How has this vegan-pescaterian celiac fared so far on this trip?

Weeks before we arrived in Japan, R contacted the Hilton Hotel Tokyo, detailing my food restrictions and sending the kitchen a gluten free restaurant card. In response, the hotel promised safe food, asking that we make reservations in their restaurants. Because R is a Hilton Diamond Club member, we ate breakfast in the hotel’s executive lounge where the chef made egg whites mixed with fresh vegetables for me, using a clean pan and utensils each time. One evening, the same chef prepared gluten free vegetarian pasta and a gluten free minestrone for dinner in the same lounge. This chef’s careful and courteous attention and service impressed us; we both praised the chef to the hotel’s manager.

Salmon, potatoes, and a side of olive oil. Excellent, though pricey.

We also enjoyed a couple of meals in the Hilton’s Metropolitan Grille and Junisoh, its Japanese restaurant. The Metropolitan Grille provided careful service and I enjoyed excellent salmon grilled with oil, dairy-free mashed potatoes, and salad.

Twice we ate in Hilton’s Japanese restaurant Junisoh. On our first visit, the restaurant prepared delicious vegetable sushi as a quick, light lunch and for the other visit, the the chef grilled lovely scallops and fresh vegetables, without sauce but provided me with gluten free soy sauce. I give the Tokyo Hilton high marks; the hotel took my condition seriously and although food in the hotel is expensive, food everywhere in Tokyo is expensive.

Hilton’s Japanese  restaurant.

On our second day of touring Tokyo with a guide, she took us to Sushi Say in the Ginza District. That morning while we toured the Tsukiji Fish Market, our chef at Sushi Say shopped at the same market, buying for the restaurant. R and I shared unbelievably fresh cooked salmon and cooked crab sushi rolls. With our guide interpreting, I was able to ask the chef questions about food preparation, including whether he used soy in preparing the sushi rice (he did not). However, I wondered if Sushi Say would be a safe restaurant for a celiac who was not Japanese speaking or with a guide.

Sushi Say in the Ginza District

Richard’s prep ahead of our visit, an excellent chef, a careful Hilton staff, and restricting the food venues resulted in my faring well in Tokyo.