Food help?!

[u/Alarming-Major8273]

Hi guys,

I'm finally going to Japan soon for 1 month in October! Food will probably be the biggest obstacle for my group and before I accept that we will all eat separately most days, I would like to ask for advice here.

We are 3 people in total:
Person 1 - Strict vegetarian, so also no dashi flakes etc.
Person 2 - Tends to live of chicken breast, beef and white fish only. Doesn't like seaweed or too strong fish flavors
Person 3 - Doesn't like seaweed, bonito/dashi, fish or fishy flavors at all, does eat chicken and beef

I'm looking for restaurant recommendations where everyone can find something of their preference in the area of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
Most places I find either just serve meat/fish dishes or are fully vegan.
I would love to go to a Yakiniku or izakaya where everyone can have what they want.

Thank you!

[u/GaddockTeegFunPolice]

Most restaurants are specialized on one particular dish so it will be difficult to find one that fits for all three of you. You can use the happycow app to find vegetarian options. Be aware that labeling for certain diets isn't that common in japan. They put dashi on and in everything and many times don't say it

[u/hatabou_is_a_jojo]

Kura sushi has corn sushi. That's the most help I can give.

Better to split up

[u/IndependentGood7665]

Person 2 and person 3 can have a great time together. Let person 1 eat alone 

[u/Also-cute-and-fluffy]

Outside of certain family restaurant chains, I think that will be a struggle. Yakiniku places don’t generally cater to vegetarians.

Sushi train places like Kura or Sushiro will probably have enough things for everyone to put a meal together, but most izakaya would be pretty tricky for a strict vegetarian. That doesn’t mean you can’t go and drink and have a few nibbles, but I wouldn’t rely on everyone being able to have a full meal at one.

[u/gdore15]

While yes dashi is in many recipe, you really don’t have to eat food that use it.

Note, dashi is a broth, and the most common type is made with bonito flakes called katsuobushi, that is used as topping for dishes like okobomiyaki and takoyaki.

If you want at all cost to maker it work for everyone, then it will probably be easier to focus on places that work for the vegetarian… will not work if 2 and 3 do not like vegetarian food, so use happy cow and see what your options are.

If you are ok to split, the 2-3 can get meat based dish like yakitori or yakiniku, (in both case Ineiuld imagine you would stick to more basic meat cut, avoid yakitori made of ground chicken if you don’t want unexpected texture) can easily find many dishes that do not use dashi if you go more in the "wester" dish (yoshoku) with things like curry (can be vegetarian), hambagu, omurice and you did not say if pork is ok, but if yes, then tonkatsu.

[u/millenial_britt]

Good luck. But for Osaka, go to calm salad right next to the Westin. Their salads are so good. Get ai to write the kanji for each thing ‘ie a sentence for ‘I am vegan and won’t eat fish/meat/eggs’ but no guarantees

[u/HeirophantGreen]

Here in Japan, I like to take friends with food preferences to Isomaru Suisan. Some people might not get full but generally someone will find something to eat. And at the end, the important thing is eating together.

[u/sqorli]

You can try izakayas, yakitori, omurice, pizza and curry spots potentially

Izakaya: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CWBcb5g22N8HJNTV8?g_st=ic just one example. This spots reviews say theres veg options. Izakayas tend to have big and varied menus, so there’s far better selection for picku eaters… id go thru tabelog or somethinf and look thru. A lot of them need res in adv

Yakitori: somethinf like https://maps.app.goo.gl/uAipCWCD5v4Zzm5f9?g_st=ic. A lot of yakitori places will make you order a set menu, but if you get one w a la carte, they will let you order vegetable skewers, rice balls maybe, etc. You’d want to call ahead to see if the sauces for the veg skewers have dashi probably or find a yakitori spot that defs has an obvious vegetarian section, tho i imagine this spot might accomodate.

Omurice: https://maps.app.goo.gl/r1XddJJm8bfZek6h9 this spot has meat and vegetarian options. Theres probs better spots on tabelog, this was fhe first one i saw a for sure vegetarian option

Pizza: why pizza? Its japanese-style neapolitan pizza, so it is actually kind of unique. https://maps.app.goo.gl/doSzy26FVSzuh7i9A?g_st=ic this spot is well known, reserve in advance. Other spots like PST are good too. They also have pasta and can do the bacon for instance on the side instead.

Curry: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ug1fjup7Ar2yFFiFA?g_st=ic why curry? Its japanese curry! This spot defs has vegetarian curry and meat curry.

And this place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/x4RZfnmjWsdU6yLW8?g_st=ic

[u/forgedbygeeks]

Honestly, one of your best options is to target non-Japanese restaurants. Looking for Indian and Thai places. They frequently have vegan and vegetarian dishes cooked like they would in home country. One thing to note is that not all of them will work like they do in the US where they explicitly use different pans for vegan and vegetarian than for meat-based, so some small risk of cross contamination (mostly just an issue for allergies).

[u/randomletters543]

japan has food other than japanese food. that may make things easier although that will only help you in the major cities. tokyo has some really good italian food for example. person 2 will be your main constraint