Mique, an eight-seat vegan restaurant run out of a garage in Komazawa, is sometimes mistaken for someone’s home. The space is bright and airy, and the walls are filled with rotating art exhibits. It’s here owner-chef Keiko Seto crafts an astounding variety of plant-based delicacies that have drawn the attention of chef Amanda Cohen of New York City’s groundbreaking vegetarian restaurant, Dirt Candy, and garnered inclusion in Momoko Nakamura’s “Plant-based Tokyo.”
Back in 2011, Seto was the art director for an international advertising agency. When the Great East Japan earthquake and nuclear disaster struck, she found herself at a pivot point.
“Some people think I made a drastic change from being an art director to cook,” she recalls as she dices mushrooms for the evening dinner service, “but for me it’s the same flow. The medium has changed, but I’m still doing something creative.