Muramoto

Airhead that I am, I left my camera in the car and then forgot that I could use my cell phone camera, so I don't have any photos, but I would like to say that although a very not vegan Japanese fusion restaurant I just had a very nice vegan meal at Restaurant Muramoto on King Street. There's only one vegan item on the menu (fried tofu in spicy peanut sauce) but the cole slaw can have its dressing subbed out from an egg-based ginger dressing to a vinegar based one.

They also informed me that, although not a menu item, they could make me a vegetable roll. (Or rolls if I was really hungry, but they do serve dishes sized to share.) That was excellent. An inside out roll filled with tempura battered asparagus, topped with sweet carmalized mushrooms and micro greens. I really should have brought a camera, even though it is a little weird to snap photos mid-meal, and it would have been strange once I thought of it to run from the restaurant to the car to get my camera.

They were also kind enough to tip me off that, as in most authentic recipes, the miso soup contained bonito flakes. Well, what in Japanese cooking doesn't?

My dinner tonight also reminds me that I just picked up an excellent, beautiful cookbook at Frugal Muse on Saturday. Shunju is far from a vegan cookbook (if photos of skewered whole fish and liberal bonito use wig you out, you'll want to pass) but there are accidentally vegan items, interesting uses of homemade tofu and soymilk, and great inspiration to be had in the the presentation, cooking styles, and unusual ingredients. (I envy Japan's vegetable choices.) Most recipes are simple, although the ingredients make the dish hard to create at home. (Are any of you able to harvest fresh bamboo shoots in the morning? I can't without a 16-hour plane ride first.) Like The French Laundry, I won't make these foods on a daily basis, but it's fine food porn.