Sunday, 12 July 2009

Japanese in Europe

So I've finally finished my exams, left my flat and moved to London. I'm jobhunting now and am seriously considering working at an Asian restaurant- yummy food and girls, hehe!

In spite of a huge Japanese population in Düsseldorf and other German cities, it is almost impossible to get vegan Japanese food at a restaurant.

The more excited was I when I found out there's a vegan shojin ryori place in Munich, called Kaede. Sadly, the lighting was gloomy, as was the entire place...

I stopped taking pictures after the starters because a) it was too dark to take pictures b) it just wasn't worth it.
We left the place, still starving, paying over 40 € in total for a tiny serving of chicken meatballs, gyoza, some tempura and a miniature bowl of ramen noodles. All of it completely tasteless.
I was one grumpy vegan after that!

(it's not Munich's fault, anyway. We also found a true gem, Tushita Teahouse which has a billion of teas, cupcakes and 3-4 lunch options every day. It's on Klenzestraße, like the ever-awesome Kopfeck)


Anyway, I met Sel in Brixton today. First we had a coffee at Honest Foods on 424 Coldharbour Lane (Americanos, Cappucinos, Latte etc. with soy milk all under £ 1.50!) and then had a late lunch/early dinner at Fujiyama. It's not even a veggie place, but all of the vegetarian options are vegan when you ask them to leave out the egg.
Look at the difference:

a humungous bowl of miso ramen!

gingery fried soba!

We paid less than 20 quid, including a big pot of green tea.
Have I already told you how much I love London?

3 comments:

Penny said...

Good luck with the jobhunting! DH and I planned on jaunting down to London for a couple of days, but are probably going to leave it till next year when we might have fewer debts! It's a very interesting place, but expensive...

russ said...

yey! Welcome to england!! Working in a restaurant sounds like a reasonable plan, as there are so many to choose from. I've heard saki is a nice one to try, but I've not made it to any nice japanese ones so far.

Birdie said...

I've never been to London, but in my emagination its like vegan-heavon! :-) Have fun!!