To-Fu Cafe Fujino

Located in Roppongi, an area that is definitely not my favourite in Tokyo, the To-Fu Cafe Fujino is nevertheless well worth a visit. As the name reveals all dishes feature Kyoto-style Tofu or Tonyu = soymilk in some form and always at its best! I love the milky, light, pure and slightly nutty taste of soymilk and at this place you can enjoy it in most delightful ways. Be it sweet like in one of their fantastic soymilk parfaits, ice creams or even soymilk donuts, or savory as fried Tofu cubes in their vegetarian set meal - it is always such a pleasure!
As I wrote before Kyoto is the place for all things Tofu and so it does not surprise that all those wonderful dishes are prepared in the style of the former capital of Japan. The casual but stylish cafe is run by the reknowned Tofumaker Fujino who really knows how to do his job! Believe me, the parfaits are just like those in my dreams! I love their standard Tonyu Shirotama Parfait, with the clear flavour of the soymilk soft-ice and the sticky little riceballs, the sweet azuki bean jam, some cake and all drizzled with brown sugar syrup... (just have a look at the photo above^^).
But please also check out their seasonal specials! I had a Matcha Parfait there more than three years ago and I am still talking about it.. you name it: it was superb!
And last autumn I had the pleasure to make the acquaintance with their Maron (Chestnut) Parfait and it was love at the first sight.



However, as I said they do not only have magnificant desserts, the cafe also offers some savory dishes. What makes them especially great is the fact that they state all the ingrediences in detail not only in Japanese but also in English on their menu. This makes it so much easier... And the vegetarian one was absolutly awsome, with fresh, high quality vegetables, a delicious soup with cooked Tofu cubes, a fresh salad with a nice selection of fried mushrooms, pickles, rice and of course fried Tofu that was just perfect! It had a beautiful golden colour like honey, with a texture too good to be true and taste that topped all my expectations by far!



So if you happen to be around Roppongi Hills, drop by and indulge yourself with all the best that can be made of soybeans.. from Kyoto with love!

To-Fu Café Fujino
Roppongi Hills Beauty Plaza, Tokyo [click for Map!] the address changed: the new To-Fu Cafe is on the 6th floor of Marunouchi building near Tokyo Station!
open daily from 10am to 11pm.

Happy Holidays :)

Have great and yummie holidays and a happy new year!

This cake was from the café and shop Sunday Brunch in Shimokitazawa. Not a specific vegetarian place - but their cakes and tartes are a dream! Although they are not quite cheap, rather something for special occasions.. just right for christmas :)
They also have branches in Shinjuku and Kichijôji, but I've only checked out the Shimokitazawa café which is very nice.

Sunday Brunch
2-29-2 Kitazawa Setagaya-ku [click for map]
Tokyo

Kobe: Sweets Harbor

Usually I prefer nice little shops with a comfortable atmosphere to big food malls and usually I am not at all a fan of theme parks and things alike, BUT how can I resist a wonderland of sweets, pastries, icecreams, puddings, cremes, cakes, shakes... You are right: I can't! That's why nothing and no one was able to hold me back when I was standing in front of the Sweets Harbor in Kobe. Dream and nightmare in one place! Dream for all the lovers of sugar in its best forms, of delicate beauties, nearly too wonderful to be edible but yet they are! Perfect little works of art, created with all the good things in this world: sugar, cream, fruits, chocolate, matcha (we are in Japan, don't forget that), love and passion - you name it!
Nightmare for everyone on a diet or short of cash, cause the prices are just about as high as the amount of calories of the goodies we are talking about. But at least the entry is free of charge unlike in other food theme parks in Japan that I avoided so far, because I think it is kind of stupid to pay to enter shops or restaurants where you have to pay for the food again!
Most sweets sold in the Sweets Harbor are European style (with a Japanese touch of course), and there are also typical Chinese sweets with Tapioca, soymilk, sweet beans and the like, but when it comes to traditional Wagashi you might search there in vain. Kobe, being a harbor city trading with the rest of the world for quite a while, is one of the more "international" places in Japan with a lively and touristy Chinatown and some European influences to be seen in architecture and cuisine. Although internationaly more or less only known for the devastating earthquake back in 1995, (and the most expensive beef in the world, but we won't talk about that here..), within Japan it is also famous for good sweets. Especially pudding (Purin - that's the Japanese pronounciation) from Kobe is said to be the best far and wide and is a staple in the range of souvenirs available there.
After at least three laps all through Sweets Harbor and long and intensive staring on all those little wonders that might not only delight me but also dentists and cardiologists near and far, I decided to take the beautiful dessert you can admire on the photo above. It was a buttery, flaky pastry filled with lots of rich custard and topped with fresh strawberries.. I think I don't have to describe the taste. I am sure you can imagine the creamy, sweet goodness with the fruity touch of the juicy berries.

Sweets Harbor

Harborland [click for map
open everyday: 11:00-20:00
weekends and holidays: 11:00-21:00

Kyoto: Kuromame Café

If I had to name one really essential and omnipresent ingredient of the Japanese cuisine, I would say: the soybean! There are about one trillion variations how to prepare and eat it: just cooked, fermented as in natto, miso or tofu, as soymilk, mashed as filling of sweets, ground and roasted as kinako flour, etc.
No wonder there are restaurants specialized in products made of these little superbeans, even in one kind of soybeans, like the Kuromame Café in Kyoto which serves only black soybean dishes. Since these are all vegetarian (except for a little extra plate with dried fish, but this was easy to avoid), I had to check out the kuromame (black bean) set meal of course. And it was amazing! There was the obligatory miso soup, here made of black bean miso, with some vegetables inside. Then there were wonderful, crisp, tempura-like rolls of a thin sheet of seaweed, stuffed with mashed black beans, dipped in a light batter and fried - extraordinary delicious and a taste I never experienced before. They were to be eaten sprinkled with strong sea salt, that came with them.

Soft and fresh were the two kinds of homemade tofu, one made of black, the other one of white beans. This creamy tofu tasted gorgeous with the sweet preserved black beans. Accompanied and accomplished was all this with rice that was cooked together with - surprise, surprise: black beans. During lunchtime this set costed 1050 yen, definitly good value for the money.
On every table were big grindstones (you can see a part of one the first photo, on the right side), that are to be used for making fresh kinako just a few seconds before eating. Interesting, fun, and yummie!
For sure a place very worth a visit and conveniently located in the Ninenzaka & Sannenzaka area not far from the Kiyomizudera.

Kuromame Café 黒豆茶庵北尾 清水店
京都府京都市東山区清水寺門前産寧坂北入ル [please click for map and infos in Japanese]
Tel: 075-551-0101
open: 11:00～17:30

Brown Rice Café

The Brown Rice Café is a haven for vegetarians, vegans, organic food lovers and everyone who seeks for a pleasant place to relax after exhausting shopping excesses at Omotesandô, Harajuku or Aoyama. Just around the corner of Omotesandô station offers seats outside in their quiet and shadowly patio (and sitting outside without a street with lots of traffic right in front of you is quite rare here)or inside the nice and light-coloured café. Written on the wall you can find the motto of the kitchen: "Nothing added. Nothing taken away." What you get here is healthy, natural food as its best - and all vegan. I had a great set with a miso-vegetable-soup, tempeh that was supposed to be wrapped in the lettuce on which it was bedded and eaten with the homemade miso (extremly delicious!)and (of course) brown rice. All that for 1000 yen, nothing to complain about! Very nice was also the freshly made and unsweetend soymilk that came with a little cookie which reminds me that there also was an associated bakery in the front building.
This definitly is a place to fill up with veggie food and new energy for the craziness of the area surrounding this friendly restaurant.
By the way: they also have an English menu and my food was served by a waitress who spoke perfect English. So this place is very convenient for all non-Japanese-speakers out there, too.

Brown Rice Café
5-1-17 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku
Close to Omotesandô St, Exit A1
Open daily until 9pm