Vegan Lunch at Revive Kitchen THREE, Hibiya
Translated from my original Japanese post (2020). 日本語の原文を読む →
Salut! It's Yoko, a food blogger who's loosely vegan these days.
I went to THREE Revive Kitchen on the 2nd floor of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya!
THREE Revive Kitchen
THREE is "that" THREE, the well-known cosmetics brand! Many women may know it.
THREE Revive Kitchen has a theme of modern shojin ryori (Buddhist temple cuisine) and also seems to offer vegan-friendly menu items.
THREE's brand concept is apparently "creativity"...
[ 3 ] is a number that means creation.
Just as this world is made of yin and yang,
something unknown, a new essence, is born between opposites: nature and technology, unchanging reason and shifting modes, scattered individuality and unwavering balance. By multiplying values that are far apart, a third value beyond imagination begins to exist within each person.
Eventually it leads to a self you don't yet know. That is the creativity of THREE.
Vegan, modern shojin cuisine... it does match the concept of creativity.
I headed to lunch excited to see what dishes would come out!
The interior looks like this, a chic monotone design. You can also watch the cooking in the open kitchen.
As a COVID precaution, the windows were open and the staff wore masks!
The kitchen and seats are a bit apart, so you can eat in peace.
Lunch Menu with Vegan Options
This is the lunch menu.
The cheapest starts at ¥1,500, which feels a bit pricey for lunch around Hibiya.
True to its modern shojin theme, I saw no dishes with meat at all! Very convenient for vegans!
It seems they mainly use plant-based ingredients like vegetables and beans.
A few items like quiche use eggs or dairy, but they seemed to be 10% of the menu at most...
You can also talk to the staff, so if you have allergies or preferences, it's a good idea to tell them in advance.
The Summer Ichiju-Gosai Set
This time I ordered the "Summer Ichiju-Gosai Ozen" (one soup, five side dishes) for ¥1,800. Everything except the Spanish omelette is vegan, and it's made up entirely of vegetables.
After about 20 minutes, this was brought out!
It's so beautiful...
The colors are lovely!
The [five side dishes] listed on the menu were:
Spanish omelette; okra and bitter melon fritters with spices; celery and coriander ohitashi (blanched vegetables in broth) with hemp seeds; zucchini and kiwi green salad with green mustard sauce; and winter melon, soy meat and shiitake wonton with kuzu sauce. But one of them had apparently been changed: I couldn't find the celery and coriander ohitashi!!
Instead it was a beet and grapefruit marinade?
Perhaps because the menu describes everything in such detail, nothing was explained when the food arrived. But since one dish had changed and there were interesting combinations, I think I'd have enjoyed it even more if they'd told us a bit about where ingredients came from and what they'd done to prepare them!
Everything was very lightly seasoned, with almost no saltiness. If you're watching your salt, you can relax.
Also, the new onion, zucchini and tomato in the ume vinegar clear soup were almost raw, with a firm texture.
I think they were intentionally left uncooked.
Lately it seems many restaurants, probably because nutrients aren't destroyed, serve RAW (as unprocessed as possible) dishes that are almost raw.
Vegan restaurants especially.
The crisp texture is pleasant, but there were many sour and refreshing pairings (beet and grapefruit, cucumber and kiwi, ume vinegar and vegetables), and I'd have liked a bit more variety!
Also, the filling of the winter melon, soy meat and shiitake wonton with kuzu sauce was somehow bitter. Why?!
Soy meat alone shouldn't be bitter, so something else must have been responsible, and it bugged me a little.
It's probably the taste of some healthy ingredient (bitter medicine is good medicine, as they say), but I should have asked the staff!
The tonburi (kochia seeds) and takuan (pickled daikon) rice with shiso and myoga was fun, with the popping texture of the tonburi.
And my favorite was the kiwi and cucumber salad! It was my first time with that combination, and I was surprised by how well they go together.
I like kiwi, so I'll try it myself next time.
So overall it was a healthy lunch.
Strangely, even when the cooking is simple, with colorful ingredients you feel full just from looking at it.
Personally I was more curious about the sweets, like the rice milk ones, so next time I'd like to go for tea!
It's a stylish place that vegans and non-vegans can both enjoy, so if you're curious, please go!
*It's quite crowded, so I recommend reserving online.
THREE REVIVE KITCHEN THREE HIBIYA
THREE REVIVE KITCHEN THREE HIBIYA
Tokyo Midtown Hibiya 2F, 1-1-2 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0006
11:00-20:00, irregular holidays (follows Tokyo Midtown Hibiya's closing days)
03-6831-4620
