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Ain Soph.Journey

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  • Vegan Vegan
    ( 55 reviews )
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3-8-9, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, 160-0022

The 2nd of Ain Soph vegan restaurants, est. 2013, this one is the Shinjuku-ku District and has party space available for rental. Serves plant based Japanese-French fusion meals and seasonal desserts. Casual-chic atmosphere. Open Mon-Sun 11:30am-2:00pm, Mon-Sat 6:00pm-11:00pm, Sun 6:00pm-10:00pm.

Category: Vegan, International, Japanese, Organic, Beer/Wine, Take-out, French, Fusion

Reviews (55)

First Review by BlisterBlue

Great atmosphere - Edit

This place is so lovely inside.
The staff are really nice, I've only ever tried the rice dishes they serve at lunch time. They aren't bad, but they aren't amazing either.
Its definitely a cute place to catch up with friends and relax.

Pros: Great atmosphere, Pancakes, Sweet staff

Cons: More options on the menu


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Cosy and somewhat avant garde - Edit

This little gem is hiding away downstairs an almost rough looking stairway, that soon opens up into one trendy little restaurant. The kitchen is downstairs, dining up above.

We had the scrambled egg, some sort of mushroom dish and rice, and a veggie and rice dish. All were different, yet all were good. The scrambled eggs were not really like scrambled eggs of the poultry variety, but nice nontheless. The veggie hit was a welcome change also.

Staff were very friendly, and some English was spoken so there were no issues with communication. Recommend if you're after a slightly more expensive dinner.

Pros: Lovely food, Friendly staff, Cool interior and design


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Great food - Edit

Really good cozy restaurant. I had the fajitas and the tiramisu pancakes. The fajitas were amazing and the pancake was divine - possibly the best vegan desert I've ever had! Went with a friend who is gluten-intolerant and they had several options for her too. Would definitely recommend it.

Pros: Cozy, Decent sized portions

Cons: Maybe a tad pricey


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Must try the pancakes! - Edit

I tried many things from this restaurant. The vegan cheese plate (only available during dinnertime) had very tasty cheese, my omnivorous family could not tell the difference from regular cheese! However, we were given only two slices of a baguette, which was not enough to finish the cheese. We ended up eating more than half of the cheese on its own.

I had a bite of the tortilla roll, it tasted very cumin-ey.

The Deep-fried veggie meat was crispy, juicy and delicious while the vegan cutlet was also crispy and quite tasty.

Tomato soup was savoury and delicious. Spanish omelette was mushy and quite bland.

Hayashi rice was okay. I felt like it could have a little more flavour.

Now on to the best part of this place. The pancakes! Inside the nicely crisp outside of the buttery pancakes were soft, fluffy and pillowy. The rum-raisin ice cream and the whipped cream complimented the texture and taste of the pancakes. My family preferred the soy whip over regular whipped cream! A must-try for anyone visiting Tokyo!



Updated from previous review on 2017-02-09

Pros: Pancakes, Cheese, Pancakes

Cons: A little pricey


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Come for the pancakes - Edit

I was a bit worried about how the experience would be, based on other reviews which mentioned that the portion sizes were small. It's definitely the case for some of the main meals I had but I did come here mainly for the pancakes. They definitely were tasty (1500 yen). I recommend coming here for them, not too sure about those mains.. I also picked up their Snowballs cookies which were absolutely delicious (600 yen for approx 8 balls).
Staff was nice.


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Pancakes - Edit

Was on the bucket list for the longesttt time ever. Finally went, smashed the pancake sand wow those pancakes were just heavenly! The were heavenly pillows of fluff, a slight crispiness on the outside, topped with a decadent maple nut ice cream, delicious fruit sauce, and a large tuft of soy whip cream. Sooo expensive though, could only afford to get that (I'm a student) but it was such an amazing after exam treat. People, if you go to Ain soph you gotta order the pancakes!! They were heavenly! But of course,as previously mentioned, everything at Ain soph is to small portioned and really expensive, but I do believe the pancake experience is worth it wow!


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Come for the pancakes - Edit

Very cute restaurant, our waitress was very very nice, helpful and had great English, unfortunately the food wasn't that great and the portions were pretty small relatively to its prices (if only evey dish would come with some simple rice it could be 4.5 stars review). The pancake was great! and you should definitely drop by for it!

Pros: English menu, great waitress and the upstairs floo

Cons: the price dosen't match the food quantity and qual


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Delicious but Pricey and Small Portions! - Edit

It is wonderful to find somewhere that does nice vegan food in Tokyo, but I found Ain Soph is really expensive. Combined with the small portion sizes I wouldn't return here too often.
The tacos was a reasonable size and came with salad, but the cashew curry was just that - a couple of spoonfuls on a plate with no rice or anything else.
We finished up having a portion of pancakes each - the mango and coconut was amazingly good.
I think this is the most expensive vegan meal we have ever had, and we only had main courses and sweets. Very good though!


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small portions - Edit

Small portions and high prices for the simple quality of the food. $9 for a ginger ale was also steep, even if homemade. I was embarrassed for having dragged my colleague here to try it.


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Delicious - Edit

The food here is amazing, especially the pickles and the fried 'chicken'. However, it's definitely Tokyo prices. A meal for two will set you back 2600 yen or so with one drink and no dessert, it's so convenient though, just 4 steps from c6 exit of shinjukunichome station.
Having said that, the portions were small and for hungry vegans volume is key. The little bits of things to pick at does irritate me sometimes. I want to feel like I ate, and sometimes at ain.soph it's hard to tell afterwards if you ate or not...

Pros: So amazingly delicious , Convenient , Nice atmosphere

Cons: Small portions, Hard seats


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A MUST GO!!! - Edit

As a vegan looking for some exquisite blend between Western and Japanese cuisines, I found this marvelous little perl in the middle of Shinjuku Sanchome. There options are amazing, like pancake, waffle, ice-cream topped with whipped cream, and just so much more! For vegans especially, who only find sophisticated options like these in the US, Ain Soph. Journey is heaven! I even found some of their vegan products, like the whipped cream, better than the ones I find in the US. If you are in for an exotic healthy meal, this is a place you can’t miss! Don’t forget to buy the delicious “Snow Balls” on your way out! They are simply AMAZING!

Pros: taste, location, food presentation

Cons: pricy but worth it, not much English spoken but there is menu in Engli


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Good Healthy Food - Edit

This place is a blessing for vegans! It is a quiet little respite with wonderful service and really good, healthy food with a Japanese flare. I've been in twice. The falafel burger was good but my favorites are the salad bowl (with quinoa and crisp veggies) and the burrito. I'll stop by again for these two treats before leaving town to return to Florida.


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Tokyo Uniform Veg Restaurant Standard (TUVRS) - Edit

There seems to be a secret union of veg restaurants in Tokyo that prescribes the same "book of flavors" to all its members, or something. T's in Jiyugaoka, Olu Olu Cafe, Kushi Garden and Ainsoph all belong to it, plus a bunch more. Eat More Greens was a member of the club, too, but recently added various meat and seafood dishes to the menu so now they've been kicked out of the union. They all taste very similar, some dishes are outright interchangeable. There is a lack of creativity and imagination here, a sort of group think, or maybe a linguistic barrier that prevents them from accessing non-Japanese recipe books. The result is the same old veggie soup, salad, soy chik'n nugget & curry (or hayashi) rice combo. Also, taco rice and/or vegetable tortillas. Go to one of them, eat it, now you know how all the others taste. T's is a little ahead of the pack with execution so go there if you want the best. Ainsoph here has the nicest ambience and staff. (Like many other places though, here too, only one menu per table because, see, we're into "sharing".) Each of these eateries has one or two things on the menu that the others don't have so they don't get caught in their collusion. Ainsoph.Journey has the pancakes. They're pretty good so if you're in the area and the mood, go for it.

Pros: Nice ambience, Nice staff , Nice pan cakes

Cons: Boring TUVRS food, One menu per table

1 Response

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Jankensan 07 Jul 2016 - Hehe, yeah I see your point!


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disappointed - Edit

I went there yesterday, happy that finally can eat whatever i want from menu!
I order 'everything' meal for 3,500yen. There's tomato soup, side salad, wrap, spanish tortilla, 3 deep fried nuggets and tea.
First of all i didn't get my tea. Spanish tortilla was microscopic, literally 2x2cm max. Slightly lack of flavour (i used to love 'original' version back i vegetarian days)
Deep fried meat was nice, same as tomato soup (more like tomato- cabbage but good!)
Wrap- well, it could be awesome, but 3/4 of filling was a lettuce! After having half of wrap, and couldn't eat the another half, as all i could taste was lettuce. There was a lettuce garnish and half of side salad was a lettuce.
So basically, when i put lettuce from all food all together i got FULL plate of lettuce. Paying about £23 for a plate of lettuce and a bit of food Is not what makes me happy.
My boyfriend chose 1500yen dessert plate which was amazing! Same as mojito.
Would definitely back for dessert, but never for a lettuce meal.
Really, i used word 'lettuce' like million times, but it's really all i can remember from my yesterday visit..


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best dessert in Tokyo - Edit

Ok I didn't try every vegan spot in Tokyo but I doubt any place could be these pancakes! The food is good but honestly would have probably been disappointing if the desserts hadn't saved the day.

Pros: dessert, otherwise healthy meal options, all vegan

Cons: didn't accept 5 but saw empty tables, small portions, expensive


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