Engawa Café: Hokuto City (Vegan)

Located in Hokuto City, Yamanashi, lies a stylish café within the walls of a renovated, traditional Japanese-style house built over 100 years ago: Engawa Café. A cute goat welcomes you near the entrance, and just like the name states, you can gaze out at the beautiful green pastures from the veranda (“engawa,” in Japanese).

Engawa Café opened in 2009 by a married couple. The husband, previously a ramen chef, and the wife, previously an Italian cuisine chef, worked together to create the café’s unique menu, which includes pizza and ramen. Their ramen, pizza, other dishes and desserts can be enjoyed fully vegan as well.

Veganism hits close to home for their family. When their child developed an allergy at a young age, they starting gathering information about food, and made a friend who was vegan. This helped them realize how plant-based food has the ability to bring out the deliciousness of the vegetables used. And so, they decided to make their diets primarily plant-based, and switch their café menu to one that is vegetable-centered.

The Yatsugatake area is known for being a region blessed with an abundance of fresh and delicious vegetables. The Engawa couple had both previously been working as professional chefs, so they knew they could trust vegetables from Yatsugatake to provide unmatched flavors.

Each dish has a gentle flavor, reminiscent of a nice home-cooked meal. Fermented foods such as salted koji and amazake are often used in their cooking, bringing out the natural flavor of the vegetables.

Engawa Café’s most popular dish is their “engawa ramen.”

It has chashu (pork) seasoned with herbs, giving it a light yet rich flavor.

▲Engawa ramen

They also have a veggie ramen popular among vegetarian/vegan customers. The soup stock is produced from konbu, and sake, mirin, and soy sauce are used for flavoring. It is topped with an assortment of seasonal vegetables to finish.

▲Veggie tsukemen ramen

The cheese on their veggie pizza is also vegan, using a combination of tofu, miso, rice flour, sesame oil, and olive oil.

▲Veggie pizza

The okazu (side dish) plate comes with a set of three different types of side dishes, quiche, and a soup. This dish is generally prepared with non-vegan ingredients, but they can prepare it as a vegan dish for you as per request.

▲Okazu (side dish) plate, 5 pieces

For Muslim guests, please speak to the staff during your visit about their Muslim-friendly options such as the pizza or okazu (side dish) plates.

There are various desserts available that change with each season, and there is always at least one vegan dessert. 

▲Vegan sweets

Engawa Café provides a healthy dose of deliciousness to a wide range of customers and is certainly a spot we recommend.

More Info

Engawa Café website:
https://engawacafe.wixsite.com/engawacafe

Address: Yamanashi, Hokuto, Takanecho Higashiide, 155