Vegan
International
Japanese
Beer/Wine
Delivery
Take-out
Fusion
Daytime cafe serving vegan cuisine and organic wine. Menu offers a variety of choices such as teriyaki skewers, curry, gyoza, spanish omelette, and lunch of the day. At this 4th floor location since 2016 - prior to that it had operated as Slowfood Cafe Hippopotamus at Shinjuku 3-6-3. Open Wed-Sun 12:00pm-5:00pm, Wed-Sat 6:00pm-9:00pm. Closed Sun-Tue.
78 Reviews
First Review by liasailor
JulieKT
Points +13
Only opens at 5pm on Fridays - Edit
On Fridays it only opens at 5pm. On weekend days it opens at 1pm but not during weekdays....
Read moreGuest
japansakuratour
Points +36
Nice cozy restaurant with good food - Edit
Very relaxed atmosphere and good food in this small restaurant. I had the chili no carne and it was delicious. The owner speak some English and was very friendly.
Read morePros: Nice food, Cozy atmosphere
Guest
RichardMCoulthurst
Points +62
Laid back, tasty food. - Edit
Got in at the second time of asking. Only 6 people in, but Naoko (chef, owner etc) turned 2 people away.
Read moreNot quick service, but you're going for the feel of the place and the ethic.
Nice food, no pretensions, and presented nicely.
Pros: All vegan. Relaxed.
Cons: Small portions, but nice. Sometimes not open when
Guest
FlyNg
Points +43
Delicious - Edit
The food serving is a little slow as mentioned, however the food are very delicious! Especially the spaghetti and fried dumplings, yummy! The owner is very friendly and helpful. They do have vegan wine, not bad.
Read morePros: Delicious vegan food, Near to Shinjuku Gyeon Park, Has variety of choices
Cons: Everyone must order 1 drink
Guest
loz24
Points +141
Great Food - Edit
The owner is also the waitress and chef! Very good food and a good selection of wine.
Read moreGuest
KohAikLeng
Points +54
Loved the food and ambience - Edit
A nice and cosy restaurant in a pub setting that is perfect for relaxing and chilling out. Delicious and interesting food selection too!
Read moreGuest
edwardbc
Points +1021
delicious food - Edit
We tried around five or six different things and everything was delicious and well made. Great service as well.
Read moreI came back later again to try more of the dishes in the menu. It's all very well made and very tasty. It never dissapoints. One of Shinjuku's best restaurants.
Updated from previous review on 2018-02-02
Guest
RhaissaSoares
Points +86
Good View, Good Food - Edit
Interesting place with good food. Good view from the street. The ladies don’t speak English but they will make an effort to help you. Don’t struggle to get there. Go inside the bakery and climb the stairs after the restroom. It’s on the second floor.
Read moreGuest
tonydavey
Points +32
Amazing food - Warm welcome - Edit
Well worth the climb up 3 flights of stairs. Really tasty, interesting food. Washed down with perfectly cold beer. One of the highlights of our whole Japan trip.
Read moreGuest
EmmaIn86
Points +75
Nice food, great location - Edit
The restaurant was quite easy to find, make sure to look up when you arrive as it's on the 4th floor! We were promptly seated by the lone worker who acted as both the waitress and chef. The food was nice, we had Spanish omelette, seitan, dumplings and pasta. We had a great view of the street below, it's a perfect spot for people watching!
Read morePros: all vegan menu, great view
Cons: expensive
Guest
VgDan
Points +32
not open during business hours - Edit
I came on Saturday at 1:30 PM and they were closed with that!. The sign in front of the place said they opened at 1 PM on Saturdays.
Read moreGuest
schonstal
Points +274
Good Food. Nice atmosphere. - Edit
Really nice place to have a calm afternoon lunch. Gyoza were very good.
Read moreGuest
chefshannon
Points +274
disappointed for lunch - Edit
Arrived one hour after they opened (about 2pm) and the lone worker seemed very unhappy to have customers. So unlike our experience everywhere else in Japan where staff go out of their way to be welcoming. She reluctantly turned the air conditioner on for us but remained so grumpy that we felt awkward and ended up leaving 20 minutes later as she showed no signs of taking our drink and food orders.
Read morePros: nice view of busy intersection in Shinjuku
Cons: very small menu, high prices, 4th floor location, no elevator on hot humid day
Guest
tabeegan
Points +48
Not for lunch - Edit
I was very excited to come because of the good reviews, but when I came here for lunch there was only oyaki (Japanese bums filled with vegetables), and other side dishes like salad, tart and muffin. The owner told me that they stopped serving proper lunch and serve only oyaki which is made by Oyaki company (also in Shinjuku).
Read moreThe oyaki tasted fine, but the small oyaki for 650yen and handful portion of salad for 500yen is a bit overpriced.
The atmosphere of the cafe is cozy and nice though.
Updated from previous review on 2017-07-21
Pros: Location, All vegan menu
Cons: Pricey, Small portion
Guest
Ika
Points +251
Excellent food in a welcoming cozy atmosphere - Edit
This is a very cozy, bright, stylish restaurant on the highest floor of the building. You can watch the busy street from a relaxing distance. My Japanese skills are very limited and the staff/owner (?) was not fluent in English, but nevertheless we could easily communicate and she was very very friendly. The food was excellent, very well flavored and decorated nicely. We had Hummus with olives, curry rice, potatoes with mushrooms and garlic as well as two different kind of cakes. Everything was really tasty. If you are not used to Japanese portion size, please be aware that the dishes are usually much smaller than in Europe or USA. You have to order 2-3 courses, if you are really hungry. The taste and quality are really worth the price
Read morePros: 100% vegan relaxing atmosphere delicious food
Guest
tungbui
Points +32
good - Edit
I had the dumplings and a chili sin carne. It was delicious. And the place had a good ambience with a great view over shinjuku.
Read morePros: tasty, great view, nice decoration
Cons: pricey, slow
Guest
Guacamole
Points +507
Wonderful food and atmosphere - Edit
A cosy little restaurant near Shinjuku Gyoen garden. We ordered the tofu omelette, the coriander dumplings and rice with terriyaki seitan which were all just wonderful! Despite the name, the food came out very quickly! The staff were also very friendly and keen to have a chat.
Read morePros: Vegan, Location, Staff
Cons: None
Guest
lavender25
Points +304
Perfect after a day at the garden - Edit
Go wander around Shinjuku Gyoen in the morning and stop here for lunch right after! Great location and really good food. I added on a tart and coffee to my lunch and it was so good! Left very happy.
Read moreGuest
aum
Points +39
Escape from the bustle - Edit
This place was easy to find and truly lived up to its name. If you are in a hurry, you may be better-off elsewhere. However, if you want to escape the bustle of Shinjuku and unwind a little in a pleasant atmosphere with a friendly host, this is the place for you. When we came, one nice lady was running the restaurant by herself but she was very diligent in taking the time to do everything well. The portions are about the same as a fashionable cake shop in Shinjuku or Shibuya. The taste and quality of the food is excellent.
Read moreGuest
rulie
Points +139
Recommended - tasty food - Edit
Tasty food with many options. We had the gyoza and Spanish omelette - both tasty and would recommend. Very cute place and friendly owner.
Read moreGuest
Galis
Points +172
All-vegan and great food, nice service - Edit
The gyozas are really good! You definitely should try them!
Read moreWe also try the spanish omelete (it's actually a vegan-japanese-spanish omelete) and it's interesting.
The bluberry tart was delicious!
Pros: Became vegan! Good spanish music
Cons: none!
Guest
TaraMurray
Points +271
Awesome food! - Edit
After seeing this place pop up on our Happy Cow app, we decided to try it while visiting Shinjuku.
Read moreThe cafe is up a few flights of stairs but is well worth the hike. We arrived early for dinner (515pm) so we had the cafe almost to our own. We ordered coffees and for meals we had gyoza and a pumpkin frittata, everything was well priced and a good size. The food was very flavoursome!
We purchased a take away vegan muffin on our way out also.
The owner is very lovely but does not speak much English although it's nice not to have to ask if something is vegan since the cafe is 100% vegan (Happy face!) Overall an excellent experience and recommend it highly!
Guest
TakeshiYamazaki
Points +37
This shop has moved. - Edit
Slow Food Cafe hippopotamus is closed on March 27, 2016, we have moved to a new good location of the view to expand the scale. Of new shop name is Slow Food and Wine KiboKo. The owner does not change, we are further grade up taste.
Read moreNew store address is Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 2-5-8 Shimura building 4F.
Guest
liasailor
Points +52
Good food - Edit
The place it's pretty tiny and has only a bar for sitting, but feels cozy and it's nicely decorated. It's in the 3rd floor (take the elevator). The food was delicious and had a wide variety of veggies in it, all of them perfectly cooked. the thing is the portions were to small and I ended up having to buy something else in my way home at the conbini because I was still hungry. The prices, which at first seem to be quite fair, end up being a bit too much for what you get. The lady seemed very nice, but in our case the food took a very long time to arrive, even though we were only 7-8 people in there. She did apologize for it and maybe it was a one time thing. We went for dinner and I saw they had a menu for morning-lunch time, which looked nice. It's also a wine bar so probably a lot of people go there to enjoy that with a bit of food. Plus they had a wide range of coffee and tea.
Read moreI only recommend it if you're around east Shinjuku and don't want to go to Ain:soph Journey (which is more on the pricey side, but it's a better experience overall), or if you're just looking for a place to have a coffee/tea/wine along with some light meal.
3,5/5
Pros: Good flavors and healthy food, Cozy
Cons: Small portions , Slow service
Guest
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