Tokyo, GinzaAin Soph, the best pancakes in Tokyo

By Fabienne Dobbe @modelslovefood
26 March '19

Owner Yuki Shirai’s message is to fill yourself with love by filling yourself with beautiful plant-based food. So all the plates they serve at Ain Soph are full of caring and loving thoughts. We couldn’t wait to visit.

The setting

Ain Soph has multiple locations in the city. They’re all different with their own menus. I decided to review their café in Ginza, an expensive shopping district in Tokyo. It’s a minute’s walk away from the Higashi-ginza metro stop and near  healthy hotspots  like Aloha Table and T’s Tan Tan.

The space

Ain Soph is modern, with traditional Japanese touches.

As you enter, you can buy home-made sweets and cold pressed juices. If you want to eat in, they lead you to the first floor to the small dining area. There’s polished concrete walls and varnished wooden furniture. There’s seven tables for two that can be joined together and a wooden bench with cushions.

Although it’s very busy and usually full, it’s very quiet inside. So much so that my friend and I felt uncomfortable talking. Ain Soph have wifi which works really well. However, I wouldn’t recommend working there for long, as it was packed around lunchtime.

The little things that make the difference

The room is quite cold (in the winter),  so they supply blankets for everyone.

What we ate

Ain Soph serves plant based food with a Japanese twist. For lunch they have a tiny set menu which is also very Japanese. You can pick curry, bento or pancakes.

We chose the curry and the pancakes. All the set menus come with a side salad and a cup of Japanese tea, black tea or coffee. The salad came first. It was a simple salad with a choice of raw vegetables and a delicious miso dressing.

This salad certainly proved that simple can be delicious.

The curry was a warming mix of several kinds of mushrooms and came with brown rice. Again simple, but really delicious. The mushrooms added a meaty texture to the curry.

Finally, the pancakes. Fluffy pancakes are very Japanese, you’ll see them everywhere on the streets, but Ain Soph’s are totally plant based which made us super curious.  At first sight, they looked a bit dry, but when we sliced into them they were deliciously soft and airy on the inside. The toppings were beautifully sliced fresh fruit and a home made blueberry jam. Plus, in three separate bowls we got extra toppings of agave syrup, soy whipped cream with chopped nuts and sesame and finally vanilla ice cream.

The bill

Pancake with side salad and Japanese green tea  2678¥
Curry with side salad and Japanese green tea  1814¥

Ain Soph

4 Chome-12-1 Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan

3-6228-4241
visit website
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