Dechibica is probably my favourite and first place I will usually take any vegans visiting us. Not only is the food delicious, but it's presented so beautifully, it's hard not to be impressed.

They offer a variety of vegan meals (as well as a couple of non-vegan options) and everything we've ever tried there has been great! Another bonus if you're with kids, is the fact that they have a bunch of kids toys there to entertain them if you forgot to bring anything from home.

Update - I've heard GubGubs is now closed but the owner can still be found selling burgers at the Koza Vegan Night market and the vegan food fest.

GubGub's is the ultimate vegan junk/comfort food experience. We have been here with vegan friends numerous times and they are always blown away by the food! Their Cheeseburger and BBQ burgers are my ultimate favourites. They also offer an option to pay a little more and support animal welfare, and you can bring your dogs and sit outside if the weather is nice.

Ukishima Garden is a lovely vegan restaurant in Naha, perfect for a fancy date night with organic wines. We have been here every time we have been to Naha and it's always lovely. Their tofu caprese salad tastes just like real mozzarella, and the creamy pasta was also amazing. Their lunch menu is more casual with burgers, soups and curry.

Bollywood Dreams is the most delicious Indian resaturant we have found in Okinawa (and we've tried lots!). They also have a select number of vegan curries, which are amazing! The dinner menu is more extensive and lunch is mostly just set meals. This place gets BUSY, so it's worth coming early for lunch or dinner.

Ok, so Sakae Ryoriten is the place we keep going back to, and pretty much take all guests to. It's "okinawan style" food, so a great way to get a taste of the local cuisine, but they will also adjust the menu for any allergies or dietary requirements where they can, which means making food vegan and vegetarian friendly. It's also very kid friendly.

The go-to dishes they will adjust for vegetarians is the Umibudo (sea grape) and tomato salad, the jimami dofu (peanut tofu), the seasonal stir fry vegetables and the eggplant and red pepper with miso stir fry. They might likely adjust other dishes, but these are our go to every time we're there.

Sakae is located in Ishikawa and they have ample parking space in a lot across the road. The entrance is quite unassuming (pictured above).

What would a post about vegan food be without mentioning the vegan menu at Coco Ichibanya? Coco's, over the past year or so have been rolling out a vegetarian menu at select stores. It says vegetarian but is actually vegan. In Okinawa only 2 stores that I know of have the vegetarian menu, Ishikawa and Haebaru. Please feel free to comment if there are any more additions to this. Cocos, although i'm sure is full of MSG, is super delicious!

We got there at 12 and it was already pretty busy and we managed to nab the last free table. I was super excited to see the menu option, over half being vegan and it all sounded delicious! We decided to share the Vegan Chorizo tacos and the two bean tacos. The vegan chorizo is basically made with tofu and chorizo spices, and was super tasty. They also had a kind of vegan parmesan on top, and I have no idea what that was made from, but it was another nice touch. The two bean burritos were also tasty, but my favourite were definitely the "chorizo" ones.

The tacos were huge, and they also have a "salsa" bar, with different sauces, salsas and an onion and coriander mix. Definitely a nice touch!

Esparza's also serves a range of drinks, including Coronas, sangria and tequila drinks. The other good thing (and a rarity in Okinawa) is that it opens from 7am for breakfast (servicing breakfast burritos and pancakes).

Esparza's is located on route 58 in Chatan, and you can find the map here. It's great to have another vegan and vegetarian friendly option in Okinawa!

Exterior

Vegan "chorizo" tacos

vegan two bean tacos

PIN IT FOR LATER:

This past weekend, I was in Tokyo with some vegan friends, and I wanted to give them the best Tokyo experience possible. I had heard about the Ain Soph restaurants and wanted to get to at least one of them. I decided on Ripple, because who doesn't love a good dirty burger, and these looked the business!

The menu <3

We arrived there at around 12:15, and were lucky to grab a table (we were a group of 6), even though it's a pretty small place. The menu isn't huge, which I liked, so we decided on the cheese burger and the crispy "chicken" burger. Everything on the menu is vegan, even though it sounds like it isn't.

The burgers were tasty and I really loved the fries. The vegan cheese they used was really good. it was really melty like real cheese. If you're a vegan and looking for some junk food, I think it's worth the effort to get here, although I wasn't completely blown away by the burgers, which is probably just because we had eaten at Gub Gubs here in Okinawa a few days before, which makes probably the best burgers i've ever had (and that's including meat burgers too!).

Cheese burger and cheese fries

After a rest back at the apartment, we decided to head out in search of some mexican food (mostly some frozen margheritas). We found this awesome little place in the back streets of Harajuku called Chiles, and settled in. The frozen strawberry margheritas were exactly the kind of holiday drink we were after, and the food was delish too! Griff loved their kids plate, which had a ham and cheese quesadilla, beans, rice and condiments. It had a great selection of vegetarian options as well!

We ended the day with a lovely dinner with my friend Yuko, who I haven't seen in over a year. All in all, it was such a great trip. And the thing that I love about Tokyo, is no matter how many times I visit, I never ever get bored of it. 

Meiji Jingu Torii

There were many weddings going on this day. This was just one!

We made a family wish and hung it.

I love the old school tools they use to keep the grounds clean.

Mmmmmm Mexican