teriyaki tempeh

Tokyo Station. The national hub of the bullet trains running to the west to Osaka and Fukuoka and also to the North, almost reaching Hokkaido. Decades after it was built within view of the Imperial Palace, it still maintains its red brick facade, a novelty in Japan where, even in Kyoto and to much debate, the original building was replaced by a gleaming 21st centure building.

In front of Tokyo station is, then, its neighboring gleaming skyscrapers of the revitalizing Marunouchi, a sign of the determination of developers to not let this country get sucked into the funk of the last 15 years of recession. It's representative is the Maru Biru (biru being the romanization of building in Japanese).

One other tradition that has faded over the year are yatai, or street vendors. They are still around in a limited fashion, but Yatai are being morphed and reborn along with the reconstruction of Marunouchi, and appealing to a wider audience with more cosmoplitan offerings.

At the base of Marubiru is the Be Good Cafe. It's not inside the building, outside. These new yatai are UPS-sized vehicles offering food out them. Many of them offer Indian Curry or Gyros, but the good life cafe is my kind of place. The whole menu is vegetarian.

They have a great natural ginger ale with quite a kick. Most of the food is organic too. They have a tofu burger, which is actually quite good. The best thing on their menu by far in my opinion is the Teriyaki Tempeh burger. A toasted bun with a sesame dressing and teriyaki cooked tempeh, with very thinly sliced onions and some salad greens. Everything is prepared on the premises, and since it's outside, you can sit outside and enjoy the weather after being cooped up inside all morning. The street that marubiru is on is a cobblestone street which adds to the atmosphere of the area, it's suprising relaxed for a place like tokyo.Marubiru has a elevator that shuttles between the bottom and top of the building. Make sure to visit the top for some great views of Tokyo; Ginza, Imperial Palace, The National Diet Building, Odaiba, and many others.

Be Good cafe at Marubiru.

connected underground by JR (underground marunouchi southern exit) or Marunouchi Tokyo stations.
2 minute walk from Chiyoda Line Nijyubashi-mae