Bell peppers, seaweed pearls, potato tempura and shredded tofu. These four things in a sushi roll before us at Tane Vegan Izakaya resemble a traditional Japanese sushi dish, however, it may come as a surprise that the roll is entirely vegan.
While most Japanese restaurants have just a few vegetable-only dishes, the restaurant’s entire menu is based on vegan cuisine. Tane Vegan Izakaya opened its Palo Alto location a few months ago on 461 Emerson St., in downtown. This new restaurant combines innovation and tradition to create a plant-based approach to Japanese cuisine.
With a small street profile, the only visual signage for the restaurant is a wooden sign above the sidewalk. Stepping inside, we see that the wood theme is continued, with oak wood slat walls and ceilings dominating the scene. Natural lighting floods the building, with bottles and plants breaking up the otherwise natural wood-themed interior. Quiet chattering from couples and families with pop music in the background creates a pleasant atmosphere.
We arrived at 4:30 p.m. – opening time for the restaurant – on a Sunday, and had a reservation ready. We were given a choice between table and bar seating. Even with few customers in the establishment the total time it took to begin eating after sitting down was around 40 minutes, which seemed longer than it should have.
According to server Frank Clark, the restaurant has been popular due to its dishes, providing a rare opportunity for those on a vegan diet to try Japanese cuisine.
“Right away, people were excited to get a chance to have vegan food with many different options,” Clark said. “I’ve heard from a few different people that a lot of the vegan foods are of the same kind over and over again.”
The quality of the food is carefully considered, as according to Clark, the ingredients are bought and planted by the owner, Lawson Hong.
“He [the owner] designs all of our food, makes everything for us, and sells it to us,” Clark said.
Although the restaurant brings a new style of cuisine, it still maintains a traditional dining experience, with a host to seat customers and take orders. Staff members constantly attended our table, refilled water cups and asked about our dining experiences.
The atmosphere was comfortable and the dishes were fresh, but vegan cuisine is not for everyone, especially those accustomed to the taste of real seafood. However, Clark said anyone looking to explore new types of cuisine may enjoy their visit.
“I would say it’s more popular for a niche audience,” Clark said. “For example, some people from India are vegetarian, so I think this is kind of a nice outlet for them to come and have a fancy meal that they can participate in.”
As the dishes were served, the appetizing appearance resembled traditional sushi despite being plant-based ingredients. Here’s what we found:
Da Bao ($14) – The steamed bao bun clashed with the cold vegetables, consisting of cucumber, cilantro and pickled root vegetables. The taste of pickled vegetables added an overpowering vegetable taste to the bun and vegetables. The soy musubi patty lacked flavor and was too mushy to resemble a typical spam musubi. However, the plum wine sauce added a sweet tang to the overall blandness of the dish. Overall, the starting appetizer was decent but could have gone without the soy patty.
Tane Katsu ($13) – The crispy panko breading resembled the texture of the crust of a typical meat cutlet. However, the marinated soy patty once again lacked the juicy tender feeling and taste of a real pork katsu. The accompanying katsu sauce offset the mushy patty, and the side of mixed greens was a refreshing palette cleanser between bites. Despite the neat presentation of this dish, the overall taste was atypical.
Pokai ($16) – This sushi roll was the main dish of our course and was elegantly plated. Though lacking any fish ingredients, it looked decently authentic. Sweet potato tempura added a nice crunchy texture to the spicy shredded tofu, which was mushy. Fresh produce created sweet, savory and crisp flavors and textures, while the marinated bell peppers and sesame mustard left an odd, fishy aftertaste. On top, seaweed pearls seemed to be added for visuals, as they were too little to taste. This dish was the highlight of our vegan cuisine and we highly recommend it to anyone looking for more traditional-tasting Japanese foods.
