Marugo Deli Ebisu, Tokyo

Marugo Deli Ebisu is passionate about treating the environment right -it’s mostly plant-based and serves delicious smoothies and smoothie bowls.

The setting

Marugo Deli Ebisu is based in the Ebisu area. It’s near the Ebisu metro station and other healthy hotspots including Rainbow Raw Foods, Hemp Café and Ko-so!

The space

It’s mostly a take-away so you order and pay for your food and drinks at the counter. You can also sit in. As I came during the week, it wasn’t crowded. There’s not a lot of space inside,  just four tables with two chairs at each table. Outside there are plants and  wooden benches as extra seating in front of the café. The service was very quick and mine came in five to ten minutes.

All the furniture is warm wood with a bar of blue mosaic stones.

Around the bar are jars of granola, dried fruits and nuts and fresh fruit in wooden crates.

There’s also a corner with shelves, where you can buy organic products and their homemade granolas and oils.

What we ate

Marugo Deli Ebisu offers plant based, gluten free food made from organic products. They cater for everyone including non-vegans and also sell sandwiches with tuna and muffins. The smoothies are seasonal and made fresh. Our tip – download Google translate with a Japanese dictionary, to help with the menu.

I love Japanese portion control, as everything is just perfectly balanced and filling enough. You don’t leave feeling stuffed, just satisfied. I decided to review the raw spirulina smoothie bowl, a matcha latte and a banana muffin (as it was Valentine’s!).

The smoothie bowl came in a glass bowl and was made of avocado, banana, dates, raw spirulina and soy milk.

It was topped with a delicious crunchy granola with pistachios, banana slices, dates, goji berries and chia seeds. The granola was quite sweet, but I didn’t mind, as the smoothie itself wasn’t.

 

The banana muffin was plant based, airy and gluten free and filled with banana pieces and walnuts. They asked if I wanted to have it warmed up, so I did. The crust was crisp and the inside goey, so it was the perfect muffin. Finally, I had a matcha latte with soy mylk.  In Japan, the soy mylk tastes very different to  Europe and America. The milk was so thick and creamy. Even after finishing the foam layer.

It was one of the best matchas I’ve ever had.

The little things that make the difference

Normally you have to pay extra for soy milk, or other plant based mylks, but at Marugo Deli Ebisu it’s twisted around. You pay extra for normal milk.  Go plant based food! Plus, they offer cooking classes upstairs .

What we’d go back for…

The corner where they sell good extra virgin olive oils, their own granola, and other organic products, which are hard to find in Tokyo.

The bill

Raw spirulina smoothie bowl  1500¥
Matcha latte  550¥
Banana muffin  500¥