Milan Nataraj — Restaurant in Tokyo

Let me start by saying that I try to be as open minded as I can and friends generally think of me as unyieldingly optimistic, sometimes when I shouldn't be. With that said I can not stress how disappointed I was with every aspect of my experience at this restaurant. The best thing about it was the deceptively well shot food photography, which is now entirely suspect. My partner and I were on tour from Toronto / Canada and decided to see what the local take on Indian food was like, having gone through most all of the local specialties and finding we loved every one of them, even those we had no taste for in our home country. Upon seeing the menu however, immediate alarm bells started going off in our heads as we prepared to reach for fistfuls of red flags. We tried to stick with it in good faith, committing to at least appetizers and found ourselves completely taken advantage of for our optimism.

As Canadians we are used to paying a premium on food, food is usually very expensive in our home city but generally you get what you pay for. Japan has been a wonderful experience due to the value you seem to get for quality ingredients that seem carefully chosen and even more carefully prepared. This restaurant broke the trend. I've read they have a nice lunch buffet, but we went at diner and.... Every. Single. Dish. Was. Over. Priced. And. Bland.

For a restaurant that so proudly displays the range of spices they use in glass bottles everywhere around the restaurant the food was basically flavourless mush. I love Indian food. I make a point of finding the best authentic restaurant experiences I can so that I can really appreciate the culture the food is representing. The included picture for reference is an example of one of their "vegetable stuffed" naan breads and I'd be hard pressed to say it had more than a single sliver of a single onion, minced into tiny squares. We felt entirely insulted and taken advantage of. We had two naan dishes, four miniscule fried vegetables at nearly 2$ per veggie ( they managed to make a jalepeño flavourless ) and a palaak paneer ( again NO flavour) and were charged 34$ plus the conversion rate. PLUS the 15$ paneer didn't even come with rice. If you're looking to pay 7+ dollars for a piece of unlevened bread ( at most a dollar a pack of 6 - 8 depending on the brand in our most expensive grocery stores ) then by all means. Waste your money. However if you genuinely want to experience what Tokyo has to offer. Go somewhere else.

At a similar price point at a lovely Japanese restaurant we had the pleasure of trying 3 kinds of horse meat, stingray, cold baked ramen, delicious charred chicken, dumplings, rice, bibimbap and drinks. This country prides itself on continual improvement and integrity in skill and service. I have never been more off put by a restaurant experience. I barely ever write reviews but I felt we were genuinely taken advantage of.

Please. Spend your money elsewhere. You deserve a better taste of what this beautiful country...

Casual, DELICIOUS vegan food and great staff

We went here at 9PM on a Sunday night after a movie, were seated quickly by the very friendly and polite staff with excellent English. They have an extensive menu, really clearly-labelled information regarding what is vegetarian and what is vegan, and say to tell them if you have any allergies!

It's so nice to find a restaurant in Tokyo with vegan food that doesn't make a 'big deal' about it (this place has a 'we do food, and some of it is vegan') - recently I've seen lots of places that jump on the vegan trend and make a huge fuss about their food being vegan, and thus charge high prices for small portions. But this place is not like that! I get the impression that they value veganism and vegetarianism as more than a fad, and the prices are very reasonable.

I got a curry and brown rice, and the portion sizes were really good. I often find that rice portions are too big for me in Japan, but this was just right. The curry was also really generous - I got to the 'I'm full' stage and still had about 8 big spoons of curry left (was so delicious I ate them, of course :P ). While I didn't have any, they also offer a delicious-looking range of vegan cakes and ice-creams, and even soy lassie!!!

In short, 100% recommend. I will be coming back to try their lunchtime buffet sometime soon, and am sure that if I ever find myself hungry in Shibuya this is one of the first places I will go. Great staff, great food, great location....

When I planned my trip to Japan, I really wanted to try Indian food. With roots in India, I enjoy seeing how Indian cuisine differs from country to country. After searching for a restaurant that had an intriguing menu that could accommodate me and my partners Vegan diet, I found Milan Nataraj. The workers were kind, and it was easy to communicate and order in English. We ordered the Sai Bhaji, Baigan Mushroom Tofu and Nataraj Keema with garlic and sesame naan as our main dishes, and the Nataraj Special for our starter.

I really enjoyed the charcoal flavor of both of our naan, but the garlic was the clear winner. It was really flavorful. I usually have a hard time finding vegan naan, so the fact they had vegan options to choose from was exciting. Baigan Mushroom Tofu was my favorite dish. Going back, I would order this dish multiple times. It was just that good! Sai Bhaji was also really good, it was light and well flavored. It was my first time trying it in the way they prepared it, and I enjoyed it. Nataraj Keema was my least favorite, as I found it to be on the mild end. The Nataraj Special was a great appetizer, and I wish I had ordered more. It’s really well flavored and textured and was another standout of our meal.

For my fellow travelers, if youre looking to try desi food in a new country this place is...