People need food to live,
but I believe seeking beauty is also essential to life
Hi guys welcome to another video
I'm joined today by Michal
so torrential downpour has flooded the Kamogawa
and not every heavy rain indicates climate change
but it does make you think about it
how it changes every year
And when we think about climate change
we want to think about how we want to be sustainable
And food and sustainability is a very important topic
And recently we had a lot of restaurants popping up in Kyoto
that do have the sustainability in mind
And one of those restaurant is a vegan ramen restaurant
which combines sustainability and art
And blends them really well together
And that is where we're going to check out today
So come with us
Entering Ozu you are greeted with a very straight forward design language
Narrow hallway into the main dining room
And in the dining room there is a large marble table,
around which everyone will sit
Michal and I opt to sit closest we possibly could to the mural,
because it's cool, it's artistic,
and good lighting when we're trying to film in a very dark space
There is minimalistic aesthetic to everything.
That is the utensil and the menu
There are not a ton of items you order,
but I believe what that accomplishes,
is there aren't many ingredients for the chef to keep to track
Everything that comes out of the kitchen will be the absolute top quality
And nothing suffers for having so many different options to prepare
Ok, that's my order -One Soy Ramen
I'll have the other one you were going to have -Spice Miso?
1 Miso, 1 Soy
Thank you
So this will be my first Ramen in my entire life
Not first Vegan or Vegetarian Ramen
First Ramen overall
I've been living in Japan for over a decade now
but I was born in a Vegan family
and never had ramen
so I'm really really excited to dig into it
And this tomato on top looks really tempting
but the staff told us we should hold off
We should take 3 or 4 bites of the soup and the noodles,
and then go for the tomatoes.
The roasted tomato
Because it will really change experience of the whole soup
And the dish itself
I'm getting chills
Just thinking after 10 years in Japan,
I'm going to have my first Ramen
The art you find is Uzu is not an art for art sake
The owner, when we had the chance to talk down with him,
told us he worked with Team Lab, a very famous art installation group from Tokyo
to make sure there was a connection between the art and the food
The Team Lab art is digital
so it's not a physical material
It's data, so it's sustainable
I thought it went well with vegan so I decided to work with them
The Oshi Zushi here is totally for vegan
and it's made from Edamame paste
mixed with Wasabi
It has lotus, and spinach
and Shiso
The sushi rice is made from red vinegar
And the recipe for the red vinegar, traditional vinegar
has been passed down through generations
Alright, vegan Oshi Sushi
Let's see how it goes.
This is gorgeous
It has so many layers
You get the rice and the red vinegar
The flavor stays in the background
And you get this punch of wasabi
and a bit of mushrooms
Those different layers of flavors becomes
It's brilliant, wow
My coronary choice was the spicy miso ramen
And I was not disappointed
I've often had miso, but never the spicy style
That extra kick and the bit of heat made it almost divine
And definitely the star of the show, was that huge chunk of aromatic onion
Now I'm ready to level up my first ramen experience by
Digging into this tomato,
making it part of the soup
Oh! A nice chunk of tomato
and noodles
That's going to be amazing
Nice
Excellent roasted tomato
It's not bitter but not sweet either
and the acidity of the tomato making it much more fresh
and light
You have to try this. I've already said it about 5 times but
you do have to try it
Unplanned and all the more for that reason
the owner agreed to come out and have a conversation with us
about his concept
where did he come from, and why did he come with the concept of UZU
I'm Kataoka, the owner of vegan ramen Kyoto
we opened the store 2020 march 16
we opened it up the same time as the corona pandemic
but we're trying our best
The reason why we opened this store
I used to make ramen at a normal ramen store for nearly 23years
One day I wanted to think of a more sustainable food for future
i decided to make vegan ramen store
the reason why i wanted to make it in an artistic atmosphere
is that, people can live with eating
but seeking beauty is something you need in life as well
If I were to create a space where you can feel both of them
people will enjoy it
so i decided to work with team lab
in not in design but with art
When Michal and I went into the restaurant today
i immediately commented this is a place created by a person who loves art
we had a prearranged interview with an owner
but he was working in the kitchen and agreed to meet us after our meal
which confirms at that point that he really cares
he's involved in every part of the process
the food, the design, everything
not everyone can open a sustainable restaurant
but what you can do
is choose where you eat tomorrow
so that's what we encourage you to do
whatever in your neighborhood has popped up
which has sustainability in mind
we encourage you to check it out
maybe you can have an experience as we had
at UZU ramen
that's all for today's video
thanks very much for watching
we really appreciate it-
Please do LIKE and subscribe
hit that bell notification button
and leave a comment down below. We catch you soon in the next video