Tokyo Part 3 – Fancy Eats in Shinjuku

After my pasta-heavy dining at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, I was definitely ready for something different. On Thursday night we decided to grab a taxi to the Isetan department store in Shinjuku to try out Chaya, a macrobiotic restaurant with plenty of vegan friendly options.

The staff were absolute legends, going through the entire menu and telling me what was vegan-friendly which was basically any item that didn’t have fish or seafood in it, bonus!

I opted for a three course meal, which came with an amuse bouche, entree, main, dessert as well as bread and a drink. While choosing this option restricted you to less choice than the a la carte menu, it made the most sense financially as this was the most expensive place we had eaten so far.

The amuse bouche was an adorably presented tofu salad with radish and some other bits and pieces. Super tasty and a delicious insight into what was to come.

Next I chose the Tempeh BBQ Steak Salad with Tropical Sauce. The tempeh was some of the nicest I’ve ever had, served with greens, radish, alfalfa sprouts and other tasty vegetables. The sauce was a kind of creamy satay with a touch of citrus. It was served with a warm wholemeal bread with peanut cream.

For the main course, I opted to try the Soy Meat Hamburg with Spicy Tomato Sauce. The patty itself was incredibly moist yet held together perfectly within a crispy outer shell. The tomato sauce had a bit of a kick and was bursting with flavour which complimented the patty perfectly. It was served with a couple of vegetables in a pesto style sauce and topped off with a little wonton-ish piece of pastry.

The meal came to a close with the Tiramisu. It was made with a chocolate cake and layered with tofu cream and topped with cocoa. the base was crunchy and almost had a gingery taste to it.

While the portions were small, I left feeling completely stuffed. For a bitchin’ meal, in a nice setting with attentive waitstaff and super kawaii food, it was definitely worth the $50 I paid for the set menu. We figured out that it’s only about an 8 minute walk from our hotel too, so we’re going to head back there on our final night for one last taste of heaven before we head back to the real world.

Chaya

3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022