5 Best Vegan Desserts in Tokyo

I tend to find travelling the world as a vegan pretty easy. Whilst there are sometimes downsides; not always being able to grab a bite to eat at that cafe right next to the sight you're visiting for example, the upsides, like exploring off of the beaten path neighbourhoods, and meeting like minded compassionate people, far outweigh them. 

In Japan there was one thing that made vegan travel that little bit harder for me - there were cute desserts everywhere! If you know me you know that I love desserts and I find cute (or kawaii) things hard to resist. Desserts in Japan aren't just a picture on a menu, oh no! There are giant signs advertising sundaes outside restaurants, plastic replicas of honey toast platters in glass cases outside cafes, and giant neon lights signposting the way to the nearest creperie. Honestly, it can be a little much hence why I decided to put together this list of the top five vegan desserts in Tokyo. From Harajuku crepes to konbini dorayaki, if I wasn't so committed to researching, locating, and eating the best vegan desserts around, the city could have been a challenging place for this sugar fiend.

Super delicate, fruity, layered, cream filled cakes are the treats most likely to make my pulse race. On more than one occasion I've talked about moving to Tokyo to start a vegan dessert cafe specialising in these specific treats but now I may not have to. The Strawberry Shortcake from Chaya Macrobiotics is one of the most delightful desserts I've ever had the pleasure of eating and I am a tiny but upset that I only had the chance to eat it once.

This dessert is a showstopper, a delight for all of the senses. It's light and creamy with the perfect cake to cream ratio and the freshest berries. I am determined to recreate this when I have some spare time and an oven because I'm convinced that it's the perfect dessert. Chaya is located ontop of the iSetan building by Shinjuku station and I would highly recommend making it one of your first stops in Tokyo.

If you can avert your eyes from the striking strawberry shortcake in the foreground of my photo to the more inconspicuous Lemon and Apricot Pound Cake lurking in the back then you're in for a treat because that's dessert number two on my list!

Vegan at Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland is going to be an interesting experience for those well versed in Disney parks as well as Disney newbies like Nick and I. The queueing is unlike any other theme park we've ever attended but if you go in with a plan you're sure to have a fun day. 

The first decision you need to make is which park to visit. There are two Tokyo parks, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Both are conveniently located in the same place right by Maihama station but they're worlds apart when it comes to rides. After watching some helpful videos on the Disney website we ascertained that Tokyo Disney Sea is the park with the scariest rides and therefor wasn't for us! I prefer something more mellow, think Professor Burps Bubbleworks not the Flying Carpet. I can get down with little rollercoasters but I prefer not to go upside down and I don't like that feeling where you plummet towards the ground leaving your stomach a few meters above you and Nick can't deal with things that spin... it was at this point that we wondered whether we should really be going to a theme park at all but we wanted to give it a shot as we were doubtful that we'd ever end up at any of the other Disney parks.

Nick has less patience when it comes to queueing than I do (weird given that he is the more patient one in almost any other situation!) so he did a tonne of research and read a lot of blog posts about how to get the most out of a one day visit to Tokyo Disneyland and I'm going to share what we learnt with you.

Harajuku! Harajuku!

I wasn't kidding when I recently described Harajuku as my spiritual home. I adore everything about spending hours wandering the crowded streets whether I'm shopping with money burning a hole in my pocket or with no cash at all. It's always a joy. Having grown up inspired by the fashions coming out of this area of Tokyo getting to take part in the Harajuku Fashion Walk last weekend felt like a conclusion of a dream! I felt nervous going along to the meeting point, I thought that perhaps my style isn't quite out-there enough for the walk these days. A very white Air B&B bathroom means that my hair is still blonde not mauve and most of my clothes are in storage! Still, I headed to the meeting point and bumped into an Instagram friend and some of her friends who were also visiting Tokyo and we quickly bonded over group photo awkwardness and our shared love of everything Japanese.

I didn't take a single picture during the walk as I was being swept along in the fun of it all but Nick snapped this one in front of MoshiMoshi Box, you can see Harajuku Fashion Walk organiser Junnyan in the foreground! As soon as the walk and subsequent photoshoot were over we hightailed it back to Takeshita Street to get our Purikura on. I love these ridiculous booths and it turns out that six people really is the upper limit if you want all of your faces in the frame! 

More Tokyo Fun - Koenji & Beyond

Being away from home is the hardest when your friends are going through the toughest of times. You can't be there for them in the way that you'd like and you end up with a feeling of helplessness mixed with sadness mixed with I don't know what else. Feeling like this also got me thinking that I don't even know where I consider home to be anymore, for years it's been Brighton but honestly my friends are so scattered (thanks to the joy of connecting with wonderful people online!) that I don't consider any one place home these days. I honestly have no idea where I'm going to end up when I stop travelling... if I stop travelling. I love Brighton but I don't know if it's going to be quite the right fit for me after this journey which is gonna be hella confusing given that I've been Vegan in Brighton for years. How do you move away from somewhere that's such a huge part of who you are?!

I'm still madly in love with Tokyo despite the fact that we're going through another cold snap here. It hit 8º C yesterday but the wind bites at your exposed skin making it feel even colder. Despite the chill I ventured out to meet up with some of the vegans I hung out with last week as well as some new peeps at T's Restaurant which is run by the same people who own and run everybody's favourite spot T's TanTan. It was so fun and the food was amazing. I ordered a cheesy baked rice dish with a side of soy chicken with mayonnaise dressing and salad as well as a chocolate parfait for dessert.

The rice casserole was perfectly creamy and delicious but the parfait was killer.

Vegan in Tokyo!

Being back in Tokyo is throwing up so many feelings, I love it here so much that if you told me I could move here tomorrow I'd be beyond overjoyed but being here for so long with no specific purpose has me thinking hard about the different experiences you have somewhere when you're on holiday vs travelling vs settling somewhere. Last time Nick and I were here we weren't really sticking to a strict budget but this time is different, our SE Asia appropriate travel budget doesn't stretch anywhere near as far in Japan as it did in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos or Taiwan so we're having to be a little more careful than usual. When it's been cold out we've been chillaxing under a pile of blankets at the Air B&B rather than catching a movie and we're eating meals at home at least once or twice a day. Our biggest travel expense is almost always food - I can skip an expensive touristy thing like heading to the top of the highest building in favour of exploring an area on foot for a day; popping into shops, admiring the street art and just soaking in the atmosphere, but I'm never going to skip a meal! So far my favourite breakfast / lunch / dinner spot is T's Tan Tan which I mentioned last time. I love it - it's super reasonably priced and filling as well as being delicious and I love that ramen is a meal suitable for any time of day.

Ain Soph Ripple is another contender for fave' restaurant - it's a casual burger place with a small but totally excellent menu. I'm obsessed with both the cheese fries and the crispy chicken burger.

The cheese fries are made with Sheese and on my last visit I was excited to learn they they make the chicken patties themselves from shredded soy meat, wheat gluten and other yummies. They also have the best buns. You know when you get a burger and it looks like it should be great but the bun is totally inflexible making it impossible to fit in your mouth?

I'm in Tokyo!

Oh hey there! After two weeks spent travelling around Taiwan and another week exploring Hong Kong I'm back in Tokyo. I last visited Japan in 2014 and fell in love. I've been dying to come back ever since and here I am. I literally couldn't be happier. I almost shed a tear as I was riding the Yamanote line yesterday because I had one of those I kinda can't believe that this is my life moments. Writing that felt weird. I'm scared that it sounded smug. I hope not. I guess part of the reason that I find it hard to believe that I get to be here again is because my life used to be so different. I used to live in a moulding basement flat with no electricity or hot water and a drug addict flatmate who did some pretty awful things to me. I also spend a lot of time analysing my privilege and I know that getting to travel this much is for sure a privilege so I just feel lucky a lot of the time.

One of the first places I went was Takeshita Street in Harajuku, a mecca for youth fashion and everything cute. A lot has changed since I was there last, fashions have obviously changed, I spotted a lot more cat unicorn hoodies and less heart shaped sunglasses on this first wander and I saw plenty of the heart window backpacks that have been popping up on the Tokyo fashion social media accounts I follow for a while now. There are also a whole lot more crepe places now that the whole Harajuku crepe trend is an internationally known phenomenon. There's also an unofficial mascot now and I loooove her!

Another thing that's new since I was last in Japan is that Starbucks now have a vegan doughnut! I'd actually never been to Starbucks until I came to Tokyo for the first time, I obviously hate their business practices but what can I say, I'm weak and the soy milk situation here is very dairy-ful. Without speaking the language a dairy free latte is not easy to come by.

Saying Goodbye to Japan.

As you may have gathered from my previous posts Nick and I had an amazing time traveling around Japan. Nikko, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka and Ōkunoshima (bunny island!) were all different and wonderful in their own ways. We were really glad we decided to get a rail pass so that we could see more of the country than just Tokyo but there are so many amazing things to do (and eat!) in Tokyo that we ended up cramming a lot into our final three days! 

We arrived back in the city after a five hour train journey from Hiroshima at around two or three in the afternoon and decided to head straight to Hanada Rosso for one final burger. I was still dreaming of the burger I ordered on our first visit so I ordered that again, it comes topped with homemade soy mayo and ketchup and it's super tasty.

I also chose the side of homemade potato wedges again rather than rice because that seems to mesh better with a burger in a bun in my mind. Of course I followed it with the cheesecake which was obviously delicious.

I'm still searching for a recipe for a perfect Japanese style cheesecake so shoot one my way if you have one! 

We went out late that night to the super swanky New York Bar atop the Park Hyatt because that's the bar from Lost in Translation! Drinks were expensive but the atmosphere was great and the view was incredible. After a nice lie in the next morning we headed to another of our favourite spots Pure Cafe for something resembling brunch. I ordered my favourite Mr Mustard Sandwich which comes stuffed full of roasted veggies, grilled potatoes, and a tofu cheese spread. I also ordered yet another slice of cheesecake. 

Nick got another PB & Banana sandwich and a jam filled oat bar that looked good but it certainly wasn't something I'd have picked over cheesecake, Nick's commitment to jam is strong!

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and taking pictures of everything! Even the drain covers are beautiful in Japan.

Whilst we were drinking matcha lattes, yes, again, we really did spend our final days eating and drinking all of our favourite things, we kept seeing young women coming in with adorable Care Bears / Little Twin Stars bags. A little googling told us that there was a Little Twin Stars X Care Bears exhibit right around the corner! How serendipitous! Of course we headed straight there as soon as we finished our lattes. It was unbelievably adorable, look, puffy cloud bears! 

I wanted to pick this up and take it home!

After Nick was all outa patience for cuteness we decided it must be dinner time and we wandered over to Roppongi to try somewhere new. Our first attempt to dine at Chien Fu didn't go so well as we found them closed when they should've been open (according to Happy Cow). It must be so difficult to keep up with the changing opening and closing times of thousands of restaurants around the world so I always make sure to drop Happy Cow an email with an update if something like this happens. It really helps other travellers and without our updates information on the site could quickly become outdated. Another thing about Chien Fu is that if you weren't familiar with Japan yet this place could prove hard to find, it is almost exactly where google maps suggests but, as we'd already learnt, in Japan you have to look up! We found a lift tucked away around a corner next to a convenience store and Chien Fu was located on the fourth floor. This vegetarian Taiwanese spot has an English menu and they helpfully mark dishes containing egg with a yellow dot and dishes containing cow's milk with a blue one.

We started with vegetable spring rolls and what we thought were going to be mock meat steamed buns. The buns turned out to be fried though and they were really freaking good. They came with an amazing sweet dipping sauce that made them one of my favourite dishes of the trip.

If there's a black bean dish on a menu you can guarantee that Nick and I will order it and after some deliberating we went with a black bean tofu dish and a sweet and sour dish with cashews, mushrooms and mock chicken.

We had steamed rice on the side and had no problem polishing off the generous (for Japan) portions.

The next day we had shopping on our minds, I say we but I think we all know that Kiddyland was my favourite Japanese store and not Nick's. Nick actually hates shopping except at the cash and carry, apparently giant food is fun to him, or Whole Foods because they usually have vegan cake! Kiddyland is located in Shibuya and has whole floors devoted to both Rilakkuma and Hello Kitty. Best. Ever.

Nick thought that the best thing about Kiddyland was it's proximity to Pure Cafe so we stopped off for more sandwiches and green tea and raspberry muffins. This was yet another delicious Pure Cafe muffin (I tried a delicious orange and carob chip muffin at the beginning of the trip) it had a subtle green tea flavour and the raspberry was in the form of jam which is always a win in both of our books.

Because I'm always thinking ahead we also grabbed banana bread slices for the plane the next day.

Finally we ended our trip with a meal at Ain Soph's Journey location, we'd already visited once right at the beginning of the trip and we were excited to go back. We ordered the fried soy meat plate again because we loved it the first time around. This time was no different and the tender juicy soy meat encased in crispy batter was spot on.

We ordered the veggie paella next which turned out to be a wonderful choice. I love paella and this came with loads of roasted vegetables including one of my fave's, aubergine, and plenty of black olives.

We were feeling pretty stuffed but we didn't want to miss out on one final dessert so we ordered the dessert combo plate to share. It comes with waffles, whipped cream, rum 'n raisin ice cream, a brownie and vanilla pudding.

The waffles were excellent, crisp on the outside, soft inside and covered in syrup. The pudding didn't look particularly appetising and as I hate pudding and vanilla flavour desserts I skipped that part but Nick loved it. The brownie was dense and fudgey and the rice whipped cream was as wonderful as I remembered it being from the pancake plate we'd eaten on our previous visit.

After dinner we took one last walk around the city at night marvelling at the busyness and abundance of neon lights. Tokyo is such an amazing place, I really hope that I get to visit again one day.

Now from the title of this blog post you'd probably think I was done writing about Japan but you'd be wrong! I have another post up my sleeve and it concerns something I spent a lot of time researching, convenience foods. It's not always possible to eat out at a veg friendly spot for every meal especially in a city where almost nothing vegan friendly opens until 11am so I'm putting together a picture guide of the vegan products we discovered at 7/11, Lawson and Family Mart which should help future vegan travellers find quick and easy snacks and meals on the go.

Vegan in Japan: Tokyo Part Three

Day five in Tokyo and Nick and I headed out to explore Shimokitazawa, an area of Tokyo renowned for youth fashion and nightlife, but it my mind it will always be synonymous with French bakery Mirayne. This adorable little bakery is just a short walk from Yoyogiuehara station and aside from cows milk for drinks they are entirely vegan. This place was on the expensive side but I always like to support small business when I travel and because we hadn't found many portable treats yet we picked up quite a few things. The beautiful bakery case was bursting with goodies and we bought matcha cookies, a chocolate brownie, two bite sized muffins - one banana walnut, one jam filled and some crunchy pig shaped vanilla cookies.

We enjoyed all of our treats outside on the patio as there's no indoor seating.

The muffins were the perfect little breakfast treat and a we quickly followed them with a couple of the adorable pig shaped vanilla cookies Nick had picked out. The crunchy matcha coated cookies were enjoyable and had the benefit of having a long shelf life which was great as it was a while before we found sweet take-out treats again. The brownie was pretty gooey, a little fudgey and came with some vanilla icing which Nick enjoyed - I don't really believe icing belongs on a brownie!

Everything was so good that we actually went back in and picked out some strawberry cookies and a couple more muffins before heading on our way. I think the lady running the place thought we were a little crazy but she gave us some free carrot cake samples so I'm okay with that!

After missing out on DevaDeva Cafe on Ghibli Museum day I was determined to fit it in somewhere and so we headed over to explore Kichijoji, walk off our sweet breakfast, and enjoy some lunch. 

We loved the atmosphere at DevaDeva, everyone working there was super friendly and there was a really laid back vibe so we settled in for a long lunch. I don't usually order juice because I find the usual apple, orange, grapefruit options a little lacking but I can't resist a fun option like passionfruit.

I feel pretty strongly about burgers, if there's one on the menu I'll probably order it especially if it comes with some kind of fried potato. I went for the katsu burger and it was an excellent choice, great mock meaty burger, really flavourful sauce and a soft seeded bun. This lunch was spot on.

After a little deliberation over whether or not to order dessert we spotted this chocolate cake heading to another table and we were sold. We also decided there was no way we were sharing because we're both quite protective of our chocolate, a decision we both agreed was a good one after tasting this delicious cake.

I'm not often a fan of a raw base but this was spot on (read: not overwhelmingly coconutty) and the mousse-like cheesecake was perfect. The ganache on top and swirled on the plate made this a truly world class dessert.

After an afternoon nap (what? Exploring's tiring!) we headed out into the night to explore the bars of Golden Gai. Unsure if we'd be brave enough to pop into any of them we spotted a punk pub with a mohawked barman blasting The Ramones and decided to go for it. We had a super fun evening chatting with some Japanese locals and an American who was in town on business. I drank enough for both of us that night - Nick doesn't drink and these bars have only 3 - 7 seats each so I thought I'd better make sure we weren't wasting space at the bar! We slept in the next day and headed out for breakfast at around 12. This is where we got lost for the first time, unsurprisingly I wasn't on top form that day - if you know me well you'll know I need carbs to transform into a normal human on a good day let alone after a night of drinking so I somehow took us on a very roundabout route to the Biokira Cafe when I was really trying to get us to the (much closer) Bio Cafe. This is how we ended up having cake for breakfast instead of steamed buns! 

Biokura Cafe is actually a super swanky, super healthy cafe and part of a cooking school full of very well dressed Japanese people not hungover scruffy punks - we felt pretty outa place but once Nick saw the cake he made the executive decision to stick around.

The cheesecake and lemon tart were two of the best things we ate on the trip so I'm glad we stayed. The texture of the cheesecake was spot on and the lemon tart has just the right lemon / base / topping ratio. If we'd have been in the area again we'd have definitely headed here for more.

Cake and one of my emergency Clif bars was never going to keep me going for long so after a little explore of the market outside the UN University building we headed to one of our favourite lunch spots Hanada Rosso for a proper meal. We decided to skip our usual burger order and try something from the set lunch menu, I picked the Soy Meat Fritto with brown rice.

Nick chose the Kuruma-Hu Cutlet with bread.

Everything came with miso soup and salad and because we both feel pretty strongly about fried food this was an amazing lunch. Nick's cutlet was described on the menu as a "puffy doughnut shaped bread-like food made of dried wheat gluten", it was deep fried and mock-pork like and we both really enjoyed the rich hatcho-miso sauce it was served with. My deep fried soy meat was also delicious, the mayonnaise went with it well and I was glad I chose the brown rice side as I think this much batter plus bread could have even been a little much even for me.

After a long day of exploring the city we decided to head to Chidorigafuchi where the blossoms decorate the moats around Kitanomaru park. You can rent rowing boats here during the day but we wanted to check out the nighttime Hanami experience. My iPhone pictures really don't do it justice so you'll have to go there yourself one day.

Afterwards we were a pretty hungry and as most other veg friendly places seem to close early we headed to the heart of Shibuya to try Bio Cafe - the place I was trying to direct us to at breakfast time! I was wooed as soon as they set down an enormous basket of bread with olive oil for dipping, I love carbs and this was turning out to be a good day for them!

The carrot orange juice I ordered was like a slushy and I loved it! I clearly need to add crushed ice to more drinks at home. We finally got our hands on the steamed bun we'd been waiting all day for. These sweet barbecue mock meat filled dumplings are up there with my favourite ever foods and this one lived up to expectations.

Our mains were a little less of a win, Nick had a creamy soy based casserole...

...and I picked a mock meaty stew with brown rice.

Neither of these dishes were bad just a little bland and whilst I'd go back for snacks like the steamed bun I'd probably skip dinner. We did like that vegan options were clearly labelled on the menu and the bread really was excellent so if you've been let me know what you tried, maybe we just missed the great dishes.

One thing I wish we could have found a vegan version of, alongside matcha filled Oreo's and Kit Kat's, were these wonderfully cute ice creams. The real versions look just like the plastic versions down to the sweet pandas and perfect looking fruit. I told Nick that we should learn to veganise all of them, move to Japan, open an ice cream shop and wait for the vegans to flock to us! He is less certain that this is an excellent life plan.

The next morning it was time to head onwards on our journey and we headed to Shinjuku station to swap our JR voucher for a JR pass.

Despite arriving only a tiny bit later than planned at 9:05 rather than 9 when they opened the wait was long. I suspect that this had something to do with it being Monday but who knows. We waited around 40 minutes for the three groups in front of us to be processed but we felt bad for the 15 or so people who arrived shortly behind us as they must have had a much longer wait. I do not feel sorry for the woman who tried to shoulder barge her way in front of me in line, I hope she had to wait all day.

With our passes in hand we boarded the Shinkansen and headed for Nikko which is a story for another day.

Vegan in Japan: More Tokyo Adventures

Our Hanami experience on day one (read about it here!) left us eagerly awaiting more blossom related fun so we headed out to Ueno Park early the next morning. 

After a long walk made longer by our constant stopping to take pictures we arrived at our destination, Shinobazu pond. The guide book informed us that this was the place to hire a swan boat, and hire a swan boat we did! If you aren't into swans (Why? You monster!) you can also hire little pastel pedalos and more simple rowing boats. 

Obviously I had my heart set on a big pink swan!

We had so much fun pedalling ourselves around the lake, it was beautiful and occasionally we'd spot a big seagull perched upon the head of someone else's swan boat!

Tokyo's Loving Hut branch was the closest spot for lunch and we were excited to head somewhere we knew was entirely vegan. There were a few lunch specials to choose from and of course I went for the one with the most dumplings.

One dumpling was stuffed with sweet barbecued pulled pork and reminded me of the Cha Su Bao I tried at Lucky Creation in San Francisco and the other was veg filled. The mock meaty dumpling was my fave'. Obviously. The little ones at the back were filled with sticky rice and peas and were also quite delicious. My plate was filled with a sample of room temperature dishes including a tofu satay skewer, vermicelli noodle salad, crustless tofu quiche, summer rolls, fried tofu and a sweet and sour mock meat dish which was my favourite part of the meal.

I was also super surprised by how much I enjoyed the tea served with my lunch set. I'm a long time tea hater but this finally brought me around. Ridiculously one of my biggest worries about our trip to Japan was being forced by both social conventions and my own politeness to drink tea, of which I can hardly even begin to explain my hatred. But, as it turns out, I only hate hot tea! The milky tea so beloved by everyone else tastes worse to me than drinking dishwater but cool refreshing flowery flavoured iced tea? Apparently I love it!

Nick ordered a mock fish and rice set that in it's true seafood form is a traditional Japanese dish, I wish I could remember the name. This is why I usually take a notebook with me to restaurants!

Overall our Loving Hut experience was positive, not the best food we had on our trip but definitely a great option either if you're at this side of the city or if your jet lagged self isn't feeling up to trying to ask questions about honey, egg or dairy products.

On the first leg of our trip we were based at the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku and late on our second day we realised that the Lima health food store was right behind the hotel! We headed there to grab snacks for the next days breakfast and thanks to the vegan card I had printed out (and laminated!) and their super helpful staff we were able to ascertain what was and wasn't vegan. We grabbed a pack of ganmodoki, tofu and veg balls...

...and a couple of doughnuts, one chocolate and one matcha.

These were great portable treats to start the day with although, word of warning, if you're used to American or even European baked goods you'll probably find these (and most other) Japanese cakes a little dryer that you're used to. And a whole lot less sweet. I really enjoyed this break from lavish amounts of buttercream frosting and I gained an appreciation for more delicately flavoured baked goods. The dryness is still an issue!

That evening we headed out to Ain Soph's Journey location for an early dinner and after getting off to an odd start (a woman shouted that they were closed and tried to shoo us away when we arrived!) we were eventually seated by someone who actually did work there and the service was a little on the slow side but perfectly decent for the rest of the evening.

We couldn't commit to one main dish so we just ordered a few things to share including the nachos, deep fried soya meat, the Sheese plate and the tofu omelette.

The nachos were definitely an odd choice in a Japanese restaurant but they were homemade, very lightly salted and delicious. I could have done with more salsa but I'm pretty sure it's imported and therefor expensive so I understood the small portion. The deep fried soy meat is up there with some of our favourite dishes from the whole trip, super juicy mock meat coated in perfectly crisp batter. It didn't even need a dipping sauce. The Sheese plate was interesting, I should have guessed by the name that it would be actual Sheese from right here in the British Isles but my jet lagged brain's not that quick. I love Sheese but when I ordered I was hoping for a Japanese take on vegan cheese nevertheless it was delicious and if you don't come from the land of Sheese it's a super cool option to have. The bread it was served with was fantastic (although for me the cheese to bread ratio was way off) and I adored the pesto. The omelette was not to my taste, I kinda hate ketchup and the combination of super soft tofu and tiny carrot pieces missed the mark for me.

We went to town with dessert and both ordered pancakes which come with rum and raisin ice cream, fruit, jam and whipped cream.

I usually hate whipped cream but this light fluffy rice whip style cream was delicious and I could have eaten a bowl full. The pancakes were fluffy and pillowy and the only part of the meal I was unsure of was the ice cream as rum & raisin is not a favourite flavour of mine, texture wise it was spot on though, creamy and ice crystal free.

I'd definitely recommend Ain Soph, we went back on our last night and ordered a mix of some of the same and some new things and really enjoyed that meal too.

The next morning we got up bright and early, munched on our breakfast snacks and headed to The Ghibli Museum. As a long-time Studio Ghibli fan this place was high on my list of reasons for wanting to visit Tokyo and it lived up to all of my expectations. If you'd like to visit you need to book tickets online around three months in advance, we picked ours up via JTB the company we also ordered our Japan rail passes through.

Once inside the museum cameras are banned and people respect the rule. It would be less of a magical experience if you'd seen a tonne of pictures all over the internet already and this way you aren't quite sure what to expect.

After our museum visit we had lunch at Hanada Rosso. If we'd planned it better this would have been a great time to eat at DevaDeva Cafe but unfortunately they're closed on Thursdays which is the day we'd picked for our visit. If you're a better forward planner than I am DevaDeva Cafe is just a short walk (around 1.5km) from the museum. Hanada Rosso turned out to be a wonderful choice for lunch though and we ended up eating there three or four times during our trip.

We both ordered the Teriyaki Burger which comes with two side salads, miso soup and potato wedges.

The burger was ridiculously good and we were very pleased that there were burger bags on the table to hold your bun and stop the mess escaping as this piled-high burger got messy fast! For dessert we both opted for the Black Rice Chocolate Cake.

Nick enjoyed his with ice cream for a few hundred extra yen and I had the standard rice whip and chocolate sauce. These cakes were not-too-sweet, slightly moist and really delicious. It certainly wasn't the last time we ate them during our Tokyo adventure.

After a long afternoon exploring Takeshita Street, my favourite place to shop ever, we had an early dinner at Brown Rice Cafe. This is a super healthy macrobiotic spot located in Harajuku. They have set menus to choose from alongside their à la carte options and I just ordered what the person next to me was eating because it looked delicious!

I was very pleased with my meal which consisted of steamed veggies and tofu with two types of dipping sauce - sakura and miso, brown rice, veg filled soup, pickles and seaweed salad. This was a surprisingly filling meal and I'd recommend this place to anyone who likes to eat at the healthier end of the spectrum.

On our way home we swung by Natural House health food store where the vegan card came in handy again. We left with plenty of snacks for our day trip the next day including miso brown rice crackers, mandarin jelly made with agar, French chocolate filled breakfast bars, deep fried tofu, more ganmodoki, fruit, a couple of drinks and some imported gummy sweets.

As well as tasty take-out snacks Natural House also has a juice bar... 

...and more interestingly right next to the juice bar is an ice cream counter. 

Somehow Nick and I managed to miss the opening hours for both of these sections of the store about five times during our trip. I know! I feel like I've failed you! If anyone goes please tell me about it.

The next day's day trip was one of the things I was the most squeaky and excited about and if you've met me you can probably imagine how high pitched I got during the day because we were visiting, wait for it.... Puroland!! Aka, Hello Kitty World!!! It surpassed every one of my expectations and was the silliest most squee-inducing day trip I've ever been on. We were the oldest people there without children by miles...in fact I think we were the only people there without children but whatever, we didn't care!

The whole day was brilliant! I think Nick enjoyed it too but maybe more because of how overexcited I was than because of a genuine love for Kitty and friends. The Sanrio Character Boat Ride was our first stop, aimed at people aged 3-7 it was just the kind of gentle ride I like (no going upside down for me thank you), we also got to tour Kitty's home, watch a play about Kitty and her family going on a disastrous picnic, and meet Kitty herself but the Arigatou Hug You parade was definitely the highlight. Just look at the cute spangly brilliance!

I can't really think of a more adorable way to end this post so I'll leave you with that twinkly picture of Kitty and Mimi in their matching bear dresses. I'll be back soon with more Tokyo adventuring and the start of our super fun rail journey.