Chaya Macrobiotic - M Deli
Closed as of Aug 1
Hours
Daily
- 11am - 10pm
Profile
Neighborhood
- Shinjuku
Smoke-free?
- Yes
Reservations?
- Not Accepted
Wheelchair Accessible?
- Yes
Accepts
$$ - average
Japanese, Eclectic (Fusion), Eclectic (Varied)
Vegan eclectic & Japanese food
M Deli is a macrobiotic food station located in the underground food court area of Isetan department store (a few blocks from Shinjuku station). This place appears to be all vegan, but they have a large restaurant in the same building that serves tons of fish, so it wouldn't hurt to double check. Neither place uses egg, dairy, or other meat.
As everything else in Japan, all the food comes in tons of plastic, and the containers say "M Deli" but the big sign behind the counter says "Chaya Macrobiotic" so I'm not sure what the name of the restaurant actually is.
They have potato salad, tofu, veggie, seaweed and cabbage dishes, along with veggie burgers, other fake meats, and some desserts. All the food is premade and either packaged, or is weighed and then packaged. You can get a mini sampler (the size of an appetizer) for about 700 yen or a larger one (a meal) for around 1200 yen.
Exit Shinjuku station at the EAST exit (very important). When you walk out, face the huge buildings with monster TVs and the JCB credit card electric display. Walk to this side of the street and take a right. Walk about 5 minutes until you get to the Isetan store and go in and go downstairs (below the cosmetic/shoe level).
- Macrobiotic
Added by Cass Danger on Sep 27 07 (updated Aug 13)
Reviews
Take the west exit of Shinjuku station, go right a couple blocks until you see the Isetan building, and go in the basement to the food court.
The food was pretty good, but the portions were small, but I guess that's pretty much how it is in Japan. I had a sampler platter and really enjoyed the tofu "meatballs" with peppers, and the potato salad, which tasted eerily non-vegan. My favorite item was this sort of breaded patty with cream dipping sauce (tasted sort of like mayonaise). I have no idea what the patty was made out of, perhaps ground up chickpeas, veggies and soy, but it had a pleasant curry taste to it and a great texture.
We searched for this in the giant basement that has a huge number of similar looking counters. Eventually we asked for help and were told that the restaurant is still there on the 7th floor, but that the deli counter was not downstairs any more (assuming I understood her kind attempts to speak English correctly). There must have been over 100 counters, but we did spend about 30 minutes looking up and down aisles with no luck.