Last December, Sunny Place, a vegan restaurant previously situated in Kitayama, moved serendipitously not a five minute cycle ride from my house. It’s name is apt, as it’s a brightly lit shop with a friendly atmosphere. They also have a nice range of Coedo organic beers each for ￥６００． If you go for the “定食” or set meal option you get a main dish of your choice, rice (whole grain mixed with healthy cereals), soup (sometimes miso and sometimes kasu jiru – a healthy broth made from sake lees), and three side dishes of your choosing. The main dishes are as follows: Fried Soy “Chicken”, Soy “Pork” Cutlet, Vegemillet Burger, Tenpeh & Vegetable Cutlet (tenpeh is a kind of cultured soybean cake – goes nicely with beer), or Fried “Fu” (savory gluten cakes). I’d recommend the “Fu” actually, though obviously not for the coeliacs… A set meal will set you back ￥８５０．Here are some more pics.
As you can see they do a range of fake-meats there, pork, chicken etc. Out of curiosity, I chose the “chicken” done kara-age style. I personally don’t have any cravings for meat flavored food, but I know a lot of people find it difficult to become vegetarian simply because they cannot give up their tasty fried chicken. Is this a solution? Well, though made from soya beans it looks spookily like chicken. But it doesn’t quite taste like it. Almost. But not quite. Still, ten out of ten for effort. The food is reasonably priced and plentiful and the atmosphere relaxed. I’d certainly recommend it over the nearby Café Peace, these days with its ever decreasing portions, and severely reduced variety in the menu… At Sunny Place you won’t be dissatisfied. To find Sunny Place, head west on Imadegawa from Hyakumanben, then go north on Marikoji Dori. Click here for a full menu. Sunny Place is open from 12:00 ~ 14:00, 18:00 ~ 22:30 and closed Tuesdays. Tel: (075)711-7617.
Click here for a map
Tony says
August 18, 2007 at 8:16 amThis looks great, thanks! We’re heading to Kyoto in November so we’ll make sure to stop by.
Sabrina says
March 8, 2008 at 10:04 pmI definitely want to go here soon! I just moved to Kyoto, and your site has such a wealth of information. Thank you so much!
Also, I was looking into going to Cafe Peace awhile ago, but it seems they have closed =( … but, a new restaurant has popped up to somewhat replace them. It’s called Cafe Proverbs, and I actually just went there today for lunch. They have vegetable gyoza! And a really delicious mushroom/nori salad that I highly recommend. Check them out here: http://www.proverbs1517.com/ .
Again, thanks for making Kyoto not so scary to the vegetarians out there!
mikeylambe says
March 9, 2008 at 6:02 pmThanks Sabrina. I went to Cafe Proverbs last week and am planning to write a post about it very very soon indeed. It has a very different atmosphere to Sunny Place, which is a good thing as they won’t be in competition.
Update: The post is up and here’s the link! Cafe Proverbs [15:17]
Archer says
November 2, 2009 at 5:32 pmA place that I’ve been looking forward to visiting is Natural Life Village. Some hemp-clothed, long-haired Japanese boys, caching water at our local jinja, told us about it when we asked them about the whole raw food trend and its presence in Japan. I doubt there is such cuisine served at Natural Life Village, but a theme of safely and respectfully grown ingredients might be part of the business plan.
The telephone for Natural Life Village is 075 712 3372
The location appears to be SW of Kitaoji and Shirakawa.
mikeylambe says
November 2, 2009 at 6:56 pmThanks Archer. I know of a place called “Village” up on Shirakawa. I went there a few times. The food was tasty (and organic!) however, on one occasion the service was ridiculously slow. Though the place was empty when we went in it took almost two hours to bring me my food (with no explanation or apology). They may have sharpened up their act since then but I don’t really feel inclined to go back to be honest…