Ebisu + Saido

Community Highlights Asia Ebisu + Saido

Last night’s sleep was more complete and we woke up at 6am feeling refreshed. Hit the combini for coffees, juice and a plum onigiri. Got ready, headed out for the day.

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We’re headed to Ebisu and in about 30 minutes we were there, in a new neighbourhood, Daikanyamacho. Walking around most of the stores were closed, but we felt we got a better feel of local life. Houses piled on top of businesses piled on top of pubs, skinny alleyways and homeowners taking pride in their tiny spaces while also leaving everything out for the taking like plants, bikes, or their whole garage contents. We saw art galleries, many hair salons, pubs, coffee, and street art everywhere. We were hot, sweating in the humidity, but the walk was worth it.

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This gas station was so neat - you pull the nozzles down from the ceiling. So much space saving!

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This freestanding house was a duplex, garage on the bottom. We made a note to look up real estate costs based on the car parked there.

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Just your friendly neighbourhood wine delivery truck.

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The tiniest, cleanest, cutest little PUBLIC bathroom where the last user must have folded the towel to a point?! Nothing like this back home.

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One of our first stops was Weller - an all vegan combini. We spent some time wandering the aisles and got second breakfast here. I had a Buddha bowl and the most delicious pumpkin pudding.

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Around the corner was an all vegan Taiyaki spot! This is a fish shaped pastry cooked in a cast iron waffle type press. In the middle is a custard with red bean paste, and it’s served piping hot. We could see the bucket of red beans overflowing inside the shop. While apprehensive to try it, this was so, so tasty, nicely sweet and the pastry was crunchy. We both loved it and ate it in a nearby park as we are very used to the no walking and eating rules here by now.

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We walked back through the neighbourhood and into another, Nakameguro. Here we saw the beautiful Meguro river! In the spring this is lined with cherry blossoms. Though now the river is more like a trickle.

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Lunch was at Afuri and we both ordered a beer with Yuzu and their only vegan option, the rainbow ramen, at the kiosk. We put our bags in the cubbies and sat down to watch the service which was efficient and clean and hospitable. The little bar station was right in the middle, the noodle cook was animated, the fry cook was precise. It was so fun to watch! Our ramen broth was light and a shoyu style, noodles were one of my favourites, very easy to slurp. Lots of veggies and a partially dried tomato made it nicely balanced and hearty.

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After lunch we continued to wander around Nakemeguro where we saw more antique shops and plenty of izakayas. I bought a souvenir mug from a shop that I wish I took more photos in as it was very eclectic. We also saw this vintage Mario t-shirt for over $300 CAD!

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We stopped for gelato at a place I’d pinned, Premarche, known for their wacky flavours and vegan options. They had many vegetarian choices too with honey which was annoying, but we both were very happy with our combos. I got salted lychee and grapefruit + Thai coconut, Chris got bitter chocolate and spearmint + matcha.

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Walking back towards the railway station we saw tons of tiny shops and restaurants under the tracks. Very neat! I wondered how rumbly they felt under there.

We decided to head home for a breather and refresh before heading out to our dinner reservations. With a few hours to go until we had to leave, we decided to try one of the highlights of Kara’s last trip, a foot massage. Located on the 5th floor of a high rise we sat down and decided on the cheapest and quickest option, a 40 minute foot massage with oil. We were first sat in a hot soak where our two practitioners gave us a quick back rub, then hot towel to dry off, and sat us in reclined chairs while they went to work. I could tell that Chris’s massage was hard and rough, but welcome. Mine was less intense so I asked her to go a little more firmly, and she used her knuckles to get into all of my crunchy sore spots. Working all the way up abs around the legs, pulling on our toes, and finishing with a hot towel compress and final pounding and kneading, we both felt lighter as we walked out. My shoes felt like pillows now!

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We got ready to head for dinner which was a little further south west in the Meguro city in Tokyo. We left plenty of time to get there, but even Google maps didn’t account for how slow the 6:00 Friday traffic would be.

The subway was absolutely packed and I’m surprised we didn’t see pushers, the conductors who help you board the train. Many stops had people just barely squeezing in. We watched one guy get pulled out of the train at a stop, but this all just seemed normal because nobody around us seemed phased.

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Getting off at our stop and braving the foot traffic to get out of the station we hustled to our reservation and showed up JUST on time at Saido for a 7 course meal. This restaurant was voted #1 on Happy Cow in 2020 and was featured on Evolving Vegan. We started with a drink, Chris got kombucha and I got plum wine. I toasted Chris for his 40th birthday, the reason for the trip! We waited for our first course as we watched Saido cook in the kitchen, and his wife, our host, wait on us ready to explain every course including information about some ingredients. Spoiler alert: if you plan to go to Saido, scroll down!

Our first course was boiled peanuts and a salad with cheese. The peanuts were nothing like I’ve ever had before, and boiled perhaps in broth as they were nicely flavoured. The cheese was also probably the best vegan cheese I’ve had, and clearly made in house.

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Second course was a mushroom soup, which was the most plain, but good. Our mushroom shaped bowl had a little bell inside it as it dinged when we drank it. Next course was the eel and rice. It was super smoky and our host instructed us to take a video as we opened our bowls. Delicious!

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Next was my favourite - the Yakitori. How ever Saido got the fatty chew to that vegan meat is beyond me. Plus, our host came around to share that.. surprise! The charcoal is edible. It was sweet potato maybe dusted in charcoal? It was completely black and looked perfectly like charcoal, but didn’t taste burnt at all, just like yummy sweet potato fries.

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Next up was mushroom tempura, made from the same boujee mushrooms as in the broth from the second course. It was nicely salted and had little lime “juice vesicles” on top which popped the citrus into your mouth.

Next course was a baked eggplant, it was beautiful and smokey and smooth with a butterfly made out of potato chips.

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Next up, a full bowl of ramen and a vegan egg which was soooo eggy. The broth was rich and peppery, the noodles were green, and there was lots of delicious veg including super sweet corn.

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Finally, lastly, was a raspberry mousse with cocoa dusted almonds and a chlorophyll cake as the tree. Look at the spoon! So cute.

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To finish our meal we paid, received some free Saido stickers, then when we went to leave Saido came bursting out of the kitchen to open the door for us as if it was his most important job of the day. We said “Arigatō” and he and his wife stood and waved goodbye to us, truly waiting for us to leave the little garden and walk down the street. We were far away and still looking back they were waving goodbye! I had left them two of our little dinos, and the host SPRINTED down the street thinking we had forgotten them. No, they are gifts! We said. She thought they were so cute and thanked us.

Walking back to the train we had to wait for it to cross before we could get to the station. We made a stop to try and get into a pink rock izakaya I had pinned, but they had a sign out at 9pm that they were full for the night. Darn! Hopped on the subway again and got home to have a quick shower. I fell asleep watching highlights from TNF.

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This featured blog entry was written by kmcveggie from the blog Veggie Pack.
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By kmcveggie

Posted Sat, Oct 05, 2024 | Japan | Comments