• 5
• Friendly, fun café serving excellent curries

Before we headed to Matsuyama for a 5 night stay, we researched some vegan and veggie places to eat and found Vegreca. The online listing we found described it as part record shop, part veggie café. It's really easy to find - head south on Imabari Dori from the station area until you reach a junction with a Starbucks on it, then head east on a street parallel to some train tracks. Vegreca is at the end of the block on the right. We arrived just as they were opening for the evening. The front of the building is a record shop and there is also a bar and a few tables. Two different curries are served, chalked up on the blackboard behind the bar. Chickpea curry and Thai green tofu curry were on the menu when we visited. We had one of each, and they were delicious, accompanied by brown sticky rice. We also had a couple of side dishes - falafel with dengaku sauce and a snowpea salad. Up to that point, everything was vegan. I couldn't resist the cheesecake for dessert, though! If you skip dessert, you won't have any dairy in your meal. Hot drinks are served with soy milk. The owners were really friendly, and we chatted about music with them a little. While we were eating, some regulars popped in for a drink at the bar. The atmosphere was great, with good music playing, friendly faces, and delicious food. Our bill for three courses and a hot drink each came to around ¥3000 in total. If we're back in Matsuyama again, we'll be eating at Vegreca again! We checked their opening hours on their Facebook page, and there's also a monthly schedule of opening times on their website - we'd recommend you check before heading there, because although Vegreca is open frequently, the opening hours are irregular.