Vegan
Japanese
Macrobiotic
Organic
Western
Fusion
Gluten-free
Vegan Hawaiian cafe est. April 2018 near Hiroo station offering sushi, pasta, sandwiches, rice bowls and desserts. Also has a small buffet at lunch time and vegan drinks such as wine, beer, juice, tea or coffee. Options include Vegan "POKI" Rice Bowl, Spicy Vegan ”POKI" Rice Bowl, Swell Deli Bowl, Vegan Loco Moco Rice Bowl and Vegan Ball Dog. Previously named Vegan Cafe. Lunch is until 16:00. Call ahead to confirm. Reported closed, Jan 2020.
29 Reviews
First Review by pandorasbread
charlotteinjapan
Points +461
Delicious and first time to ever try any type of Benedict! - Edit
Nice atmosphere, quiet, and delicious food. I had the tofu Benedict and it was really good and super filling!
Read morePros: Good food, Vegan, Quiet
Guest
VincentValdmann
Points +110
Excellent experience - Edit
We were there with our 2 kids and had a delicious experience. Food was great and place was very quiet.
Read moreHighly recommend.
Guest
digitalmimi
Points +1904
Delicious food, friendly management - Edit
I had the tofu Benedict, and it was absolutely delicious. The staff was very friendly and helpful and has a clear understanding of ethical veganism. Love the atmosphere of the place. However, the one frustrating this is that more than once I have come to the store and they are randomly closed. This is quite inconvenient if you are going out of your way to go eat there.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2019-07-27
Pros: Friendly and knowledgable staff, Nice atmosphere, Good portion size
Cons: Not open very late, Unreliable hours
Guest
Faz
Points +979
Beautiful food and great flavours - Edit
Definitely check this place out. The restaurant is cute and well decorated with plenty of room.
Read moreThe Tofu Benedict was well presented and the sauce was great, my only criticism is that the tofu was a little thick and it would be better if they tried making it taste “eggy”. I’ve tried tofu “egg” in Japan and they used other ingredients to make it actually taste like egg. Also the muffin was a little chewy. Still really good though.
The hero of our brunch was the Vegan Ball Dog. At almost half the price of the Tofu Benedict we ended up getting a second one of them as soon as we took a bite. The bun was super soft and fresh and the pickle sauce was amazing. Will definitely return!
Pros: Super tasty, Reasonable prices, Spacious
Guest
Lawgistics
Points +419
Nice Bowl - Edit
All the options are full of veg! Good flavours and customers service. The place has a good vibe and layout. You will get your monies worth, I definitely recommend.
Read moreGuest
Birgit
Points +1371
Super Good - Edit
A nice ambience and small but comfy, modern seating area. Loved the tofu Benedict plate and spicy locomoco bowl. The house made ginger ale had just the right flavor, very refreshing. The one staff lady made us feel so very welcome.
Read moreGuest
veganvick
Points +228
Great Bowls - Edit
Creative items in their bowls made for a tasty lunch. I am looking forward to returning.
Read moreGuest
cholmesuk
Points +21
Great food, lovely atmosphere - Edit
Lovely laid back vegan cafe with friendly staff. My food was delicious.
Read morePros: laid back , tasty , vegan
Guest
imsleepy704
Points +16
Fully vegan and affordable - Edit
Fully Vegan. Actually very affordable for tokyo vegan lunch. Around 1200. (some items slightly less) the Loco moco is great for a quick meal if in Hiroo. Nice part of town as well.
Read morePros: Prepared very well , Owner is so nice
Cons: 6 item menu
Guest
ForAnimalsJapan
Points +5204
WOW - Edit
[Restaurant Review: Swell Bowls] English below👇 恵比寿にある【スウェルボウルズ】へ行ってきました。建物の2階にある明るい清潔感のあるお店で完全ヴィーガンです。スタッフも明るくフレンドリーで、好感が持てました。
Read more今回食べたのは『スウェルデリボウル』で玄米の上にドレッシングのかかった沢山の野菜やナッツが乗った贅沢なひと皿です。男性の胃袋も満足する程のボリュームで、器を持参すれば¥100割引きにになります。恵比寿へ行った際は是非お試し下さい。オススメですよ!
Vegan Cafe in Hiroo recently got a full rebranding. It’s now known as Swell Bowls, and they specialize in... bowls!
The space is bright and airy, with a Hawaiian theme. The menu is rather small, but it’s all vegan! The friendly staff told us the most popular item was the Vegan Poki Bowl, so that’s what we got.
I admit, I wasn’t expecting much. The server said that the fake tuna was made of beets. Beets?! It wasn’t sounding good...
But once the bowls arrived, all my fears disappeared. It. Was. DELICIOUS!! Macadamia nuts and almonds, avocado, carrot, nori, rice, and more came together in delicious harmony. And the beet “tuna” was simply incredible. Quite possibly better than the real thing.
It’s a little pricey, but the quality is in the ingredients. Plus, if you bring in your bowl from a previous visit, you’ll get 100 yen off your order. Go here now!
Guest
ebunnybee
Points +142
Vegan Tofu Benedict?! - Edit
Hollandaise sauce made with almond milk, pumpkin, and vegetable stock; vegan muffins made in Niigata, juicy soy ham and spinach; thick slices of tofu; this tasted so good! Highly recommend. Cafe was cozy but not too small. Relaxing Hawaiian music plays in the background and the staff were friendly. Great for a relaxing lunch.
Read moreGuest
HonorRiley
Points +31
Amazing vegan food - Edit
Lovely vegan food. Nice small setting. Very flavoursome. We visited for a birthday and the staff made a cake which was extremely kind.
Read morePros: Vegan food with actual flavour! Rare in Tokyo, Friendly staff , Exceptionally clean
Cons: No table service , Slightly expensive
Guest
JackieJans
Points +1228
Amazing all vegan cafe! Updated review after rebranding - Edit
Updated: I used to really like this cafe because it was all vegan and I admired the owner a lot. The food was good and it was nice to have options I didn’t have before...but NOW....the food is completely wonderful. A lot more flavorful and so many exciting new options. I applaud the owner for upgrading this cafe in a huge way.
Read moreI have been there quite a few times in the small window it's been open and I really love it! The Buffett has great options to try and the staff is so nice! Love having an all vegan option and can't wait to try the sushi😄
Guest
stuckonveggie
Points +198
Such good food and kind staff - Edit
I absolutely love this place. I came here on my first night in Tokyo, and got the veggie burger. My next time, I got the Locomodon bowl. You’d be hard-pressed to find a dish you won’t like at this restaurant. The atmosphere is adorable, and the owner is so friendly and helpful. Everyone should go here!
Read morePros: Delicious food, Friendly staff, Cool atmosphere
Guest
ldd_happy
Points +581
It’s ok - Edit
It didn’t feel like the food was fresh and the juices that I got the impression were meant to be freshly made were out of a bottle. I wouldn’t rush back.
Read moreGuest
philbett
Points +28
Very disappointing - Edit
I tried to leave a one-star review but the restaurant gets a bonus star for being fully vegan.
Read moreThe food was tasteless. I had the Locomocodon, which consisted of a soy patty with quinoa and chia seed on a bowl of brown rice. Nothing had any real flavor, the patty was bland and the rice was over-cooked and lost whatever flavor it had.
Sadly, the ambience didn’t save it as it’s overly bright inside and full of plastic plants on the wall. And there was no buzz as there was only one other customer at peak lunchtime.
Disclaimer: I don’t eat out often and my wife and I cook a lot at home. I know that I have high standards. I wanted to try a new vegan restaurant to support it, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt this disappointed eating out.
Pros: Location
Cons: Flavor of food, Atmosphere
Guest
MontannaStoneman
Points +71
Back Again - Edit
Back again at Ripple and I still love it, always so warm and welcoming.
Read morePros: Lovely and welcoming!, Good pricing , Great burgers
Cons: Not too many options , Small
Guest
ReiAmber
Points +3090
tasty food and the owner is a truly nice person - Edit
I went there for lunch and tried the buffet (salad, deep fried koya-dofu, giant black radish with soy meat sauce, clear soup, coffee with almond milk) and also ordered coffee ice cream with whipped cream. Everything tasted great. The koya-dofu was brought to me fresh out of the frier and was epic. The radish had a thickened sauce on it, maybe from a little corn starch. I usually hate that kind of sauce as it's so thick and gloppy and reminds me of bad Chinese food. This one was so good, however, and I didn't have a problem with the texture. The coffee ice cream was like a pleasant ice milk. They had around 3 other flavors.
Read moreI felt the flavors were clear- salty things like the tofu were salty, but not overwhelmingly so. I really like bright and strong flavors so this was great for me.
You can also choose rice or bread. I got bread and it was an okay white french bread.
You can go back to the buffet a second time and take more of what you like, and I really appreciated that!
I ended up chatting with the owner, which I don't usually do, but she was very friendly.
It's right down the street from National Azabu too which has lots of vegan groceries.
I know it's a new restaurant so the buffet won't be huge, but I literally got everything in the buffet so I thought they might as well serve it as a plate instead of buffet-style. But this does let you control how much you take of things and the ingredients to a certain extent, so maybe it's good for people with allergies.
I would appreciate whole grain bread instead of white.
I really enjoyed it and it pushed me to try and like things I never usually eat. Can't wait to go back! I'd like to try the burger next time.
Edit: Went back and got the mini parfait, which was good. I also sometimes go just for a coffee with non-dairy milk.
Updated from previous review on 2018-05-09
Pros: nice owner, food made with care
Cons: buffet had only one side, one soup and one main
Guest
BenoitGran
Points +599
Good but too expensive - Edit
The food was ok, but I was disappointed for various reasons. First, I went there mainly to taste the vegan sushi, but it came out that they do not make them anymore, and might only start again from Spring 2019. Similarly, we wanted to try the black tea flavour and coffee flavour ice cream, but again, while it was in the menu, they could not make it...
Read moreSo we ordered other things: the quinoa and chia seed hamburger (Japanese meaning of the term) was very good, but the paella was not that great (mainly rice in it) and very expensive (2200 yens). The portions were not big, but the food expensive, so it really depends on your budget...
Pros: All vegan
Cons: Several items in the menu but not available, Expensive
Guest
LarissaTorres
Points +104
Amazing food and service - Edit
I had the doctor potatoes and the locomotion and they were extremely delicious, I have highly recommend these dishes. Very friendly staff as well and free wifi.
Read moreGuest
Briekimchi
Points +2137
Potentially really good but caught it on a bad day? - Edit
I really wanted to love this place. The location and premises are perfect and was expecting a great meal. The front of house staff (maybe owner?) was lovely and cannot say enough nice things about her. We ordered the buffet and the vegetarian sushi set. The sushi was pretty good with some pieces better than others. The buffet was where we had some problems. There seemed to be only two staff members working and it looks to be a small place. Unfortunately, there was a large table of customers and the place was quite busy. Parts of orders were forgotten and the buffet items were not replaced when they ran out. A lot of the time, we sat at our table without food. It is a shame as some of the buffet items were delicious, such as the mini hamburg steaks...but we could only have two as they were not replenished.
Read morePros: Great area, great place, Lovely staff, really pleasant, Some delicious morsels in the buffet
Cons: Did not seem to cope when it got busy, Lacked a bit of organisation, Not enough staff?
Guest
JacquelineShino
Points +47
Vegan café feels like home - Edit
I love the atmosphere in this café - plants, wooden tables.. Moreover food is delicious, not too expensive. Staff is very friendly! Need to go there again :)
Read morePros: Many vegan options, Café to relax
Guest
uinen
Points +30
Nice but overpriced - Edit
My husband and I went to this restaurant for dinner. The staff is very friendly and it was a nice ambiance. However, we found it pricey for what was provided. I had the "locomocodon" (a sort of veggie patty made with quinoa with salad over rice). It was tasty but some bits were cold - presumably not fully defrosted. My husband had the pasta of the day, but the portion was so small that he was still hungry. We also had the French toast dessert, which was great, except that again, the berries were still mostly frozen.
Read morePros: Friendly, Nice vibe, It's always fantastic to find an all-vegan place
Cons: Overpriced , Some food was frozen / not fully defrosted
Guest
iokan
Points +1775
Recommendable - Edit
Hiro-o is an area of Tokyo that always lacked health food stores. Except for a single juice bar, it wasn't a place to go to for the good food. Thanks to "Vegan Cafe" this has now changed.
Read moreThe restaurant is easy to find (thanks to however took a picture of the exterior, it really helped!). Inside is a calm, warm and peaceful atmosphere. The staff speaks both English and Japanse, likewise the menu is available in English and Japanese. For lunch a buffet is available, as well as a la carte options. I went for the latter and ordered a bowl of fake meat, rice and vegetables ("Locomocodon"). The taste is pure and simple, enhanced by - but not dominated by - dressing. The vegan ice cream is also mild and elegant tasting, not heavy on the sweeteners.
The food at Vegan Cafe is good, but not exceptional. However, it's the great location, the nice atmosphere, the friendly staff and the fair price that make this place highly recommendable.
Pros: Great taste, Friendly people (English = no problem), Fair price
Guest
andrismattson
Points +26
delicious - Edit
Amazing food, and super friendly staff!!
Read moreGuest
squeaky88
Points +48
Great food - Edit
Bright, cozy cafe. Very friendly staff and owner.
Read moreWe had the veggie burgee and curry - both were great. Fresh and tasty. Highly recommended
Pros: vegan, friendly staff
Cons: Nothing I can think of
Guest
jacintaconza
Points +20
Delicious - Edit
We had lunch here on their grand opening day and it was very delicious and the staff were very welcoming!
Read morePros: Lots of vegan options, Friendly staff, Close to local transport
Guest
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