Shōjin Ryōri on Kōyasan

After leaving Kyoto, my boyfriend and I hopped several trains, a cable car up the mountainside, and a bus that wound its way up a narrow serpentine road to get to Kōyasan (Mount Kōya), head of the Shingon sect of Buddhism and home to 120 temples. Many of these offer shukubō, temple lodging, which includes dinner — a vegan shōjin ryōri meal, guaranteed to be free of dashi, meat stock, or anything else I usually have to watch out for in Japanese cuisine. This would be a treat for many reasons.

Next Stop, Kyoto

Photo by Peter Morgan

My boyfriend and I are hoping to take a trip to Kyoto next week, which means a whole new city in which to go looking for vegetarian-friendly restaurants. On the one hand, Kyoto is full of temples, so I would think we could find places where people following a Buddhist diet could eat. On the other hand, it’s a traditional city in Japan — and Japan loves its fish.

Kamakura

This past weekend we took a day trip to Kamakura, the city about an hour outside of Tokyo that’s probably most famous for its 13-meter-tall bronze Buddha statue, the second largest in Japan. I had managed to eat a few bites at home before we left, but my boyfriend was running on a completely empty stomach when we arrived, so we picked a place to stop for food without taking vegetarian-friendliness into account.

Freshness Burger

Freshness Burger is sort of a chic, organic-coffee-brewing version of a fast food joint. You may be wondering why I’m writing about a burger chain on a vegetarian blog,  but surprisingly, they have two vegetarian options: the tofu burger and the mushroom burger. I opted for tofu, and while it was decent (due more to the tasty sauce than the very plain slab of tofu), it was VERY light. It wasn’t just mine, either; my boyfriend’s real hamburger was just as small and un-filling. Granted, we were starving at the time, but I would still say that this is a place better visited for a glorified snack than an actual meal.

Burgers ¥320 to ¥420, onion rings and home-cut fries starting at ¥200, and various other sides and desserts.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner at the Tokyo Sanuki Club

Well, I’ve crash-landed in Tokyo, and eating vegetarian is definitely just as much of a challenge as I expected — although if there’s one important thing I’ve learned, it’s that it’s certainly doable if you’re not set on eating Japanese food. I’ve already been out for Indian twice and Italian once, all within a 15-minute walk from where we’re staying at the Tokyo Sanuki Club in Azabu-Juuban. Unfortunately, I”m traveling with a non-vegetarian who loves seafood and all Japanese food in general, so I end up holding him back from the kinds of foods he’d like to experience. Luckily, we’ll be here through the spring, so there should be plenty of time to taste everything.

We’ve eaten a breakfast, two lunches, and a dinner at the hotel restaurant during the 4 days we’ve been here, with varying results for me. Read on for all the details.