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