Tokyo, OmetosandoTrueberry, the best vegan café in the cherry blossom area

By Fabienne Dobbe @modelslovefood
23 April '19

Trueberry is a rare thing in Tokyo, as it’s 100% plant-based. The founder, Naoko Nishimura, wanted to provide organic food and build health awareness in Tokyo, so began to work with organic and natural farming farmers in Japan to make cold-pressed juices. The motto of the restaurant is to Enjoy Your Health and Conscious Life!’

The setting

Trueberry has two locations. One in Nakameguro (close to the cherry blossom area) and one in Ometosando, the shopping district. Nakameguro is mostly focussed on take away, so I decided to review the one in Ometosando, so I could to sit in and brunch.

The space

It’s a compact space. There’s a large bar to sit at, or on there’s also a counter against the wall. So you can’t face each other or be at a table. We sat down at the bar so we could see the food being made.

Trueberry is on a side street, so it’s nice and quiet and there’s outside seating if the weather is good.

Everything in the café is wooden- the bar, the shelves, the chairs and the floor. In the background, they softly play quiet music, which is very peaceful!

The little things that make the difference…

If you visit at the beginning of April it will be Sakura season, so visit Trueberry Nakameguro which is really close to one of the most famous cherry blossom  Instagram points in Tokyo.

 

What we ate

We chose the spirulina matcha parfait, a dahl soup and the hot beet smoothie-bowl. A warm smoothie bowl?

The hot beet smoothie was a combo of beetroot, apple, strawberries, bananas, dates and raw cashews all topped off with oats, banana, dried fig, cacao nibs, coconut and goji berries. The base was super creamy and thick and it was a perfect bowl for a cold winter days. It wasn’t too sweet and you could still really taste the beets.

Trueberry have a choice of soups, so we chose the Dahl one. It was a warming blend of yellow mung and mansoor mixed with turmeric, ginger, salt, cumin seeds and coconut oil. It was quite simple: warm, but not hot, so we could eat it straight away, which was very nice.  You could still savour the texture from the beans, as they were not overcooked and pureed which we really enjoyed!

The spirulina matcha parfait had a pretty, dark green base made out of bananas, spirulina, matcha powder, coconut milk, dates, raw cashews and almonds.

It was topped with oats, goji berries, banana pieces, cacao nibs and homemade cashew cream. The cashew cream was very stiff, but a perfect topping on the bowl. I just wish they had toasted the oats or used granola, so that the parfait had a bit more crunch.

The bill

Hot beet smoothie bowl  1430¥
Dahl soup  450¥
Matcha smoothie parfait  1580¥