CLOSED: Rejuve

The good news first: the food at Rejuve is wonderful! I ate here twice and both times it the good was great. The restaurant is easy to find, there's an English (lunch) menu and the atmosphere is relaxing and modern.

For dinner I had "Aranchini in nest", which is stuffed and fried risotto balls. This had the easy taste of fast food, while it was indeed very healthy. My friend had vegan stroganoff, which indeed tastes exactly like the well know meat-dish.

Because of this good experience we went back for lunch a while later. The daily lunch set costs only 1,000 yen and contains a big salad, a smoothie and 3 small plates (in my case mock tuna made from walnuts, onion bread, more salad).

The bad news: Rejuve will close it's doors on 27 December 2015. The company itself will continue as a vegan cooking school, but the restaurant will close.

Tasty and healthy food. The staff is also very kind and helpful. + open kitchen.

I first found this place last year by accident at lunch. It ended up being shockingly better than expected, and has generally remained excellent every time I go. The food quality itself is simply exceptional. Some raw/vegan cuisine can taste a bit bland, but here, it's very flavorful...the seasonings are really well done and they have a knack with spices. And in line with a "raw" restaurant, the ingredients are also very fresh and high quality...some of the best I've encountered anywhere. Awesome desserts as well.

Update: I am revising my review mainly due to noticing the complaints about the lack of English here at Rejuve. Unfortunately, that seems to have been a matter of unlucky timing. The restaurant went through a renewal at the beginning of this year, and the entire menu was revised completely, but only in Japanese. So, for awhile this year, there's been no English menu, but they do seem to be revising them. As of this writing, the lunch menu is fully available in English, the dinner menu about halfway done. So, non-Japanese speakers shouldn't find it that difficult anymore, and hopefully this should only improve with a bit more time.

As for the restaurant changes, the lunch menu is almost the same as before, including excellent vegan versions of stroganoff and rice bowls (donburi). The prices are generally unchanged, only that things like dessert are now separated, whereas before, they were included, so if you're not really a dessert person (my sympathy!), it'll actually be a bit cheaper for you. The dinner menu seems to have more of a "tapas"-like approach now, with a larger number of relatively smaller, less expensive dishes. I've tried about a third of them so far I think, and honestly, everything is consistently delicious.

What has fortunately not changed is the food quality...it remains excellent. Overall pricing is actually a little bit cheaper than before the renewal too. So with that, this is my happiest review revision so far since I finally get to add a star, and Rejuve gets a 5. Actually, this was always one of my Tokyo favourites even with their older (and slightly more expensive) menu, but now it is just not to miss, especially for raw food lovers.

Updated from previous review on Friday October 3, 2014

I came here after reading some glowing reviews, which also mentioned that they had an English menu. I walked past it at first, because there is no signage outside, and the menu boards are only in Japanese. Came back and showed the staff the logo on my phone, asked if it was the place. Staff were lovely but didn't speak English and there was no English menu (or the usual photos of food!) Luckily for me, one of the other customers could speak English and very kindly translated for me. I was brought a small appetizer that I did not order, which I presumed was complimentary, but later found was on the bill. It was delicious though - some sweet potato, a shot glass of soy milk with tomato, and some green noodle salad (I think!) I then had fried potatoes to start, with a lovely herb salt sprinkled on top. My main was mushroom stroganoff with brown rice and some salad leaves. The food was really nice, the staff very cheerful, and the interior was lovely. I thought it was reasonably priced too, but then, i think that about most of the veggie places I've been to in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I would not go back without a Japanese speaker, as it was impossible for me to understand the menu. This is unfortunate, because, based on the quality of the food I had, I think their menu must be really good. To get there, take the Oedo line to Ushigome-kagurazaka station and exit at gate A1. Turn left on street when you exit, walk for about 4 minutes. There doesn't appear to be any signage to the restaurant, but it's on the left, ground floor of a high-rise building, large full-length windows, cool-looking scandi interior.

This was admittedly my first experience eating "Raw Vegan" rather than vegan food which happens to be raw. I went there not because it offered raw food, but because it offered vegan food within a reasonable walking distance of my hotel.

Despite what a previous reviewer said, there was no English menu available (I asked). However, the staff were quite helpful, and showed me photos of various dishes on a tablet as well.

The food was a bit of a mixed bag. Some was amazing, some just ok, nothing terrible though.

My favourite was the vegetable karage (renkon/lotus root the day we were there, though I believe the base vegetable changes). It was amazing, managing to retain the essential flavour of my memories of chicken based karage with the fresh crispiness of the lotus root in a way that I want to try and replicate at home. We also had the onion bread (ok, but nothing to write home about), and the croquettes (pretty decent though I'd be very surprised if they didn't contain cooked potato). There was also a free starter dish served, and the potato mash with pepitas was amazing.

We also had desert, one of each of the day's desserts, a chocolate mousse, and what I think was a take on panna cotta. The mouse was pretty average, while the panna cotta was nice (I'm usually a chocolate person, so this says a lot).

Overall, I'd probably eat there again if I was in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way to. However, as I said at the start, I'm not into Raw Food as such.

The Kagurazaka area is highly-regarded for its premium restaurants though unfortunately almost none of them are even veg-friendly. Rejuve provides a welcome relief. The interior is bright and calm and the restaurant is run by a young Japanese woman who used to live in Seattle. The menu isn't large but still has nice variety and features vegan, raw, and gluten free dishes (clearly marked). 3 types of fresh smoothies are available daily. I had the quinoa tabbouli salad with basil 'mayo', the pick 3 appetizer set, and the amazake & root vegetable gratin. Flavors are sophisticated and the seasonings are well-chosen to bring out the freshness of the organic, locally sourced vegetables. Desserts were also available though I didn't try any this time. Compared to similar restaurants in Tokyo, portion sizes were average although Westerners may find them small. Overall, a very pleasant dining experience. Fluent English speaking staff available. Some days may be closed for private events so please check their online calendar or call to confirm.