Citron 

Citron is a French salad place in Aoyama where you feel l’ambiance de Paris. 日本語の記事はこちらから。

Feel the ambiance of Paris in Aoyama

A little walk from Gaienmae station, you would go into a smaller street from the big road and find the vegetarian French salad place, Citron. You can’t miss it, because you’d hear the bright and cheerful “bonjour!!” coming from the owner! Step inside, and you’ll see colorful salad ingredients, tasty-looking quiche, gratin and desserts.

At first glance, it’s a chic, modern-looking cafe with concrete walls, but small yellow items (citron means “lemon” in French) scattered across the restaurant makes it a warm and comfy place.

The French owner became vegetarian about 10 years ago and decided to escape the mundane life of working in the financial industry to open Citron 5 years ago. The concept of Citron is a “high-end” fast, casual restaurant where you can enjoy organic and healthy French home-style foods. It challenges the common notion that French food is expensive and fast food is unhealthy.

This salad is amazing!

Citron’s lunch set comes in 4 options, and my favorite by far is the salad set. I always order Salade Citron, which comes with bunch of toppings like hummus, falafel, tofu and beans, but you can also make your own custom salad with toppings of your liking.

A set of a huge bowl of fresh organic vegetables, soup and baguette for 1160 yen is such a bargain! (The photograph doesn’t really capture the size but the salad is as big as my face!) It’s also nice that they serve the dressing separately so you can drizzle it on right before you eat to enjoy the crisp and crunchy texture.

Citron’s menu changes monthly – I tried the gratin of the month, which was vegan with leeks, potatoes and soy bechamel sauce, on Ubereats and it was delicious! I wish they would make a vegan quiche option also.

You can watch what I ordered on Ubereats from here↓

I’ve actually been coming to Citron for some time now, and I think they’re exploring vegan options/menu more and more. The vegan pound cake was moist and very tasty also.

Yes, the salads at Citron are amazing, but I must not forget to talk about their baguette! With a hint of brown color, it has a really rich flavor and wonderful texture that’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. We ordered one loaf and finished the whole thing in one night!

If you like baguette, their sandwich is a great option. It comes with a mini salad and soup, and the menu also changes monthly.

As of now (end of April 2020), you can eat-in at Citron as usual, but takeout and delivery on Ubereats are also available. If you’re going for takeout, make sure to bring your own containers to save the environment!

Citron
2-27-21 Minamiaoyama Minato-ku Tokyo
03-6447-2556
Open everyday, but for business hours, please check their Instagram account.