True to its name, Tudore Tranquility sits in the serene residential area of Yoyogi-Uehara, not too far from the soothing greenery of Yoyogi Park.
Advertising itself as Japan’s “First Fine Dining Vegetarian Restaurant,” this upscale gastronomic hideaway for the herbivores aims for an ambience of peaceful tranquility coupled with impeccable service.
But the question remains as to whether or not vegetarian specialty restaurants can be successful in Japan. Though the Japanese in general tend to embrace all things “western” with wholehearted gusto, the surging popularity of vegetarianism in the Western Hemisphere has yet to find currency among the people of this nation, which counts sushi and grilled meat dishes such as yakiniku and yakitori as its staple foods.
Mamta Reid, owner and chef of Tudore Tranquility, would like to change this culinary mindset through her healthy vegetarian cuisine, one client at a time. Her herbivorous dishes–“plant-based cuisine,” as Ms. Reid likes to call them–are exclusively made from her original recipes and are carefully prepared and presented.
They are also highly nutritious for vegetarian cuisine: ingredients selected are for the most part organic and avoid the pitfalls of carbohydrates, white sugar, and such.
Growing out of her catering business Maroema, Ms. Reid’s newly launched restaurant, in business since October, offers a full eight-course prix fixe for ¥12,000.
Reflecting the chef’s Zambian-Jamaican background, her innovative culinary style blends modern vegetarian cuisine with Japanese and Caribbean twists. According to Ms. Reid, it’s a “melting pot” in the literal sense rather than being “fusion.”
One of the entries, for example, combines green shiso leaves with grilled cottage cheese topped with soya and shoga ginger sauce, while fresh zucchini gives an accent to the plate.
Spicy and sweet tropical smoothies are served between the entries, mixing ingredients such as basil, coconuts, and soya milk. These smoothies function as “palate cleansers” and help diners prepare for the dish to come.
The chef is careful to select fresh seasonal veggies, and the main entry for this season is Halloween-themed: a hard-shell baby pumpkin dish stuffed with blood red beets.
Tudore Tranquility also holds a cooking class for women every Thursday from 10am to noon (¥8,000), which comes with lunch.
For the next two months, the restaurant is kindly offering a discount of 50 percent, exclusive to the readers of this magazine. Please mention Metropolis and you can enjoy the finest veggie prix fixe in town at half the original price. With such a generous offer, Tudore Tranquility might have the recipe for success after all.
1F, 2-6-16 Uehara, Shibuya-ku. Yoyogi-Uehara. 080-5086-3469. tudoretranquility@maroema.org. www.tudoretranquility.org
