• 4
• Culinary feast in Shibuya. (FIVE STARS!)

This is where I had probably the best dinner since going vegan 3 1/2 years ago, outside my own home. Los Barbados isn’t a vegan or vegetarian restaurant per se but large parts of its menu are, and they are clearly marked. To call this a "restaurant" is perhaps misguiding: this is a hole in the wall in an inconvenient backstreet in Shibuya that seats at most eight people. But the food, mostly African, is the bomb, a feast, a culinary celebration. We ate almost everything vegan on the menu and would have ordered it all again if our stomachs hadn’t called for time out. I’d like to point out highlights but that’s impossible since everything was a highlight. That said, if pressed, I would pick the appetizer platter (Matzah), Nbika (slices of pâté made from seeds), the Moroccan spring roll, the vegan cheese platter, and the Gâteau au Chocolat. The two chefs make everything themselves, including the cheese, the falafel, harissa, hummus etc. The drinks menu is also well diversified, both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic parts of it. Hard to believe all this can be done in such a tiny place. This is a most welcome challenge to the standardized tastes served up in so many traditional vegan places around Tokyo. It *is* possible to do so much better!! Reservations accepted, English spoken. This is hard to find, by the way. It's in a narrow back alley and I doubt a taxi could drop you off directly in front of it. It's in an old building with a narrow corridor on the ground floor that has several other eateries and pubs in it. Outside the building a lit directory lists all the places but Los Barbados is only listed in katakana. However, it is closest to the entrance to the building. A phone call may be necessary to get someone to find you. Happycow does not allow 5-star reviews for non-veg restaurants so that's why there are no 5-star reviews here. Updated from previous review on 2016-04-06