Art Elk Cafe

I had some tasty food here. Good range of veggie options here. I recommend the side of tofu. Friendly staff and English menu make it a good experience.

Cute cafe on the first floor that's warm and cosy with friendly staff who can speak English. Tried the vegan platter and vegan fried udon. Both were pretty good. We had to try the chocolate cake of course which was moist and not too sweet. If you come here and the place happens to be closed, don't fret. Vegan okonomiyaki is just a few shops to the right of this place (Natagaya).

Not entirely vegan however they do have some vegan options and the owner was telling me she wants to increase the menu.

Been multiple times, chocolate cake highly recommend and the staff speak basic English, extremely friendly. Go and support the vegan options

Delightful little Cafe, helpful and friendly staff and tasty vegan food. Moderately priced, but you get a good amount of food and it's yummy. Especially the vegan chocolate cake! Thanks very much!

I have travelled to a lot of places and visited many restaurants and eaten many vegan chocolate cakes. The one at Art Elk was the absolute best! I even asked the owner if she was sure it was vegan because it was so good and moist!

We went in this restaurant twice because it is in a great position and the food tastes sooo good!! I ate udon with vegetables(super good!) , tenpura, edamame, miso soup and chocolate cake (all of that was vegan and presented in a very nice way) you have to try the chocolate cake!!!! One of the best vegan dessert I've ever tasted!! I took one slice of it away for my breakfast of the day after!
Host speaks english and she's very very kind!!

le personnel est très accueillant, nous avons opté pour les Yakiudon (udon sautés aux legumes) et le plat du jour (soupe miso,tempura de légumes, edamane, tofu moelleux avec une sauce sucree et des carrés de potiron, tout était très bien cuisiné et goutu. Nous n'avions plus de place pour le dessert mais cela paraissait délicieux.

Easy to miss but worth a visit, just outside the downtown market area and near to the Peace Museum and park. It was on the second floor opposite a hobby/games/otaku shop (also worth a visit). I wasn't expecting to find anywhere on our quick visit to Hiroshima but this place was a good find.

I had the Udon noodle dish and my partner had a mixed platter. We shared some tempura fried vegetables. The host spoke perfect English and was welcoming on a fairly quiet day. The dishes were presented on very upscale crockery. The prices were very fair and the dishes were very filling. Pudding was a chocolate cake for my partner and I tried the Banana Spring Roll - it sounds interesting, and is interesting, but I probably would have had something else in retrospect. Beer and wine reasonably priced.

Didn't have much time to explore Hiroshima restaurants but this was a lucky find.

During our 4 night stay in Hiroshima, we visited Art Elk Cafe 3 times. On the first two occasions we stopped by for lunch and had the Excellent Vegan Platter consisting of miso soup, onigiri, tofu, salads and tempura.

The night we went for dinner the menu was much the same with a couple of additional side options. I had the Hiroshima Yakiudon which was delicious with a side of garlic bread which they were able to make vegan for me! I ended the meal with a banana spring roll.

All staff speak very good English as it seems like they hold English lessons in the cafe itself. The staff are friendly, knowledgable and attentive.

On our final visit the owner (?) came and spoke to us and while not vegan herself, was very interested in veganism and providing for her vegan customers.

Add this one to the must do list in Hiroshima!

We went twice to Art Elk Cafe to enjoy the delicious vegan chocolate cake they offer :)
Because it is a "non vegetarian restaurant" happy cow only allows to give 4 out of 5 - the cake deserves a "5 stars" :)

We were very happy to come across the Art Elk Cafe (thanks to HappyCow). The food was fantastic especially the stir fried Udon noodles. We had to visit twice to get another feed of the delicious udon dish. The venue was fantastic and the decor lovely. The prices were not too expensive (and not cheap). Easy to find and the staff are fantastic with English too.

Located in a prime area within 2 minutes walking distance of PEACE MEMORIAL PARK and recommended by our fabulous HIS tour guide NAOMI, my mother (non-vegan) husband & I (both vegan) visited, last night for dinner, the ELK CAFE & BAR at 1-7-23 otematchi, naka-ku in Hiroshima.

We had the "EXCELLENT VEGAN PLATTER" which consisted of miso soup (no fish broth), tempura, rice balls, tofu steak and grilled veggies. Sake and homemade lemonade for drinks were also scrumptious. Vegan menu options written in English and prepared by owner and cook AYUMI were well presented, well priced and delicious.

The service was prompt, attentive and in very good English. The atmosphere was super-friendly and other guests also spoke excellent English.

I'll be back on my next trip to Hiroshima. Thank you Ayumi.

A lovely, friendly and cool place and a haven for a vegan. Friendly staff and customers alike and the food is the nicest I've tasted in the 5 days I've been in Japan so far. Pudding too!

I enjoyed the veggie set with tempura. It was very tasty and the lady serving was super helpful offering alternatives to the menu for my meat eating companion. The number of choices is limited.

We had a nice Christmas Dinner at this place. Food was very good and staff was friendly and spoke English. Would go again!

The food here is really nice! They have a good English menu, the chefs speak English, it's cozy af.
Portions aren't that big. My girlfriend and I ordered 3 dishes to fill us up, but hey that's ok I guess. We really did like the food! ^_*

I highly recommend to stop by this place, it's cozy and the food is amazing. Plus it's an unbeatable value ( I rarely ate that much and that healthy for the price during my stay in Japan) . Ambiance is really nice and relaxed. Music is good. What else ? Thank you sooo much for the delicious meal !
As I said to the kind owner: I wish I could eat like this everyday.

Stumbled upon this hidden gem accidently whilst visiting the memorial museum. Adorable little place with the friendliest most accomodating service I have ever experienced!!! The waitress(may have been the owner) was attentive to our needs and was helpful and informative. The vegan Japanese platter was a generous size with a delicious selection of items. We ordered the banana spring rolls which she advised they were out of and whipped us up a delicious caramelised cinnamon banana dish with raspberry sauce (not on the menu). The tofu steak was one of the tastiest I have ever had!!! Highly recommend to any vegans visiting Hiroshima. Pricing is reasonable for such a personalised experience. 10/10 service and an overall lovely experience! Will be visiting again!! Happy cow will only allow a 4 star review because this isn't a strictly veg restaurant but you would be a fool to let that deter you!

My friend and I stumbled across this restaurant on our way to the Peace Park and we are so glad we did! Large portion of vegan Japanese food, complete with miso soup, edamame, rice, pickled veg, and an amazing tofu steak! The tofu steak was incredible - beautifully pan fried with a delicious sauce. The owner/chef hand picked fresh mint from the window box just outside the window next to our table for our iced teas. When they had run out of spring roll wrappers, the chef made us a different dessert from bananas and cinnamon and raspberry compote - simple but amazing! They were careful to make everything vegan and were very accommodating. The price is low-moderate - around 4500 yen for two courses and large iced teas for two, not sure why others are complaining about the price. If anything, the service and friendliness of the staff is worth the price alone! Wish we were spending more time here so we could come back tomorrow. Will visit again in the future! Thanks for an amazing meal.
Updated from previous review on Tuesday November 24, 2015

Highly recommend this spot! Excellent and healthy food at a great price. Very friendly staff.

We first wanted to try this restaurant on a wednesday for lunch, but it was closed. Even though it should have been open (open hrs are 10:30 to 22:00 and they were closed at 12:30). We tried again Thursday evening for dinner and they were open. Vegan platter was good although the tofu steak is just marinated tofu, not steak. Don't bother ordering a cocktail as there is no alcohol in them.

The cafe is on the first floor very close to the atomic bomb memorial. A little confusion with the waitress at first and needed to confirm chicken is not vegetarian. However, after checking with the chef I was confident my order was understood. I opted for the vege set menu which was delicious and looked wonderful. Lots of flavour and very tasty tofu steak with an amazing dressing. Chatted with the chef and other staff who spoke good English and were extremely friendly. No regrets in trying this place!

We did not know that the restaurant closes 6pm on Wednesday and so we came 7.30 pm. There were still personal in the restaurant. As we asked if it is open as there was no one in they said closed and asked if we are vegetarian or vegan. As we said yes, they offered to cook for us as they knew it is difficult to get vegan. That was so kind as we never would have expected that. We got a very delicious vegan meal. We only can recommend that place. Beside that it is very close to the A Bomb dome and peace memorial park.

Don't be fooled by the fact this place also sells meat. You'd be an absolute fool not to go here.
The staff are so goddamn friendly and speak great English. My waitress was so lovely and helpful, and even said my Japanese was amazing... Which is a lie, albeit a nice one.

The vegan food was phenomenal. I've been in Japan for three months trying a lot to vegan food, and this was by far the best tasting and best quality food I've had. Goddamn it was good. And big portions! My Omni boyfriend also loved his Omni meal.
The dessert was so good that I literally ordered two of the same and ate them back to back. And they added extra cream and some fruit sauce onto my second one because they are awesome.

seriously. Go here.

Lovely and welcoming cafe with vegetarian and vegan options. The staff were very pleasant and I even got to taste a new vegetarian dish! The vegetarian platter itself was delicious. Very welcoming place for happy cow users and very close to hiroshima peace Park. highly recommended :)

Lovely and friendly place, nice food and friendly and helpful staff.
We had to wait a bit longer for our lunch and were offered a bowl of grapes as apology.
Had the veg platter, tasty but the tofu was a bit cold.
The coffee was delicious, asked for strong.
Would go back again!

basically serves Costco stuff for over 300 percent value
portions are small service is slow and the owner lurked like a zombie around my table all the time i was there

Great service. See rate vegan/ veg menu. Two f us had the european lunch set and found the pancakes a bit bland. Two had the Japanese set and really enjoyed it. The men found the servings a little small and we would all have liked more of the mushrooms! We all enjoyed the vegan mud cake though. definitely worth a visit.

Had a really awesome time at Artcafe ELK while staying in Hiroshima. Their vegan chocolate cake was great and they have a nice vegan set Japanese menu. The price is a little high, but the staff was amazing to make up for it. One night I went there to just get a drink and some cake and I sat with some people trying to work on their English. I had a really fun conversation with people at the bar and the staff and then they ended up paying for my food because I helped them with English. Definitely stop by if you are vegan and support this awesome place.

We went to Artcafe ELK twice, the first one we instantly felt we were in the right place, surrounded by a friendly atmosphere. The place was full, so they let us stay at the lunch counter, that was in front of the kitchen. We had the chance to talk all evening long with the owner, the chef and some customers.. We loved it! We felt like in a friend's house.
They have a Vegan/Vegetarian Menu, with multiples options. We tried 3 different things and we liked them all.
We've been traveling around Japan for a month, we've been trying lots of Vegan restaurants and we can tell that it is not easy to find places like this in Japan! If you come by Hiroshima, you must come here (and have Yaki Udon!).

The food was nice, although a bit overpriced (slightly over 1000 yen for a small plate of food), but it was vegetarian and the staff were very careful to ask what I could and could not eat (e.g. dairy). What made the place so great were the staff. They spoke very good English, and let me sit there all afternoon talking to them, and they gave me lots of recommendations of places to go in Japan. The place is easy to find. I will definitely go back if I ever in Hiroshima again!

We arrived at Artcafe ELK very hungry after a long day with little food, to find them closed. However the owner/chef was still inside and opened up just for us. There were no vegan items on the menu, but after saying I was vegan, the owner/chef understood and modified the meal for me. I had vegan panini with a salad, lotus root chips, and mashed potato. It was delicious, and I was overjoyed.

The next day was our last day in Hiroshima, so we decided to go back. This time we sat at the bar and spent the evening talking to the two people working. They both had excellent conversational-level English, and were all round incredibly friendly and helpful people, advising us on various vegan ingredients that can be sourced in Japan. That night I had vegetable stir-fry (not on the menu, but it was delicious), the "vegetarian plate" which was just miscellaneous vegan food items (very nice), and a dessert of green tea flavoured shaved ice with red bean (don't judge it, it was much better than it sounds).

Overall it was a fantastic experience. If I ever go back to Hiroshima I'll be sure to visit again.

The place was nice and the staff very friendly. It also helped that they al spoke English. The portions were small so we each ordered 2 dishes. Much better for vegetarians than vegans. Not many options.

We spent several days in Hiroshima and were fed up of rice balls and inari, when we stumbled upon Artcafe ELK on our way back from Hiroshima Peace Park. Right at the end of Hondori Shopping St on your way to the park, the big sign 'Vegetarian Tourists Welcome' was a massive relief! The staff spoke perfect English, were incredibly friendly and accommodating, and had a separate vegetarian menu offering a lunch plate, pizza, panini and soup and understood exactly what vegan meant and how to adapt the menu to suit. We ordered the panini no cheese and no original sauce (they added salsa instead) and the pizza with no cheese - and it was delicious! At 700 yen each, it was an incredibly cheap meal too :) We went twice, and would recommend it to any vegans/vegetarians in the area!