What Is Vegetarian Food in Shanghai Like?

When I was booking my flights, I found myself wondering what vegetarian food in Shanghai would be like – especially since my last experience in the region wasn’t great. 16 years ago in Hong Kong, finding vegetarian food was a real struggle, but a lot of time has passed since then, so I was optimistic.

I wish I were joking when I say that my sister and I survived on fresh fruit and McDonald’s fries for most lunches and dinners, until we stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant towards the end of our trip. They had a couple of veggie dishes (without the obligatory pork), and we quickly took up residence there every evening.

We’re incredibly lucky in the UK to have such a wide range of vegetarian and vegan options across almost every cuisine imaginable. Whether the dishes are truly authentic is often up for debate – but if they taste good and meet my dietary needs, I’m not massively concerned about authenticity.

To my delight, I discovered that Shanghai has a number of vegan and vegetarian restaurants, along with others that offer meat-free options. It’s worth noting that vegetarian dishes in China are often not clearly labelled, which can make it tricky to identify vegetarian-friendly options on menus or in restaurants.

Since we only spent one full day in Shanghai either side of our trip to Taiwan, I don’t have a list of 20+ restaurants to share, but here’s where we ate and what we thought.

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Vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai 

Here are 3 restaurants we dined at in Shanghai that I really enjoyed.

Huì Yuán Sù Shí Fāng 慧缘素食坊 Lotus Vegan

This was the first restaurant we dined at on arrival in Shanghai and it was quite the experience. 

We hailed a taxi and even then, this place is quite hidden away – tucked away above what appears to be an office tower. You have to trust the door number and enter, and you will walk past a security guard and take the lift up to the restaurant. 

The only reason we knew we were in the right place was because it said Lotus Vegan inside the lift. Use this exact location for Lotus Vegan on Google Maps, as it can be tricky to find. 

As the name suggests, this is a fully vegan restaurant that serve authentic Chinese dishes, and the menu is extensive with some rogue Western dishes too. The entire restaurant was full of locals which gave me the assurance that the food must be great.

We ordered the orange ‘chicken’ which was delicious, though far too sweet for me towards the end. I wouldn’t have been able to eat the entire dish by myself. 

The stir fried green beans were lovely and tasted great. My favourite dish was the kung pao ‘chicken’ – spicy, tasty and full of flavour that wasn’t sweet.

The service here is incredibly helpful – even though the lady serving us spoke no English, we were able to communicate effectively through translation apps, even placing our order through a QR code which translated the menu into English.

It was a fab, quirky experience with delicious food – and a great way to start our time in Shanghai.

Just don’t order the ‘corn juice’ – I don’t know what I expected, but it was gross.

Spring in Shanghai

We took a bit of a chance and hopped out of the taxi early before we approached our hotel, having spotted a row of restaurants. 

Again, full of locals which is always promising, this restaurant had a great aesthetic. I was impressed to see a number of vegetarian dishes on the menu and ordered a selection for dinner.

The lotus root in a sweet date sauce would have been incredible had it not have been for the overpowering sweetness.

The vegetarian duck pancakes were small canapés and my favourite dish. I ordered a cauliflower and mushroom stir fry (delish) and some noodles without the shrimp.

All in all, while this isn’t a cheap eats place, the food was great overall. What impressed me more was being able to walk up to any restaurant in Shanghai and finding a veggie option or 4.

Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung is a famous Taiwanese restaurant all over the world. While we sadly couldn’t get a table anywhere in Taiwan, we finally got one on our last night in Shanghai and it was incredible.

Now we hadn’t eaten for about 14 hours at this point so we were absolutely starving and getting there late night for last orders meant that we didn’t even have to wait for a table. The restaurant was almost empty, such a win!

They bring you a leaflet to show you how to eat xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) which quite honestly is super helpful (I had no idea).

Xiaolongbao contains pork, so of course I couldn’t try it, but I wasn’t going to miss out on the dumplings just because I don’t eat pork so of course I got some vegetarian dumplings for myself too, and they were delicious.

I ordered their signature cucumber salad with chilli and garlic and let me tell you this was insanely good so much nicer than the one I make at home, and with far fewer ingredients too – I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. How can cucumber taste so good?

I ordered an asparagus and mushroom stirfry and Jass got a stir fried chicken dish, which we both had with the scallion and egg fried rice. 

Every dish we ate was a 10 out of 10.

Now, you know I’m not a dessert girl, but I could not pass up the opportunity to try steamed taro and red bean xiaolongbao – and quite honestly they were both delicious. Red bean was the winner for me though.

Asian desserts in general are my bag because they aren’t overly sweet like most other desserts around the world.

We ordered a lot of food, but I’d do it all over again, it was that good.

There are a number of Din Tai Fung branches in Shanghai and we visited the one located in IAPM mall in Shanghai. The service could’ve been better, but the food was perfection. The most fabulous way to end such a wonderful trip.

Now, I’ll be honest – Chinese food is probably my least favourite of the Asian cuisines. For me, it’s the combination of salt, sugar, oil and cornflour that tends to dominate the flavours and textures. I imagine I might feel differently if I weren’t vegetarian and had access to a wider range of dishes.

A few months before my trip, I was chatting with someone who last visited Shanghai 25 years ago. She said, “I hope things have improved and you don’t get stuck eating sloppy vegetables all day.” Ever since then, that phrase has stuck with me and often comes to mind when I’m eating Chinese food. The vegetables do tend to be on the sloppy (and occasionally slimy) side, thanks to the generous use of cornflour and oil.

So I didn’t go to Shanghai with high hopes for vegetarian food. I knew things would’ve improved – naturally, because the world seems to have embraced vegans and vegetarians a little bit more. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised by what I discovered.

Does Shanghai have any food tours?

Shanghai offers a handful of food tours including a dumpling making class with a Chinese family and a traditional xiaolongbao and tea art experience – both of which look really fun!

These local food tours and classes are all a great way to explore local flavours and learn more about Chinese food culture.

The best vegetarian street foods in China

You might be wondering if there are any street foods in China that you can eat as a vegetarian and the answer is yes.

The only problem you might run into is communication. China has a complex language, and many people in the country don’t speak or understand English. This can make it challenging to communicate any dietary needs, especially if you don’t have a translation app for China, which is invaluable for more than just meal times.

Tea eggs 茶叶蛋

Available throughout the country, including in 7-eleven stores, tea eggs are an incredibly popular, cheap, high protein snack in China. Quite simply, these are just hard-boiled eggs that are soaked in a mixture of tea, soy sauce, water and some spices. They’re pretty tasty – I just don’t find them appealing from a convenience store.

Baozi 包子

A steamed bun that can be either sweet or savoury. Fillings can include mushrooms, cabbage, glass noodles, tofu, custard, brown sugar, black sesame and so much more. I have to say I loved the savoury buns and the black sesame baozi, but the other sweet flavours weren’t for me. They can be quite dry too, so ensure you have a drink at the same time.

Scallion pancakes 葱油饼

There are a number of different pancakes available in China, many which are vegetarian and some contain meat. Cong You Bing are crispy, flaky pancakes with spring onions and very popular in Shanghai. You can have them plain or add a variety of filling to them; either vegetables, meat, eggs and chilli oils.

Tanghulu 糖葫芦

Tanghulu are a sweet Chinese street food snack. Traditionally hawthorn berries or more commonly grapes or strawberries coated in hardened sugar syrup on a skewer. These are completely vegetarian and often vegan (just watch out for condensed milk in some recipes). The grape skewers were my fave!

Youtiao 油条

Similar to a large churro, this is the Chinese take on it, without the sugar. I tried one at our breakfast buffet and really didn’t like it. It wasn’t sweet and I found it to just be greasy. They can be found all over Shanghai, so you might find a nicer one than what I had!

Zongzi 粽子 

Zongzi is a triangular packet of sticky rice dumplings, consisting of glutinous rice and various fillings such as red bean, mushrooms or pork belly. Wrapped in bamboo leaves, they are either steamed or boiled and can be either sweet or savoury again.

Kao Digu 烤地瓜

Kao digu is quite simply a roasted sweet potato – you can’t get more vegetarian than that! I didn’t see these being sold anywhere, but I believe they are more popular in the colder months.

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Watch my Shanghai vlog below:

Read more about China:

• How to Spend 1 Day in Shanghai: The Best Itinerary
• The Ultimate List of 15 Apps for China: What You Really Need Before You Land
• The Shanghai Marriage Market: A Fascinating Experience