genuine gluten free Where is a dog?

"Where is a dog?" is a dedicated gluten-free bakery and café in Kichijoji, roughly a six-minute walk off the Nakamichi-dori shopping street in Musashino, western Tokyo. It's one of a small number of Tokyo food businesses built around a wheat-free kitchen from the ground up, rather than adding gluten-free substitutions to a conventional menu.

The shop began in 2017 in a converted old house near Waseda Station, opened by owner Miyata Nobuaki specifically so people with celiac disease or wheat allergies could eat without worrying about cross-contamination, then relocated to Kichijoji in April 2021. The name is a conversation-starter: the original Waseda shop stood on a slope called Natsume-zaka, named for novelist Natsume Soseki (author of "I Am a Cat"), and that — together with the owner's own fondness for cats — is why the interior is filled with cat figurines and prints rather than dogs. A single dog is hidden among them, and staff invite customers, especially foreign visitors, to spot it.

The kitchen goes further than just avoiding wheat: the cooking and house-baked bread have long been built on a largely plant-based (vegan) foundation, with some dishes offered in both vegan and non-vegan versions. Historically that meant a full café menu — rice-bowl sets, a green curry (chicken or vegan, around ¥1,380), a "Vegan Special" combo of chickpeas, house bread, salad and soup (around ¥1,980), and a cheese-and-vegetable rice-bread gratin. As of February 2026, though, the shop shifted to a bakery-focused format — local Kichijoji media reported the change and a spring-2026 customer review noted lunch service had been discontinued, which matches the shop's online store now listing only baked goods and sweets rather than prepared meals. The current lineup centers on house-baked rice bread, bagels, and baguettes, plus gluten-free/vegan sweets like cupcakes and cookies, which can be eaten in-store with a drink or bought to take home; individual breads run roughly ¥400–500.

Because the format changed recently, treat hours, closed days, and seating as worth confirming before you go: post-switch coverage points to something closer to noon–8pm with Tuesdays off, a narrower schedule than the café's earlier "open daily, no fixed closed day" hours, so check the shop's Instagram (@where_is_a_dog) or call ahead (0422-27-2812) before a special trip. No English-language menu is confirmed, but the café has long drawn a steady non-Japanese clientele, so basic English or pointing at the display case should still get you through.