Vegetarian Ramen in Tokyo
IMPORTANT UPDATE 18/12/16: The branch I went to in the video isn’t there any more so please don’t go looking for it! However there is another branch in Tokyo in Shimokitazawa (details below) and there are LOTS MORE recommendations for vegetarian places to eat in Tokyo on YouTube! If you have any questions you’re welcome to get in touch.
Delicious vegetarian ramen in Tokyo at Chabuton in Akihabara. This ramen restaurant (now shut down) serves regular meat ramen as well as vegetarian ramen and gyoza, so it was perfect for us! It was also really cheap, and excellent quality.
Being vegetarian in Tokyo is difficult, but not impossible. It’s not standard for restaurants to offer a vegetarian option like it is in the UK. I tend to avoid soup-based dishes, because they usually contain dashi (fish stock) or pork broth. I really wanted to try some authentic Japanese ramen, so I’m so glad I found this place.
How to find Chabuton
The branch I went to was in Yodobashi Camera, a huge shop right by Akihabara Station. The top floors are full of restaurants and places to eat. If you’re in the area, I’d recommend popping in to have a look round anyway – the shop is mind-bogglingly huge and sells pretty much everything.
UPDATE 1
Sadly this branch has now shut down- but there is another one in Tokyo, in Shimokitazawa, and in other areas of Japan including Kyoto and Osaka – full listing on the Chabuton website. Shimokitazawa is a cool area with lots of vintage and indie shops, and gig venues (and Broken Doll’s shop, which you can see in my video). Their website’s in Japanese, but you can right-click and translate to english. Places in Japan aren’t always easy to find, so remember to print out a page from Google maps, or get Ulmon City Maps 2 Go, which is a free maps app that works offline (highly recommended!).
UPDATE 2 – November 2017
The vegetarian ramen in the video isn’t on the menu any more, but they’ve introduced a new vegetarian ramen! It’s easy to find on the menu on their website – it has a green title and says “Vegetable only ramen” in english.
More Veggie Places to Eat in Japan
If you’re vegetarian, I’ve got more recommendations coming up for you in my Japan videos, including options at the Ramen Museum in Yokohama! Subscribe to Cakes with Faces on YouTube and click the notifications bell to catch them when they’re out.
Make your Own Ramen at Home
Make your own vegetarian (or non-vegetarian) ramen at home with my comic book style recipe. It’s available here as a free download.
If you enjoy it, check out my How to Make Sushi comic book. It’s in the same style – sequential art is perfect for showing how to roll sushi, and contains all the instructions you need to make a sushi feast! You can have sushi whenever you want, and save so much money compared to eating out a sushi restaurant. And fresh sushi tastes so much better than pre-made boxes. It’s available from the online shop here, together with a rolling mat and chopsticks (which also makes a great sushi gift!) or as an ebook in the Amazon Kindle store.
Subscribe on YouTube
Subscribe to Cakes with Faces on YouTube for more videos about Japan! I’m currently planning my trip for 2018, when I’ll be travelling to new places in Japan as well as Tokyo.