Beach Muffin

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch snacks
Price: 1000 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Bean soup, fried potatoes
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Beach Muffin is one of those tiny little funky spots that you'll find in the Kamakura/Zushi area.  They are a Vegan cafe, which is quite unusual.  Also, on the weekends they have 4 taps of Yorocco Beer available, a local Zushi microbrewery.  I was going to meet a friend there to sample the brews and was happy to try some food as well, though not as much I wanted (so I'll have to come back with some Vegan friends for a fuller review).

Mmmm...IPA goodness

The beer was excellent (though not included in the price above, each glass is 800 yen), I recommend the Porter and the IPA.  I ordered a bowl of bean soup and my friend ordered a basket of fried potatoes which he assured me was excellent.  It did take an awful long time for the food to arrive, but as my friend said...this place is seriously chill, so don't expect fast service.  On the other hand, you can hang around all afternoon and chat with friends without being pressured to leave, so that's nice too.

Bean soup (be warned:  here be celery!)

The soup was probably quite good, but unfortunately contained lots of celery, so I didn't have more than a bite or two.  My wife would have loved it I'm sure.  The potatoes were indeed excellent, coming in a large amount, nice firm wedges, and covered in a lot of satisfyingly chewy batter that reminded me of cheese (but it wasn't!).

Great fried potatoes

Apparently the house is really old and used to be a tofu store, so meat has never entered the kitchen...thus the vegan theme.  I met the proprietor as he was running off to perform a wedding (a common side job for gaijin here), and he was quite an interesting guy who I hope to chat more with in the future.

Anyway, I'm giving this place a Very Good rating based on the fries, and hope to try more of their food next time I visit.