Just like any adventure I was unsure what I was going to be in for, and Apprivoiser was no different. Apprivoiser is a small café placed in the back streets of Kawaramachi. It is not in a very touristy area but not too far from the Gion Shijo train station. Though it may be small, I wouldn`t count Apprivoiser out just because of its size.

Apprivoiser is a whole foods café, where they are using local ingredients as well non-processed ingredients. They have been in business for over 8 years and they serve both vegan and non-vegan options. I was able to talk to the owner of the establishment for a bit and he gets right to the point. Because many foreigners would come to his café and a lot of them were requesting vegan options, he decided to implement some vegan options into his menu.

Let`s take a deeper look into Apprivoiser and see what they

have to offer your bellies.

Before you walk into the establishment, you have a very easy to read menu to see what you would like to order. They have a breakfast and lunch menu which, you can order take out instead of sitting in. But, if the weather is nice, they have seating outside to enjoy your meal.

What does the inside look like? I am glad you asked. Let`s see what’s going on in Apprivoiser.

As I said before Apprivoiser is a small restaurant compared to the other places I’ve been to, but I promise you the lack of size is made up in the food. I was very surprised by how rich the tastes were and I think the difference is really due to the unprocessed foods.

Let`s take a look at the menu.

All items with the green mark next to them are vegan.

As you can see the menu is easily laid out in English with an explanation. There is an array of different drinks, desserts, and main food options. Before Covid, in the morning time, the granola was the most popular. But, because I went during lunch, I went with the most popular item which is the weekly lunch.

Just how I like it, unprocessed foods, simple presentation, and rich in taste.

Starting from the top left, we have brown rice with sesame seeds on top with seasonings, next to it, we have miso soup, the bottom left hand corner is called koya dofu, which is a certain type of tofu. To the right of it we have bamboo shoots with mixed vegetables, and lastly sweet potatoes mixed with fried tofu dressed in a dressing mixed with Japanese sake. Yum yum yum! The meal was filled with various tastes and I discovered koya dofu. I have to find out where they sell that stuff!

Not only did the weekly lunch come with all of those dishes above, but the main part of the meal was the mabo dofu, a traditional Chinese dish. If you are hungry, the weekly lunch will definitely quench your appetite.

After demolishing my lunch, I of course had to try one of their desserts. The owner of the shop recommended one of the muffins, so I followed suit.

Then BAM! I was presented with this baby. It was an apple muffin with cinnamon, almonds and maple syrup. I was blown away by all the tastes in my mouth along with the fluffiness of the muffin.

Can you see that? This literally was one of the best muffins I’ve ever had in my life.

Apprivoiser was a huge success!

LESSON WRAP UP

Looking for a simple breakfast or lunch? Apprivoiser is right here at your service. A nice simple café providing its customers with whole food treats. The food definitely speaks for itself. If you are in the area of Gion Shijo, it is worth a visit. Most of the customers who came to Apprivoiser were foreigners, and because of Covid, it hasn’t been getting as many customers. When the travel bans lift in Japan, places like these definitely deserve support because there aren’t many vegan restaurants out here, and the Japanese community isn’t really aware of veganism, so to keep places like this open providing a great product, we all can play our part and support and come eat their delicious food.

Until next time guys!

(Class bell rings)