Paprika Shokudo Vegan Restaurant in Shinmachi, Osaka City

We discovered the Happy Cow app. And how happy we are! It’s a lifesaver to find vegan and vegetarian friendly restaurants in Osaka.

Where at first we found it difficult to find any, the app provided quite nicely, helping us to discover Paprika Shokudo Vegan Restaurant conveniently just 100 meters from our apartment in the Shinmachi neighborhood! Good karma must have brought us there!

We have been there twice so far. It’s a quaint place decorated country style, indoor outdoor seating, plenty of greenery and very friendly staff who can speak some English rather well. From the sign outside it reads food made without salt, sugar, GMOS, meat, fish, milk, eggs or chemicals. Sounded good to us! Pretty insane anybody eats any of that stuff to begin with!

Not that I don’t eat ANY dairy. My father is Dutch, and we grew up eating lost of cheese! But I can feel dairy’s effects on me, showing up in my skin, extra mucus and general feeling clogged. Dairy and meat eating has also been related to depression, allergies and even bipolar disorder. So I do what I can and consider myself “Mostly Vegan.” Plus it’s good for the planet! Considering meat eating is destroying it! I just can’t participate in that sort of destruction!

Starting out we’ve had Sun Sun organic blonde ale beer by Yo-Ho Brewing Company in Nagano, or even organic Cannabia pilsner beer made by Kronenbrauerei Rudolf Wahl KG in Germany.

Considering for the Shinto-Religion, Cannabis Sativa L. is the holiest plant to harmonize one with nature, makes sense! Of course you won’t find much harmonizing with nature or Cannabia beer in the United States! Freedom is the biggest myth over there!

The Cannabia beer tastes just like hemp! Tasty, but a bit pricy at 850 ¥ a bottle. We figure we are supporting a good cause – vegan restaurant! There is a large selection of vegan food, including pizzas and pastas.

Vegan deep fried oysters with organic salad, soup and brown rice.

We’ve had some of the Dinner set meals, which come with soup, organic salad and organic brown rice. We tried and loved the deep fried oysters made from mushrooms and tofu, at 1780 ¥.

It came with a nice fresh side of lemon juice and it tasted just like real oysters! No overfishing needed!

Considering the fact that Japan is calling for emergency restrictions on Pacific tuna catches due to overfishing, GEE! Maybe it’s time to stop!

Back in the states we regularly ate Gardein’s Crabless Cakes by the boatload. Super tasty just like crab cakes and guilt-free! OK we broke down and ate some tuna at a Sushi automat out of desperation a couple of times. But we know better now! Cause it makes Steve sick. And for the B vitamins, extra care is needed, like adding some nutritional yeast, which gives me a headache so I can’t eat it.

Sitting out on the patio when it's cool in the evening, enjoying some great Vegan food!

Sitting out on the patio when it’s cool in the evening, on these hot summer Osaka nights! Enjoying some great Vegan food at Paprika Shokudo Vegan Restaurant in Shinmachi, Osaka City, Osaka.

But you have to do what works for you. I mean, survival means eat whatever you really think you need! I think eating clean, humanely raised and slaughtered meat or dairy and fish if you must works fine too.

I had twice the Today’s set meal at 1690 ¥, which included a vegetable and gluten dish covered with melted soy cheese. On another night, the set was Japanese curry, topped with crispy french fry like things. My favorite and not spicy, even though I lov spicy.

Again, delicious, clean food that gives you a clear feeling in the body to eat. It’s pricey, but not really, considering it’s Osaka and this is serious good food! Well worth it!

Soy meat yakiniku donburi (rice bowl with stir fried soy meat with yakiniku sauce.)

On another occasion we also tried the soy meat yakiniku donburi (rice bowl with stir fried soy meat with yakiniku sauce.) at 1190 ¥. Tasty! And everything so lovely presented.

Of course there are tons of vegan desserts, like soy baked cheesecake and soy milk soft ice cream.

Vegan Vibes is a sub-business featured out of the restaurant, that sells T-shirts and other things.

The restaurant also offers a pile of magazines to peruse too, including the Japanese Veggy magazine.

And the great thing is that there is a vegan/vegetarian party the third Saturday of the month, featuring a buffet for 3000 ¥ and a drink for 400 ¥. Opening at 6:30 pm, starting at 7 until 10 pm. We have been taking Japanese lessons, so it will be a great opportunity to try our skills out sometime!

Japanese Veggy magazine