on a rice base topped with a hot tomato sauce. At Quina though you can chose an option with beans instead of beef (ベジビーンズ). It was really delicious and worth the 780¥!

Address:

〒180-0004

東京都武蔵野市吉祥寺本町1丁目1−8

CLOSED Vegetablian Tokyo 30 - "Salt and Soil" salat restaurant

»Update April 2019« Unfortunately this shop has apparently closed:-(...

Salt and Soil is a restaurant really close to Iidabashi station. During lunch time you pay 1000¥ and get a drink, four different salats and bread as much as your heart desires!! The salat is quite big, very fresh and delicious! And the bread definitely the best (affortable) bread we have found in Tokyo so far!
When we went there were exactly four different vegetarian options, vegans would only have had two. But the menu seems to change from time to time, when my friend went there were six veggy dishes!

Thanks to our friend who showed us this amazing place, we will definitely go back! And if you crave fresh salat or amazing bread, salt and soil is the place to go! :)

Many different bread types at the bread buffet!

three of the four salats (the forth dish was a creamy soup)

Address:

4 Chome-7-4 Iidabashi

Chiyoda, Tokyo 102-0072

Vegetablian Tokyo 29 - Genmai Shokudo Komenoko in Nishi-Ogikubo

»Updated April/2019«

Genmai Shokudo Komenoko (https://komenoko.com) is a vegan teishoku (set-meal) restaurant near the station Nishi-Ogikubo and it has become one of our all time favourite vegan spots for Japanese "home-style-cuisine". It is very atmospheric and the food is very good! We went for dinner and for lunch at different occasions. Dinner costs between 1300 and 1600 Yen, while lunch ist around 1200 Yen.
You get to chose between three different options: fried soy "chicken" (大豆たん白の唐揚げ), gyoza (もちきび入り焼き餃子) and one seasonal dish which changes every once in a while - in our case it was grilled vegetables and vegetable stew.
Each set-meal comes with rice, miso soup and a few different vegetable side dishes. Everythig tasted very amazing, I can't even chose which one I liked the most...

By the way: If you are eating here you should definitely check out the surrounding area Nishi-Ogikubo! In our opinion it's like a smaller and nicer version of Kichijoji with cute little shops, cafés and izakaya and actually many vegan places!

left: grilled veggies, right: soy "chicken"

vegan gyoza

vegetable stew

Address:

Tokyo, Suginami, Nishiogikita, 3 Chome−25-1

七宝マンション１階

Vegetablian Tokyo 28 - Sincere Garden Omotesando

»Update April 2019: The menu changed  a bit since we wrote this review (now they haver curries and noodles), but the restaurant is still delicious.«

A friend took me to a cafe/restaurant near Omotesando station called Sincere Garden (シンシアガーデン). Everything they serve is vegan and it was without doubt the most delicious vegan restaurant I have been to in Tokyo!! The menu offers a very wide range of meals and what we ate tasted really fresh and delicious! Even the bread of my veggy burger was homemade and very yummy (^_^). All dishes cost between 1000 and 1500¥. Also I recommend the hawaian coffee, it tastes strangely but deliciously spicey!
It's on the 2nd floor on top of a cosmetic store.
I can't wait to take L. there, she will love it!

veggy burger set and a hawaian coffee

Picture from

vegan blueberry muffin with soy cream

Address:

〒107-0061 東京都港区北青山３丁目５−４

青山高野ビル

Vegetablian Tokyo 27 - ソラノイロ Japanese Soup Noodle

The other day we went to a restaurant called 'ソラノイロ Japanese Soup Noodle free style' that serves vegan and vegetarian soup noodles. The closest station is Kojimachi, we walked from Yotsuya though and that took us about ten minutes.
We had the vegan soup noodles (ビガンベジソバ) for 1100¥. Our friend chose the vegetarian option (ベジソバ) for 1050¥.
We were all very very happy with our meal. It tasted really good and had a lot of different vegetables! Also it was a bit less oily than the veggy ramen we know. We will definitely go again and recommend you to do so too, if you like japanese soup noodles! (^o^)

 Address:

〒102-0093 Tokyo, Chiyoda, Hirakawacho, 1−3−10

ブルービル本館1B

Vegetablian Tokyo 26 - Vegetarian Kushikatsu in Shimokitazawa

»Updated April 2019«

Last night we went to a place called 串だおれ in Shimokitazawa to eat kushikatsu (串カツ), which are fried veggies (or meat) on sticks. They had about eight different vegetable sticks: mushrooms, pumpkin, asparagus, lotsu root, ginkgo fruits, eggplant, shiitake and onion. They were all really delicious and the sticks cost bestween 50¥ and 110¥. We also got the fried tofu, which was great, but you need to ask them not to put the fishflakes (katsuo) on top!
There are many Kushi Katsu restaurants all over Tokyo and is a good option for vegetarians if you don't care that the veggies are most probably fried in the same oil as the meat.

the ones with the green dot on the left and below it are the veggies

Address:

〒155-0031 Tokyo, Setagaya, Kitazawa, 2 Chome−14−2

ジョー3ビルB1

Vegetablian Tokyo 25 - Yasai Shokudo Sakurasaku

Walking around in Kagurazaka and Iidabashi we accidently came across Yasai Shokudo Sakurasaku. We had the vegetable curry (lunchset around 1100¥) and got salat, a soup and a drink. The curry had LOTS of different vegetables and was really good. Different to the usual japanese curry, it seemed to have a tomato base.

The curry definitely is vegetarian, but not all dishes are. So if you want to take another one you should ask.

Address:
4th floor
4-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku