Nagoya Restaurants

I forgot to post this, but we went to our first vegan festival in Japan last Sunday.

We had no idea how busy it would be.

We got there a little after noon.

There were a few items sold out, and a few popular vendors had a short line, but the crowd was very manageable, which made our experience enjoyeable.

The food selection was wide and interesting.

The curried granola was absolutely delicious.

I’m thinking about borrowing the idea and making something similar myself.

Some vendors were local, and others seemed from out-of-prefecture.

We were so hungry when we got there, and our first food, Kuruma-bu Katsu Burger with Nanban sauce (sweet-sour sauce and mayo), tasted so good!

I liked the ingredient list, too.

We were supposed to continue with a few more savory dishes for our lunch, but we got detoured (lol) and got this beautiful Strawberry Croissant Roll, stuffed with vanilla cream and fresh strawberries.

Very tasty!

Apparently it was prepared ahead of the time, and it tasted good, but I bet it would taste amazing if it were fresh.

After our sweets craving was satisfied, we resumed our savory-food-search and found something interesting.

“Ganmo Burger”.

It’s a rice patty sandwiched between two Ganmodoki (Japanese fried tofu patties).

Very unique.

There were several flavor options, and we decided to get the curry one (below, left).

There was a lot going on!

The curry sauce was flavorful.

The rice patty was made with rice and some other grains.

There were a lot of vegetable and seaweed pieces in the ganmodoki.

We also found a few slices of lotus root, which gave a nice texture.

And the addition of seedy mustard was fantastic.

I’m glad we tried it because 1) it was delicious and 2) I have no idea when I can find a ganmodoki burger next time.

After the two burgers we were full.

But it was still fun to continue to check out all the vendors, including some corporate vendors that were displaying their vegan products; they were handing out samples and it was nice to try them.

I had no idea Kewpie (one of the most popular mayo brands in Japan) now makes plant-based mayo.

The festival took place at Tsuruma Park, which I hadn’t visited for a long time and forgot how nice it was.

We got home with things we bought and some samples.

(We tried the Vege Meat Sauce the other night with spaghetti, and it was delicious. This is a Karuna product just like the Mapo tofu sauce.)

I get craving for Chinese food once in a while.

For some reason, it seems harder to find Chinese restaurants that offer vegan dishes.

So when I found this place online, I got excited.

It’s not a vegan restaurant, but I’ve read somewhere they offer vegan dishes.

This was actually our second time to visit this restaurant.

First time we went, it was closed because the chef happened to be teaching at some beauty school (or something like that).

This time I called ahead to make sure they were open.

Once we got there, there was a little surprise.

They only offer two dishes for lunch.

One is Yurinchi (deep-fried chicken with scallion sweet and sour sauce), and the other is the same but a vegan version.

The dish comes with rice, soup, soy milk coconut pudding, and tea.

1200 yen.

We were hoping to have a few more options, but we were already there, so we decided to try the vegan Yurinchi.

The restaurant is cozy.

It made me feel like I time-traveled to the Showa-era (lol).

On the wall, I found some information that shows they offer course meals; reservation is required.

The “veggie course” ￥6500 includes soup, deep-fried dish, two other appetizer dishes, Chinese risotto, dessert, and Chinese tea.

It says this veggie course does not include “fish or meat”, but it does not say anything about eggs or dairy.

On their regular menu I found on their website shows that there are several dishes they can make vegan.

Apparently they charge extra 200 yen for veganized version, but the original price is not listed. 🙁

Anyway, this was the lunch we had.

The “chicken” was made of soy meat, and it was well-prepared.

The soy meat had good texture, and it was tasty.

I liked the soy milk coconut pudding, too.

Next time I want to visit for dinner so that I can try some other dishes.

Here is a link to their website (Japanese).