• 5
• Wonderful meal and furniture

It was New Year’s Day and most of the places on Happy Cow were closed (and we had already eaten at T’s tantan earlier) so I was so happy when someone answered the phone at Poleyale and understood my English enough to tell me they were open until 9pm. The restaurant is a five minute walk from the Koenji-Minami station, in our favorite Tokyo neighborhood, Koenji. There was one man working there who I think is the owner - his name is Takashi and he was very nice. He said there is no menu, just one set-dinner. I read in Timeout they have vegetables delivered from local organic farmers so I think it depends on what's available. I believe this is a vegetarian restaurant. He understood we were vegan and prepared the set accordingly. I loved the meal we had here. It was a bit different from the other vegetarian/vegan set-meals I’ve had in Japan in that it was totally vegetable focused. The meal comes with brown rice and miso soup, but then on the plate we were presented with portions of 5 different vegetables, and what to me tasted like a potato knish. The portions of each vegetable were fairly small, but the flavors were so distinct that I was led to savor the tastes and focus on each one. The bok choy in whatever glaze it was in was my favorite. The vegetables were cooked or pickled or glazed in each case, but served cold. Knish, rice, and soup were hot. I was just full when finished but it wasn’t really enough for my husband. We were served tea afterward. The price, which we realized we didn’t know beforehand, was 2000Y total - so just under $20 for the two of us. The decor of the restaurant is special. All of the tables and chairs are made of beautifully carved wood and the chairs happened to be the most comfortable I’ve dined on during the trip. There was an upright piano and I read that they have live music sometimes. The atmosphere was warm and charming overall. I would recommend this restaurant if you want a healthy, delicious, and unique dining experience in a cool neighborhood. If you are craving something heavy it might not be right for you. We were the only patrons the whole time we were there, so I hope more people hear about this place. Updated from previous review on 2017-01-01