Amamine — Restaurant in Kurashiki

For the vegetarians and the budget-conscious:

This restaurant requires that you order a drink (most are at least 400 yen) and has a 400 yen table change, if you're thinking of just having a quick snack late-night things will be more pricey than you might initially expect. (I paid 2410, ordering about 1500 worth of food). They did include a free little appetizer as well.

I ate the Chinese-style yam tempura and cream croquette. If you're used to the sweeter western-style orange yam tempura this isn't quite that, a fair bit less sweet, more white-coloured and cooked to be firm. You get quite a generous helping for the price though. (~400) Do note that the default tempura sauce they may serve this with is not vegetarian as it has fish dashi. You can request salt or soy sauce as a substitute.

The cream croquette (~1100) was pretty tasty, you get two decent-sized croquettes with a sweet sauce and a little side of lettuce garnish.

Other than what I got I gather that there was an option with shiitake (not my thing) and some much larger multi-course vegetarian special for 3500 yen. (I wasn't particularly hungry and it was a bit on the high side for my budget).

Be advised that you may want to make a reservation if you're coming before ~8pm. Also, the food, while good, can take some time to come out if it's busy.

I'll also note that the restaurant's on the trendy side and the service was of good quality - my server also spoke English fairly well.

Overall, if you're a vegetarian looking for somewhere convenient beside your hotel with a bit more of a trendy feel to also have some drinks at this place seems good, and would particularly be a good compromise if you're with some meat-eating friends.

If you're looking for a vegetarian-speciality place or if you're particularly budget-conscious/not looking to drink, there may be some other options worth...

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