I am never one who'd decide to go vegetarian one day, but I've heard many great things about Shojin, the organic/vegan/macrobiotic Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo from fellow bloggers (mainly LA-OC Foodie and inomthings).
![Seitan Steak](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_srgMYFApg_vUY4_V-nfuwhCCi7OBcwattJKiLO33mVx52MQ425e5semoTP_rqrUuYKoiKA8-YMIUTBrENw5Edao7XnMo7mLFxwDJhZAYOAWUUOFWdfHmLF1IuLxU9_qxI=s0-d) |
Seitan Steak Marinade |
I've been meaning to try it for a while and an invitation to a blogger dinner provided the last push and I finally made it there!
![Shojin's Dining Room](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u4JzQOToX9CRJ_KQ9WeaokiNiIyP1TBSsw9JNFDFG2N328EEP75HzgKzxKuGVkFHVcFaumHFA4EnPWA2vUlVGhCqcecaOH6BOEN5VX-KRyzplp0f0gxrJivfXcDMRShfY=s0-d)
Shojin's dining room was much nicer than I had expected, especially for being in that neglected mall in Little Tokyo. White tablecloth, chandelier, and all.
Shojin also recently started serving alcohol and we tried their "Mojito" made with unprocessed cane sugar, mint, apple juice, cranberry juice, vegan sake (Ichigo)
We started with a tasting of the three most popular appetizers:
Spicy rock shiitake tempura, spicy wasaby mayonnaise
Yuzu ponzu Seitan (pan fried sliced seitan with grated daikon and yuzu citrus sauce)
Spicy fried tofu (fried marinated tofu, spicy soy sauce)
The shiitake tempura was chewy and meaty. I loved the tofu which had a light yet crispy breading. Apparently the batter was made with whole wheat and arrow roots which makes it stay crispy for a long time. The seitan was unremarkable compared to the other two.
Shojin also makes sure to serve vegan wine and sake. Wine isn't always vegan? Nope, apparently most wines are filtered using egg whites or egg shells. The appetizers were paired with some Nottage Hill Chardonnay from Australia.