Trip to Osaka (2) - Indian Vegetarian Restaurant Shama

Last Sunday, I had work to do at home, so I could stay in Osaka just for four hours. After leaving Osaka Museum of History, I took Tanimachi Line again and got off at Tennoji. Near the station, there is ABENO HARUKAS, the tallest building in Japan with a height of 300 mm. I found that it costs 1500 yen to get to the observatory, so I just took a picture from the garden on the 16th floor.

It was lunch time, and I wondered if there were any vegetarian-friendly restaurants in ABENO HARUKAS. But I had already decided where to eat. So, I just explored in the shop of ABENO HARUKAS Art Museum for a while and hurried to the last destination. I took Midosuji Line from Tennnoji to Daikoku-cho, changed the subway to Yotsubashi Line, and got off at Yotsubashi. After walking southward from Exit 6 for a few minutes, I found a board with pictures beside an intersection. They were examples of lunch sets of Indian Vegetarian Restaurant Shama.

On the board, you can see “不含五辛” that means “not containing five spicy foods” (based on Buddhism). So, this restaurant is suitable also for Taiwanese or Chinese vegetarians. In fact, it seems to be very popular among them as I have seen many Chinese-speaking people enjoying their meals there.

Shama is located in the basement of the building. Last year, I came to this restaurant after I attended to medical yoga classes in Osaka. As it provides lacto-vegetarian and vegan dishes, I had always ordered vegan options. This time, I had Shama Set and selected vegan options as before. These are soup and salad served at the beginning. The salad had a little piece of tofu on top and seasoned with soy sauce.

The next dish was a samosa, vegemomo, and soya-tikka sizzling on a hot plate! They looked appetizing and were really good.

While I was absorbed in eating, two kinds of sauce were served. I put a spoonful of each of them on the samosa. The orange sauce was ok, but the green was very hot.

Then, a plate of vege pakora came. They are vegetables fried with chickpea flour. Since vege pakora was my favorite dish, I was glad to have them. But I wondered if they were really included in the set. Anyway, I enjoyed eating it. Shama has also a menu item called “Pakora sand.” It is pakora wrapped with chapati or flat bread made of whole wheat flour. I like it very much.

Then, naan bread, rice, and two kinds of curry were served. For the curry, I chose potato and spinach curry and chickpea curry from four options. The vegan naan break looked green because it contained spinach. I was quite full after I had finished this big bread. I was very happy to have a substantial meal.

As drink, I had iced rooibos tea.

And finally, a dessert that may be a little unusual for an Indian restaurant was served. It was black sesame soya-milk pudding. I couldn’t go back to Hamamatsu without eating it!

I like the casual atmosphere of Shama. Unlike many other vegetarian restaurants whose customers are mainly women, Shama can attract both men and women. You can have a substantial lunch or dinner that I think is satisfactory even for men in their prime age. Their meals are not meager at all, breaking the prejudice against vegetarian or vegan diet.

I think I’ll come to Shama again in the next season of Seishun 18. If you are interested in the restaurant, search with “Indian Vegetarian Restaurant Shama.” In addition to the basic information, you can see their menu with pictures.