Catshanghai

Vegetarianism is a bit of an alien concept in China. Why on earth would you decide to avoid eating meat when it is so cheap and readily available? Only Buddhist monks choose to be vegetarians, but they renounce other sins of the flesh too! If you go out to dinner, you will soon find that everything is cooked in meat stock or that little slices of bacon surreptitiously creep into your plate of salad. The only way to avoid animal products is to stay at home and cook all your own food. That way you can truly make yourself isolated as you watch videos of lambs escaping from slaughterhouses.

I was a committed vegetarian for 13 years until I came to Shanghai in 2004, but then I met my wife and started eating fish to avoid feeling different and awkward around the dinner table. Love conquered fundamentalism, but that doesn’t mean I have not maintained a soft spot for eating at restaurants that avoid meat altogether. Fortunately, Shanghai has a small, but great niche for people choosing to dine guilt free on a full or part time basis. Apparently, Chinese vegetarian cooking originated in Buddhist temples and you will often find these restaurants still have an association with these places.

The most famous and well established restaurant is Gong De Lin on Nanjing Xi Lu, which offers traditional Chinese cooking and a range of tofu dishes restyled into all manner of fake beef, pork, chicken and duck dishes. The texture and taste are surprisingly good and realistic. I have had some very good meals there and they are very reasonably priced. I have not been there for a while, because they tended to put in too much monosodium glutemate and I found some even better alternatives elsewhere.

I must go back to Vegetarian Lifestyle on Songshan Lu, near Cyber Mall on Huai Hai Lu. The restaurant is very clean, modern and I remember eating delicious, spicy Cantonese dishes that were also rather cheap.

One of our favourite restaurants in Shanghai is the Vegeatery on the third floor of Central Plaza at the junction of Huai Hai Lu and Madang Lu. The food tastes really clean and wholesome like it will keep you alive for hundreds of years. Like the other restaurants, they offer a range of tofu-fake meats that seem very realistic. Last night, we had “sausage”, “fish” curried vegetables and a really good ying-yang soup that was almost a work of art. The food is always really well presented and you feel very relaxed when you leave. This is a place where you can take meat eaters without feeling ashamed they are going to be missing out. It is also very reasonably priced so you can say “qing ke” (My treat) without worrying about going bankrupt.

Here is a list of Chinese vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai:

Gong De Lin
Address: 445 Nanjing Xi Road
Telephone: 63270218

L Arbre de Provence
Address: 4/F,Metro City ,1111 Zhaojiabang Road
Telephone: 64267698

New Age Veggie
Address: 20A/B,5/F Super Brand Mall,168 Lujiazui Xi Road
Telephone: 50471880

Peony
Address: 1/F,Long Hua Guest Hotel,2787 Longhua Road
Telephone: 64570570 ext 1133

Rich Vegetarian Restaurant
Address: 333 Tianyaoqiao Road,Room 133, 301Ascendas Plaza
Telephone: 61213600/61213627

Song Yue Lou
Address: 99 Jiujiaochang Road
Telephone: 63553630

Tian Ran Natural Health Vegetarian
Address: 450A Nanjing Dong Road
Telephone: 63612059

Vegeatery
Address: 3/F ,Central Plaza,381 Huaihai Zhong Road
Telephone: 63915589

Zao Zi Shu 3 - Vegetarian Lifestyle
Address: 258 Fengxian Road
Telephone: 62157566

Zao Zi Shu 2 - Vegetarian Lifestyle
Address: 77 Songshan Road
Telephone: 63848000

Zao Zi Shu 1 - Vegetarian Lifestyle
Address: 848 Huangjin Cheng Dao
Telephone: 62751798