Okabe Tofu Restaurant — Restaurant in Okayama

Agedashi tofu, usually the supporting character in a Japanese tale on the table, leads in the gourmet story at おかべ(Okabe). It takes the centre stage on the tray without any gripping theatrics, just elevated simplicity built by its surrounding cast.

A cold mix of tofu bits, diced mushrooms and pickles. Deceivingly scattered components harmonising in a symphony of umami flavors. A cold block of white tofu for you to dress in drizzles of shoyu, overflowing velvety black ending in a dark hemline. Silky voice of soybeans with a touch of shoyu saltiness seducing your palate. Two hot tofu bricks wrapped in thin gold overcoats of cornstarch sit in a tentsuyu broth. A lively jive of crispy silk with finely chopped negi, grated daikon and flakey katsuobushi.

A culinary musical....

Tofu restaurant with three set meals on offer - yuba don (which wasn't available the day we went), agedashi tofu and atsuage. The tofu is fried to order, and tastes very light and fresh. None of the three set meals are vegetarian by default - as all use some kind of katsuo dashi and/or katsuobushi. However it seemed to be possible to pass on the dashi. The atsuage is probably the safest bet - I skipped the accompanying miso soup and used soy sauce rather than the supplied dashi to pour on the atsuage.

It's very small, counter seating only, with about 12 seats. There's also a counter outside where you can buy their tofu...

An eatery serving good vegetarian food (though I doubt if the soy sauce contains dashi) in Japan. Rare indeed. They only provide 3 types of set meals, 2 of them contain fried tofu (with 1 free rice refill) and one that contains bean curd sheets. Better come slightly earlier and wait before they open for business, for 2 of the sets are of limited quantity. The staff is friendly and the dining environment is reminiscent of the Showa era, albeit being a bit cramped. They do provide English menu for we poor souls who don’t...