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• Lovely Veggie Oasis in Honmachi

Although less well known than other vegetarian / vegan cafes in Osaka, I've recently come to love this tranquil spot, nestled between Honmachi and Shinsaibashi on the Shinsaibashi suji covered shopping street. Although they don't display themselves as vegan, their menu is actually completely vegan EXCEPT for the supplement packets they give out with meals, which contain vitamins from shell fish. You can politely decline these and they will understand. I've asked several times and was told that they use kombu dashi rather than fish dashi in their soups. I've eaten their vegetable curry with rice and salad, the 1,000 yen lunch set with onigiri and several deli items, their macrobiotic cookies, the gluten-free take away cakes, the sachertorte cake, the brown rice waffle, and a recent lunch special with soy meat balls. Their food is authentic Japanese macrobiotic cooking, simple but flavourful and really nice. The pricing is reasonable, and they have an English menu as well (although the staff don't really speak English). If you go right at lunch hour, expect it to be bustling, but throughout the afternoon it is always very quiet. They are open 12noon - 6pm, most days except national holidays. My only big complaint is that they don't use real cups or mugs for most of the drinks, instead having paper cups for both water and hot beverages. I've had tea there twice now, and each time they even put a plastic lid on the cup even though it was to stay! This is both aesthetically unappealing, and so awful for the environment. They also used a miniature paper cup with a plastic lid for the waffle syrup on the side, and I don't understand why a small ceramic one couldn't be used instead. Otherwise, I really enjoy this spot and would definitely recommend it! Updated from previous review on 2016-08-23