We've had so many visitors this summer! It's completely thrown off my blogging, but I've been having a wonderful summer (despite the bleak tone of my last post.) Our most recent guest was my sister, and every time she visits I worry about accidentally gluten-ing her. She gets severe joint pain from eating gluten, so I always want to be even more careful when she's visiting because I would hate to ruin a vacation. Avoiding gluten in Japan isn't always easy, but it's totally doable.
I wrote a post a couple years ago about gluten-free snacks that are easy to find in convenience stores. But now I've also got several restaurant recommendations for gluten-free eating.
http://glutenfree-restaurant.com/ is also a great resource.
Little Bird Gluten Free Cafe
Little Bird, inYoyogi, is the place to get gluten-free Japanese food. They serve both gluten free-gyoza (dumplings) and gluten-free ramen, both of which are delicious. When the ramen first arrived I was worried. It looked like they'd just thrown gluten-free spaghetti into ramen broth, but when I tasted it I couldn't tell the noodles were gluten-free, and my sister said they were the best she'd ever had. I suspect the noodles are house made and used in the other pasta dishes they offer.
Franze & Evans London
This is a new place in Omotesando which offers a selection of salads, quiche, sandwiches and baked goods. I was stunned to see that they had at least three gluten-free desserts on their menu, and between a third and a half of the salad options were gluten-free as well. This would also be a great place for vegetarians. If you go, the pavlova is outstanding!
Criss Cross
Criss Cross is a cafe in Omotesando that serves delicious salads and sandwiches. They bake their own bread and offer gluten-free bread for an additional 200 yen. Criss Cross is just one restaurant in the Tyson's restaurant empire, and it seems like all their restaurants offer gluten-free bread. These are the only restaurants I've seen in Japan that offer this option.
Rice Terrace in Kamakura
Rice Terrace is an adorable cafe off the beaten path in Kamakura. You have to walk down a winding path through a garden to reach it, but it's totally worth it. Most of the people we saw there were having afternoon tea, but we wanted lunch. Both the pizza and the hamburger were good, though the pizza was much more filling. This is a great option on a day trip to Kamakura.
Happy Eating!
Little Bird Gluten Free Cafe
Hours: 11:00-10:30, closed Wednesdays
Phone: 03-3460-8282
Address: 1-1-20 Uehara, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 3rd Floor
Map
Franze & Evans London
Hours: M-F 9:00-9:00, Sat 10:00-9:00, Sun & Holidays 10:00-8:00
Phone: 03-5413-3926
Address: 4-9-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Map
Criss Cross
Hours: 8:00-9:00
Phone: 03-6434-1266
Address: 5-7-29 Minami-aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Map
Tysons Restaurants
Rice Terrace
Hours: 11:00-10:00, reservations required after 6:00, closed Mondays and 3rd Thursday of the month
Phone: 0467-38-6697
Address: 2-7-12 Yuigahama, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa
Map
Great information! Are you in Tokyo?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vivalahighstreet.com
Thank you! Yes, I live in Tokyo. It's been almost four years now.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!! Off to Tokyo in May so can't wait to check these out!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! I recently walked by another gluten free restaurant that's newly opened, haven't tried it - but it's probably another good option. It's called Gluten Free Dining and their website is http://gurufuri.jp/
DeleteWonderful!! Thanks again, I saved it to my list. Do you happen to know any GF places in Kyoto or Osaka? Kyoto doesn't seem too GF friendly. So far I just found one place there that's GF called Choice.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried https://glutenfree-restaurant.com/, or is that where you found Choice?
DeleteMy sister and I did actually go to Kyoto a couple years ago.
We had yakitori (grilled meat) at Torisei http://www.torisei.com/shop/kiyamachi/, and she was alright. This is the link to the branch we ate at, but I believe there are multiple. They didn't speak much english, so it would be helpful to have one of those little printed cards. You'll want to be sure you get the salted yakitori rather than soy marinated.
We also had lunch at a place called Omen. http://www.omen.co.jp/shopinfo.html It's strange, because it's an udon (noodle) shop, but they had one set that didn't include noodles and was gluten free (though not specifically labeled that way.) There is an English menu, and I remember it included a multigrain rice bowl - they mean wild rice mixed in, not any wheat related grains. Sorry to be so vague about that.
And of course there's always yogurt and eggs and fruit from convenience stores. I also have another post about gluten free eating in Japan http://asiaisforlovers.blogspot.jp/2013/09/eating-gluten-free-in-japan.html that might be helpful
No I haven't seen that site yet to search for GF restaurants -- thank you Wendy!! That will come in so handy. I found Choice just doing Google search. And thanks for all the other awesome tips!! Looks like Tokyo should be fine and I will manage it in Kyoto for a week w/ some day trips to Osaka and Nara. Worst case scenario I'll buy stuff in 7-11 and take it on day trips. :-) I saw a few sites with detailed GF cards so I'll definitely get that printed out for restaurants. Cheers, Diana
ReplyDeleteGreat - I think you should be fine, and I hope you have a great trip!
DeleteThank you so much!
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