Day 3: Went to a Vegan cafe in Minami Otsuka

 15/ 2/'23

Finally, I went to a vegan cafe; Slow Ecolab in Minami Otsuka, Tokyo. Only 10 mins walk from my parents house. Now I know where it is, easy to get there! 😆 

Also, I want to mention, there's a posh noodle bar ( my brother told me it was  noodle bar) next to it, and had a queue outside today too. It is very popular, and I bet it is small inside. No wonder my brother knew about the shop.... specialised ramen noodle bar and my brother loves ramen...Orientals love noodles🤣 !  Link below, I haven't had ramens there and not going to eat it, ( I am a veggie)  but I would assume it's tasty. Apparently it was awarded as Michelin star restaurant in 2017. Michelin noodle bar....I wonder how many stars they got....🧐

Anyway, back to the vegan cafe. No queue outside ( phew!), when I stepped in, it was very calm and peaceful. Felt very familier. A guy in the open kitchen took my order, I ordered oat latte and a cake ( today's cake was pumpkin muffin and costed me 1000yen for both). Muffins were still in the oven, and smelt yummy ( nothing beats smell of home baked cake in oven), told me ready in 15 mins. The smell of muffin was exploding inside the cafe..😍 Made my mouth watery 🤣. When it was served which was worth waiting for, it was lovely. Not too sweet, just right, crispy on the top, moist inside😊 tasted very natural and looked very rustic too. Initially I wanted decaf latte, but they don't do decaf. So I went for regular ( sugar and caffeine woke me up a bit from jetlag😆 ) . Oat mylk was one I sometimes buy from Co-op in U.K,  Minor Figures organic barista Oat mylk. They also sell them at the shop. 

I sat on sofa with a round table, it was comfy! Felt like I was at home

I bought another muffin to take away for my brother, he ate very quickly, I think he enjoyed his first ever vegan pumpkin muffin. I just remembered, next time, I would take a container with me,  just in case (for this reason...take away...). He put it in a paper brown bag for me today. 🙏

Quiet environment is perfect for reading, writing, or remote work. I am looking forward to another visit to the cafe soon. Definitely on Sunday! ( I booked a yoga workshop to attend, it includes meditation & lunch at the cafe, really looking forward to it.) 

This cafe is also English language friendly. ( staffs speak fluent English, I would imagine they get lots of visitors from overseas or those who live here in Tokyo) 

I also hear there's a vegan/ vegetarian friendly cafe in Sugamo high street ( Syoten-gai), I am meeting up with my cousin on Saturday, might go there...or might find somewhere else.... I am not planning to go outside of neighbourhood, so, all my activities are around Otsuka.... 

Photo below is sweets my friend Mari gave us yesterday, haven't tried yet, looking forward to them too😊. They are local products from Kawagoe, Saitama. Pink and white ones are made from very sticky rice, yellow packaged one is I would assume sponge based baked cheese cake ( contains wheat). Often Japanese sweets are individually packaged, and very neat. ( personally I don't like too many packaging, creates so much rubbish..especially plastics) 

 

Link below! 

Nakiryu noodle bar: http://www12.plala.or.jp/nakiryu/

Slow ECOLAB: https://slowecolab.owst.jp/   TEL 03-5810-1807

Lunch at Asian cafe in Ikebukuro, Tokyo

 14/2/'23

My friends took me to Taiwan tea Vegetarian/ vegan cafe - restaurant today. I wanted to go somewhere else, but it was closed on Tuesday. It turned out this cafe restaurant was a winner! I am so grateful for my friends who took me there.  😊

We met about 11 am at Nishi Ikebukuro station, just outside Starbucks. It was a bit windy and chilly morning( later it got chillier ), and a bit grey. But I am used to weather like that, so I didn't mind. 😁

When two of my friends arrived, who we first met in London back in 90's, we begun chatting straight away as if time we didn't see each other didn't exist.  It was so lovely to see them again, felt very comfortable being three of us together. 

My friend T had google map ready so we started following google map direction. Eventually we arrived at the cafe. Looked very homely from outside. As soon as stepped in, very welcoming atmosphere, simple decor and I had a comfy chair too! Tables were quite chunky, looked very rustic. It was very clean, it seemed to be very popular with mums from university near by. 

A staff who was there was very helpful, she explained which ones were vegans and vegetarians. They all looked delicious, it was hard to decide, but I really fancied a noodle dish, so i went for noodle option. 

It was a good choice for me, it was light, noodles tasted like mung bean noodles which is my favorite. Soup had a bit salty flavour, deep yet light, not heavy in the stomach. I really enjoyed it. 

A small bowl of soup came before my noodles. I could taste oil yet not greasy. lovely. I wondered if I could recreate the soup at home...🤔

Anyway, my friend Mari had vegetable curry, T had vegan soya burger with chips. They both looked yummy. 

After our meal, we had Taiwanese tea, mine was iced. I was very happy with meal and tea! 

Then we walked to find a cafe to have another cuppa, found a cafe in the square, there was dance event by people were affected by DV, neglect etc, got together to dance to bring awareness to DV. 

I had iced Jasmin earl grey tea in the cafe in the square.

After our chat and tea/coffee, Mari needed to go home and she left. Myself and T went to the Tobu department store to look for smoking area ( T smokes). It was very busy, Japanese people were buying cakes and chocolate ( even queueing again), I would assume because it was Valentine's day? 🤔

When she came back from smoking, T asked if I wanted to go for another coffee. There were plenty restaurants and cafes there, no problems finding one. I had Iced Mango tea. To my surprise, this mango tea had mango puree on the bottom with tiny bits, so I mixed it well with my straw. It was ok. 

Fake display food look so real these days....

We sat there a few hours, chatting away. 

We both took Yamanote line ( same direction) and parted. It was sad to say good bye to her, but I know we'll meet again. 

TSUMUGU CAFE ～台湾茶とベジフードのお店

https://tsumugu-cafe.storeinfo.jp/

"本格台湾茶や、台湾茶葉を使用した様々なフルーツティーも人気。 肉・魚介類・五葷を一切使用しない台湾素食スタイルのベジタリアンカフェ。ソイハンバーガーやアジアンヌードルなど、食べ応えのある料理が種類豊富に揃えている。 （Vegetarian foods/ Vegan/ 肉・魚介類・五葷一切不使用/ 素食） All the dishes do not be used any meat or fish. We can remove dairy ingredients and change to vegan dishes."

住所. 東京都豊島区西池袋3-36-20 1階.

Address: Ground floor, 3-36-20 Nishi Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo