Elegant yet refreshingly unpretentious, budget-friendly yet generous, this Asakusa-adjacent institution has been around since 1972. The venue originally served Zen Buddhists at temple functions but now offers vegetarian dishes of fucha cuisine to customers, as well. In private tatami rooms, guests receive wave after wave of intricate dishes: a light tea and rakugan (pressed-sugar sweet), unpen (thick, gingery soup made with leftover veggies, essential to the no-waste philosophy of fucha cuisine), rich sesame tofu, fried eggplant covered in savory miso, and more seasonal dishes that change too regularly to keep up with. Running between 3,450 and 5,000 yen ($23–$34), the weekday lunch boxes are a particularly good deal (compared to standard meals costing 6,000–10,000 yen). Make sure to wear hole-free socks, as you will have to remove your shoes before entering the tatami room.

A meal at Nezunoya has the same heartwarming effect as a visit to grandma’s house — if you have a rather health-conscious grandmother. Just a short walk away from Ueno Park, this grande dame of Tokyo’s vegan scene has been providing homey meals since 1978. Owner Fusae Torii serves up old-school vegan cuisine based around the concepts of the brown rice diet, which was popular in Japan in the 1960s and ’70s. Open only for lunch, the place serves a small but lovingly cooked menu consisting of a (highly recommended) daily special, vegetable curry, rice-ball set, and a few desserts. Daily specials tend toward home-cooking favorites like croquettes, fried spring rolls, or veggie cutlets, served alongside a generous bowl of miso soup, all made using ingredients that are mostly organic and grown in Japan.

Owner and chef Maiko Amemiya worked in New York, London, and Istanbul before opening her own bakery in Tokyo, and this international experience shows in the quality of her bakes. The eponymous muffins are laced with Japanese flavors such as chestnut cream, sudachi citrus, and matcha, and the savory varieties, a rarity in Japan, are a particularly lovely way to start your morning, especially if you’re lucky enough to catch versions that use sake lees in lieu of cheese. While the location in Nishi Ogikubo (open only on Thursday and Sunday) is far from the city center, you can find the brand’s muffins at the Food & Company shop inside Shinjuku Station on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons, and often at the Aoyama Farmers Market on Saturdays. Be sure to check the Instagram page for the latest info.

When rice and miso soup (two staples of the vegan diet in Japan) start to become a bit repetitive, the cure is a trip to this beloved burger joint in the bustling Waseda University area. Inspired to go completely vegan by the COVID-19 pandemic, owner John Penny has created a welcoming little spot, serving three juicy burgers named after the Great Lakes where he spent his childhood summers. The patties consist of a secret blend that includes shiitake and brown rice, and they have enough oomph to win over non-vegan diners, too. When in doubt, opt for the Superior Burger, topped with an umami-rich tomato jam, accompanied by a side of freshly fried potato chips and a seasonal shake.

Move over, banana split: The ever-so-tempting, towering, intricately layered, and decorated parfaits of Japan have you beat. Though they may seem out of reach for vegans, the parfait-shaped void in your life can be solved with a trip to the Lumine 1 department store (directly connected to Shinjuku Station), home of Wired Bonbon. While the shop does have a lineup of vegan cakes and a few savory lunch plates, stay on target with the parfaits, which come in varieties like matcha azuki, caramel apple (a favorite), or berry chocolate banana. The desserts here are created in collaboration with vegan patissier Haruo Okada, who has more than 16 years of experience creating egg- and dairy-free sweets, with a particular genius for whipped “creams.”

Located near Harajuku, right above the Kyushu Jangara ramen shop — which also offers a couple of excellent vegan bowls — and operated by the same company, this restaurant serves a number of meat-free noodly delights too. However, the star of the show is the Juju Grill, a vegan and gluten-free take on a Japanese steakhouse classic: soy meat served on a sizzling cast-iron plate, doused in your choice of soy- or miso-based sauce. Order one with a side of gyoza and a tall glass of the sweet, photogenic, indigo-colored cream soda to get the energy needed to resist the temptations of the Omotesando shopping street outside. The restaurant also offers a good selection of options free of gluten (and of pungent roots, a factor for some Buddhist diners), and the seasonal drinks and shrubs are a real treat.

This high-end, reservations-only restaurant is hidden away in a quiet residential area in Yoyogi, creating the feeling that you’ve been invited to an intimate dinner party at chef Mamta Reid’s home. Deeply unusual for a restaurant in Japan serving a set-course menu, Tudore allows diners to customize each flight of creative dishes to fit their needs; Reid can alter dishes to make them vegan, gluten-free, or low-sodium, or to avoid a particular ingredient. The chef’s Zambian and Jamaican background comes out in the spices, but the melting pot of flavors is far more complex, evolving over eight courses to end in a glittering taster plate of sweets and tea.

This “new Far Eastern style cafe” in the hipstery Shimokitazawa area aims to tackle environmental issues through delicious food, in this case a good mix of Taiwanese- (and a few Hong Kong–) inspired favorites. The lunch set (served until 3 p.m.) is an excellent deal, with five main dishes to choose from. The vegan minced pork rice and soupless noodles pack serious spice, but it’s hard to go wrong with anything on the menu. Try to get there relatively early to ensure you can order an extra portion of the boiled dumplings, which tend to sell out. The cafe also serves a lineup of douhua (soy pudding), ranging from more traditional versions topped with adzuki beans or pu’erh tea syrup to more fruity iterations, such as the seasonal pineapple and jasmine variety. If tofu for dessert isn’t your thing, opt for the buttery pineapple cakes or go upstairs for a sweet treat at Universal Bakes Nicome.

Tucked away in a little side street of snazzy Hiroo, this tiny takeout-only shop is the experimental laboratory of patissier Haruo Okada, who is the force behind the vegan desserts at cafes like Wired Bonbon and Futaba Fruits Parlor. Okada grasps the full potential of plant-based ingredients in baking, and his expertise shines through in the lineup of classic Japanese favorites: iconic strawberry shortcake, rich Mont Blanc, smooth custard pudding, impressive cheesecake, and seasonal tarts. Buy a couple slices to enjoy in nearby Arisugawa Park. Note that the shop accepts only cashless payments on-site.

Housed on a side street 10 minutes from Nakameguro Station, Alaska Zwei isn’t nearly as chilly as its name implies. The cozy, shabby-chic atmosphere complements a small menu of well-executed dishes. The brown rice plate is the go-to, with an ever-changing rotation of mains (usually a veggie karaage or cutlet) surrounded by colorful side dishes and a warming bowl of soup. Inspired by the diversity of vegan choices she saw while working in Europe, proprietor Saiko Ohsara sought to bring that same variety to Tokyo. Given that Ohsara also runs two branches of vegan bakery Universal Bakes in the trendy Shimokitazawa area, the breads and desserts are highlights at Alaska Zwei, as are the hot drinks, like a recent mint hot chocolate or gingery chai laced with amazake (sake lees), making it a good stop for an afternoon snack.

Multigenre chef Katsumi Kusumoto opened this little spot in 2019 in the backstreets of Jiyugaoka, and users on the Happy Cow platform quickly chose it as the world’s top vegan restaurant the following year. While the menu is decidedly washoku (Japanese cuisine), Kusumoto’s experience in high-end French cuisine impacts the food from time to time, like a salad made of scoops of lettuce, lime, and rosemary gelato, or a playful blueberry cheesecake that looks like a potted plant. There are several (somewhat confusing) set-course options: If you want an all-out experience, the 8,800 yen ($60) special-course meal gives you a little bit of everything. But you can also opt for the 3,300 yen ($22) prix fixe dinner to try the justly famous unaju (grilled “eel” served over rice in a lacquered box), then order a few extra side dishes, such as the fried yuba rolls. While it’s not as fancy as other award-winning restaurants, reservations are most definitely a must.