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!!