If you want to taste authentic Taiwanese cuisine search no longer: Taiwan Saishoku Muku has lots of delicious vegan vegetable dishes that are filling as well!
Muku is a restaurant near Shijo (Kyoto) run by a super friendly Taiwanese woman.
Atmosphere
When you walk up the stairs, you'll find a modern looking, spacious terrasse.
The inside is spacious as well. There are several tables both small ones and big ones suitable for small group of people and counter seats perfect for when you come to eat alone.
First we were brought to our table where we checked out the menu. While debating about what dishes to get, the lady bought us a bowl of delicious soup each as well as water.
After finally deciding (which was hard as everything lookes sooo good), we went to the machine next to the entrance. At this machine you choose the foods you want, pay for them and then receive tickets you give the staff. We were surprised to find dishes on it which were not included in the menu, for example mapo tofu. The machine only accepts 1000 yen bills, so the staff changed my 5000 yen bill in 5 1000 yen bills.
After waiting for a while the food arrived. And OMG, it was even better than all expectations I had. First of all, even the portions of the side dishes were HUGE, probably bigger than everything I had ordered in Japan so far.
I had the mapo tofu diner set for 1200 yen. It included a big bowl of mapo tofu, a small bowl of sekihan (rice cooked with beans) and 3 small vegetable dishes as well as a drink and a dessert.
However, my boyfriend, who did not choose the diner set, got sekihan, dessert and a drink for free as well which leaves the question if the dinner set is really necessary. He had tofu dandan noodles as main dish. We also ordered fried tempeh and gyoza.
About the food
Mapo Tofu
It was my first time eating mapo tofu so I have nothing to compare it too. It was super delicous (and hot lol)! The tofu was really soft and the sauce very flavourful.
Tofu Dandan Noodles
The ramen was AMAZING! The soup was so thick and full of flavour. It was made with soy milk and curry.
Fried Tempeh
It's very rare to stumble across tempeh in Japan, so natually I was really excited! And my expectations were exceeded: The little tempeh cubes were seasoned very well. They were salty, a bit smokey and hot. They very really good especially in combination with the ramen! The portion was quite big.
Gyoza
According to my boyfriend the gyoza was almost the same as regular gyoza with meat. They had a filling of tofu and probably veggies (we couldn't taste what kind of veggies lol).
Dessert
The dessert was a small bowl of jelly. The jelly itsself was flavourless but came in a slightly sweet lemony sauce.
Drink
We were able to choose between oolong tea, black tea and coffee. We chose oolong tea which came in perfect temperature to drink. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the bubble tea mentioned on the menu.
Conclusion
Muku is an awesome vegan restaurants with lots of authentic Taiwanese foods. Everything tasted amazing and was really worth its money. I can't remember being that full before in Japan lol
What I love:
super delicious
big portions
huge variety
all vegan
friendly staff
What I don't love as much
I'm a little confused about the dinner set
Address:
Opening Times:
11:30 - 21:00
closed on Sundays
Official Website: