My Vegan {Foodie} Life: Vegan Ramen at Mensho Tokyo SF

Located in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco, Mensho Tokyo SF is a small joint that opened in February of 2016 and is the first US location of the well known Tokyo brand. And it was major hyped on almost every site that I searched for vegan in San Francisco, so I did something I normally would NEVER do to check it out.

I stood in line for almost an hour to get into a restaurant, yes stood in line for almost AN HOUR. And I didn’t complain about it for a second. Why?  I am not sure. I was just in a really good mood. And also because I was so incredibly curious to see what all the hype was about but even more so, I was stoked to find a place that had vegan ramen.

Like real ramen, not the bagged/boxed variety with the powdered sauce packets.  But ramen prepared with love and tradition, like the kind in Ramen Girl starring Brittany Murphy, (rest her soul). I have always loved that movie and the way it shared the art of ramen has always been something I wanted to experience.

So, as an authentic Japanese ramen virgin as it were, and knowing that the dish normally contains pork & other meat and well, I am vegan who doesn’t do meat, I really didn’t know what to expect. But I was still game and hungry and ready to get into it after having waited for over an hour.

As a solo diner, I ended up seated at a small bar with a view of the kitchen which was kinda cool. And when they brought my bowl out, my first impression was “ohh it’s very colorful but where are the noodles?”. My initial noodle disappointment was met with surprise after my first sip and I was hooked.

The vegan ramen at Mensho Tokyo does in deed have noodles, mushrooms, nuts and flavors galore {Check out how it is made here}. And I can’t even really describe the flavors. They were definitely unlike any that I have ever had before and I was so busy eating that I only got the one picture of it above but I did capture this snapchat video.

I am definitely itching to experience these unique flavors again but I don’t live in San Francisco, so I plan to try a couple of spots that serve vegan ramen here in Chicago. I also want to try to make some myself but I am not sure when that would happen but…