Colorful salads, bentō, and sets with wine- or beer-friendly small bites are offered at RF1. The chicken salad and some of the bentōs are marketed as including “half day’s worth of nourishing vegetables” in the meal. An antipasto set includes cured ham, cheese, quiche, and roasted vegetables. Sausages, shrimp ajillo, corn cream croquette, caponata, and fried cheese will go fabulously with beer.

Many of my clients say they feel like they’re not getting enough vegetables while in Japan. I get it. When eating popular Japanese dishes it may be ramen, soba, udon, sushi, yakitori, tonkatsu, and unagi. Which is why I always point out this shop on a depachika market tour. Of course there are vegetables in the Japanese diet, such as sea vegetables in miso soup, tsukemono pickles, or small servings of cooked vegetables – not the salads we find in Western cuisine. There are smaller salads with 1/3 of a day’s worth of vegetables if you want a light snack. Salad dressings are included in the salad kits and a thin plastic separates the toppings from the greens to keep the lettuce from getting soggy. Brilliant!

There are branches in depachika, department store basement food halls, and major train stations so it is easy to satiate that craving for vegetables. When traveling on the shinkansen I love these vegetable-forward bentō. *Note that these are not 100% vegetarian. There may be some meat in these packs. Do ask the staff if you are unsure.