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JAPAN
Japan is known for its rich history, unique culture, and technological innovation. It blends ancient traditions with modern advancements, offering a fascinating contrast of old and new. A foodie's paradise, with a whole plethora of dining options and Japanese food available. Eating gluten free is not easy, it has to be said - but it is possible! A bit of grit and determination is needed but it is well worth the effort.
TOKYO
ASAKUSA
Gonpachi
Gonpachi is a great restaurant for gluten free - they have a whole GF menu with sushi, tempura and more. Really cool, vibe too. The restaurant has two floors and there's bar seating around the kitchen on both floors to sit right in front of the action. The service was great and food was delicious. I had shrimp tempura and hand rolled sushi with GF soy sauce.
Torasuzu
We went here on our last day in Japan. They have GF soy sauce, the waiter was extremely helpful and went through the whole menu with us and there were lots of GF options. I had a wagyu rice box!
Kuroboshi Sweets
Churro shop, all of the churros are GF!
Tempura Asakusa
This was a brilliant meal, one of the best we had in Japan. A very small restaurant with only 10 or so bar seats - worth booking. The entire menu is GF - all the tempura is GF! We got two different platters to share - beautifully cooked and so tasty! On the pricier side but very good value.
SHIBUYA
Tenkazushi
Sushi train restaurant. Really good fun and feels very authentic Japanese. I must say that this place did not advertise GF food or sushi but I had my own GF soy sauce and chose sushi which was obviously GF. I would recommend talking to staff and asking what dishes are GF or not. A lot of sushi dishes appear to be GF but contain soy sauce! Really good value as well, not too expensive at all.
Rizlabo Café
SHINJUKU
MoMo Paradise Meijidori
This was such a fun restaurant and I highly recommend visiting. The concept is basically a buffet style, all you can eat hot pot restaurant. Hot pot the dish is Chinese, not Japanese. The staff spoke impeccable English and they walk you through how it all works. You essentially choose a selection of meat, a broth and then help yourself to the vegetables buffet style. They have a separate GF broth and all the ingredients have allergens listed at the buffet. They have GF soy sauce and dipping sauces too. Our waiter Katsu was exceptional! Please note that this place is a chain restaurant and each place is slightly different (not all like the below). The one below is in Shinjuku, not too far from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office buildings.
OSAKA
Genjisoba
We stayed in Namba which is slap bang in the middle of Osaka - great location for the metro and walkable for a lot of cool districts. Genjisoba was a quaint little restaurant that offers GF soba and GF tempura. Soba can be served hot or cold (I recommend hot) and it is 100% buckwheat noodles in a tasty broth. They come with mixed GF tempura which is delicious. They also sell GF soy sauce if you need any!
Cooking Sun Osaka - Sushi Making Class
Definitely recommend doing a sushi-making class whilst in Japan. Cooking Sun have studios in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. They get booked up days in advance so it's worth doing a bit of planning and booking a class beforehand.
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Cooking Sun were great with gluten free, they had their own GF soy sauce and replaced certain items that weren't gluten free. Small classes of around 8 people or so, you get to make a wide variety of different sushi and then at the end of the class you eat the sushi you've made!
Haccha Booth - gluten free crepes!
Haccha Booth is a little pancake booth, all the crepes are gluten free. Amazing GF pancakes, the perfect non-Japanese sweet treat!
Engine Ramen
A ramen place that offers GF ramen and dumplings. Portion sizes are very generous and I wasn't overly keen on my ramen but it was great to see a place offering GF ramen nonetheless.
Kobe Beef
There is a restaurant inside, but we went to the permanent food stall outside. Prepare to pay tourist prices... not cheap at all! I asked whether their wagyu rice bowl contained gluten or soy sauce and they said no. We ordered a Kobe Wagyu rice bowl and a rice burger. Despite the cost, I really recommend this place as the quality of meat is unreal and you can pay for the certain grade of Wagyu, the steak literally melts in your mouth and is so flavourful!
Vegan Café Tsuki Neko
A vegan café that also does various gluten free meals. They do GF/ vegan pancakes. Not the best Japanese pancakes we had but I was happy to have been able to have GF pancakes!
KYOTO
Cafe & Bar Maru
This lovely place definitely exceeded my expectations. The whole menu is GF, there's a lovely selection of Japanese food available. We had deep fried chicken, onigiri rice balls and tempura selection. Everything was delicious - highly recommend.
Waco Crepes
Another GF haven thats tucked away in Kyoto. All of the crepes here are buckwheat (GF). Super friendly ladies that run the café and the crepes are delicious. We went twice in one day! They also sell GF soy sauce if needed.
Menbaka Fire Ramen
A small ramen restaurant that likes to lay on the theatrics - hot oil on the ramen with huge flames which they film for you and some rather gimicky photos being taken. They had a small GF menu with GF ramen and dumplings available. Despite the theatrics, the ramen was actually very tasty and I enjoyed the dumplings.
Moon and Back Ramen Bar
Another more westernised venue with GF ramen available, vegan options as well. This was my favourite GF ramen out of all the places we went to. They had a lovely little selection of desserts too, some of which were GF which was a nice touch. I had a beef ramen and a basque cheesecake with ice cream!
