Vegetarian in Taipei

One of the many reasons I like Taipei is that it is very vegetarian friendly. In fact, apart from India, it is the most vegetarian friendly country I've visited.

There is almost always vegetarian food somewhere round the corner. Even if you can't find vegetarian restaurant, you can find frequently find vegetarian options available on their menu.

The important thing is to recognize the Chinese word for vegetarian (素). This is different from many other countries which denotes vegetarian food with the another word (斋). This may be a bit difficult for non-Chinese speaking visitors. But if you try to recognize this word, you will find that vegetarian food is really quite readily available.

I found that increasingly, instead of labelling as "vegetarian" (素), some restaurants have labelled themselves a "vegetable crusine" (蔬食). I suspect the main difference is use of garlic and onion which is avoid in religious vegetarian food.

Just a word of caution, some non-vegetarian restaurants serve "花素" dishes, such as "花素饺" (literally "flower vegetarian", but it means mixed vegetarian). These are not pure vegetarian. This means that the ingredients are mainly vegetables, but it is likely to contain some non-vegetarian ingredients like dried shrimps.

Here's some of the food I've tried in my most recent Taipei trip in March.

So Free Pizza 柴燒窯烤比薩&起士

Great thin crust pizzas you won't find in Singapore:
http://laink.blogspot.sg/2013/04/vegetarian-in-taipei-so-free-pizza.html


Addiction Hazard 小心上瘾

Vegetarian mala hot pot
http://laink.blogspot.sg/2013/04/vegetarian-in-taipei-mala-hotpot.html


MOS burgers

They have a delicious vegetarian mushroom rice burger
http://laink.blogspot.sg/2013/04/vegetarian-in-taipei-mos-burger.html


Korean hotpot

If you like Korean food, vegetarian tofu pot is available in this Korean restaurant.
http://laink.blogspot.sg/2013/04/vegetarian-in-taipei-korean-tofu-pot.html


Vegetarian Sushi

I picked this up at a food court inside the underground mall in Taipei Main Station. A selection of sushi only for NT100. Good for day trips!


Fried buns

Looking for a breakfast join in Ximending, I came across this shop that was selling fried buns. One of the buns is a vegetarian cabbage bun. I bought one to try with a cup of soya milk. It wasn't as good as the vegetarian buns I get from Shilin night market or the stall near Long Shan temple though. This stall also sell various mixed grains gruel which should be vegetarian.

Ximending Vegetarian Cold Noodles 

There is a vegetarian stall in the Ximending area. It serves mainly simple noodles. It is run by an elderly couple. Available early morning for breakfast till late night for dinner.

One bowl of wanton soup, stewed tofu and Zhajiang Noodles. Simple hearty breakfast.

Vegetarian snacks at Jiufen

I never like stinky tofu until I tried them in Taiwan. Taiwanese just know how to make it well. This is the BBQ stinky tofu stall at Jiufen which I always try.

Grilled King Oyster mushroom. I ordered the deep fried version however.

Vegetarian meat ball pie.

Vegetarian in Taipei -- Vegetarian food at the Taoyuan Airport

The Taoyuan Airport has been renovated and it has now a nice food court.

I was at Terminal 2 and there is a vegetarian stall in food court at basement 1. The stall is called Li Pin (里品蔬食). Now you can have a hot vegetarian meal at the airport before you board the plane.

The buzzer to alert me when my food is ready.

Sichuan herbal soup with noodles. Not much ingredients in it, but the soup is good.

Vegetarian in Taipei - Korean Tofu Pot

The first time I tried Korean Tofu Pot was in the United States. It was really good and I remembered it. Unfortunately, I've not had a chance to try it again. I was not able to find any Korean vegetarian food.

In Singapore, there are a few eateries serving Korean vegetarian Bimbibap, but none serve vegetarian Tofu Pot.

In Ximending there are a few Korean restaurants. I happened to see that one of them had a vegetarian pot and had a try.

The restaurant is a chain called Jeju House of Tofu Pot (济州豆腐锅之家). There are 2 outlets in the Ximending area.

When I ordered the vegetarian pot, they check if I eat onion (many Chinese vegetarians do not take onion and garlic) and egg. I had a choice of udon or glass noodles (I choose glass noodle) with the pot and how spicy I want it.

I asked for the most spicy level, but it was not even mildly spicy by my standard.

The pot was no where nearly as good as the one I tried in the United States (or perhaps it was my memory). But it was quite good nonetheless.

This is another vegetarian option -- especially if you are travelling with non-vegetarians.

Each pot was only NT150. (About SGD$6.5)

It looked spicy, but is actually quite mild.

This is the shop front of the one at Ximending.

Vegetarian in Taipei - Around Taipei Main Station and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi

If you are at the Taipei Main Station, there are actually many vegetarian choices.

Within station's underground mall, there is a vegetarian eatery serving simple dishes cheaply. It is located at K area underground near exit Z3.

宥佑素食坊, 台北捷运站前地下街17-3号

This is what I had when I was there 2 years ago -- croquette curry rice with 2 side dishes.

This trip I found that along the Huai Ning street just across from the Taipei West Bus Station, there are a few vegetarian eateries. And you can have your vegetarian dumpling fixes here! Unfortunately, I did not get to try at any of the eateries this time.

However, I found two vegetarian places in the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping complex.

I was actually looking for Daily Smile restaurant, when I found my way into the B1 food court in the complex. I was with a friend who wasn't keen on vegetarian food. So we settled at the food court. I was looking for vegetarian food and passed by a stall that seemed to sell meat dishes but looked like they had vegetarian options. When I asked them, I was surprised that they told me it is a vegetarian stall! The reason was that the dishes on display certainly looked meaty enough.

This is the menu. The prices are quite ok. Each order consists of the main course (in the pictures) plus a bowl of rice, drinks and 3 side dish. However, I got there late and had no more side dishes. I was charged NT100 for the main course plus rice and drink.

This is the stall. Legosu. 乐果.

Pork ribs in a hot plate. I didn't realize it is mock meat initially.

I had a hard time trying to decide what to eat. Everything looked interesting and good. I finally settled on this Hakka preserved vegetable with "roast pork" (梅干酱肉烧). I like Hakka preserved vegetable. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather disappointing. The preserved vegetable's flavour was washed out and I didn't like the sauce. I should have gone for the mushroom pot instead. 

After I had placed my order, I noticed that they had cards for the Daily Smile vegetarian restaurant. （微笑元素）. I asked where they are located and was surprised that it was just one floor down at B2 in the same building. This restaurant serve baked rice, spagetthi, pizzas, "steaks" and hot pots. So it will be suitable for someone looking for some western vegetarian food. This is the website of the restaurant: http://www.dailysmile.com.tw/

In addition to these 2 vegetarian restaurants, there is also an stall selling Indian food in the B1 food court. Cafe India is not vegetarian stall, but it half of the menu is vegetarian. So Indian friends do have a choice too.

If you at Taipei Main Station and not sure where to get vegetarian food, do check out Shin Kong Mitsukoshi basement 1 and basement 2.

Vegetarian in Taipei - Mos burger

Mos burger is not a vegetarian burger chain. But I was delighted to find that they have a vegetarian rice burger on their menu and it was very delicious.

It was oyster mushroom burger with rice patty. What was nice was that when I ordered it, the waitress asked if I mind that the potato wedges are deep fried in the same pot of oil as meat and thus may not be "pure vegetarian".

Vegan mushroom rice burger

The fillings is not a patty, but rather cooked mushrooms in sauces. The taste reminds me of the canned vegetarian "abalone" (gluten) we get in Singapore. I must say that it doesn't feel like you are eating a burger. It is more like eating a mushroom dish with rice. But it is quite tasty nonetheless and a good option when you don't see any vegetarian restaurant around.

Each burger is NT70 (about SGD$3)

One morning, I was looking for breakfast at the Taipei Main Station before a train ride out of town. I found a MOS burger outlet and thought I could have the mushroom burger again. But they were sold out. Instead, I was recommended an ovo-lacto burger. They had a burger with omelette, tomato and cheese.

The breakfast burger is a little small. But the burger plus drink was only NT60! (About S$2.50). It was quite good, though not very filling.

Ovo-lacto burger (tomatos, egg and cheese)

Thus, if you are having problem finding vegetarian places in Taipei (especially if you can't recognize the Chinese character for vegetarian), do check out the MOS burger chain.

Vegetarian in Taipei -- Mala Hotpot 小心上瘾

This is a vegetarian hotpot buffet. I've tried this the first time I was in Taipei and I wanted to tried it again.

The restaurant is at Nanking East Road. It had shifted to a new location and it took me a while to find it as it is in an alley off Nanking East Road.

The Mala soup is not the same as the Mala soup you get in Sichuan. It is not as spicy hot, not numbing and not oily -- the mala soup you get in Sichuan is all of that.

The waitress told me the soup is with stewed with many herbs and ginger and indeed, the herbal taste does come across very strongly. The soup is supposed to have health benefits. Well, it seemed that it is popular enough that the restaurant sell just the soup for take away!

They provide the option of half mala soup and half vegetable soup or just non-spicy vegetable soup.

The selection of ingredients includes tofu, various greens, mock meat balls and different type of noodles.

As part of the buffet, they served a plate of konyaku with wasabi which I didn't particularly like. But they served a noodle dish tossed in Chinese Toon (香椿) that is very delicious. They also served a deep fried "chicken drumstick" which is a whole king oyster mushroom deep fried.

Desert was available as six flavors of ice cream.

At the end of the meal, they served a small shot of fruit vinegar. I like the vinegar very much and bought a bottle of it.

The bill was NT400 plus 10% service charge. (I had lunch. I think dinner is NT450.) Comes up to less than S$20 per person. Considering that you can have a hotpot buffet for NT110 in some Ximending restaurants, this is pricey by Taipei standards. But the steamboat buffets often cost more than that in Singapore (there aren't that many in the first place).

The name of the shop is 小心上瘾 (Addiction Hazard). You to need at least 2 person to start a pot. However, I saw that they do serve noodles for individual orders, ranging from NT40 - NT100.

Nice environment

The ingredients are kept in the fridge.

Mala hotpot

Noodles tossed with Chinese Toon. 

I really like this.

香椿面

Fried Chicken Drumstick (King oyster mushroom)

Grape vinegar

Shopfront

Their website:

http://www.sssy.com.tw/

台北市松山區南京東路五段61之3號

Taipei Nanking East Road, Section 5, number 61.

The location is a little out of the way. But an new MRT line passing through Nanking East Road is near completion. It will be more convenient after the MRT start running.

Vegetarian in Taipei -- So Free Pizza 柴燒窯烤比薩&起士

I got to know about this pizza place from a TV program interviewing the founder of the restaurant. I made it a point to look for this place because the pizzas look very special. I wasn't disappointed. I really love this place.

The pizzas are all thin crust pizzas of standard 8 inch size. They are all wood fire baked and the ingredients are all freshly made. The flavours are very unique, not your usual Italian or American tomato base pizzas.

I tried two of the pizzas. Green Lava Dragon (spicy) and Basil with mushrooms. Both are very good. I like the Green Lava Dragon very much. It taste a little like green curry with ginger and mushrooms. I am not sure what type of cheese they use. It is light and flavourful.

The crusts of the pizzas are thin and crispy. Each person can finish 1 pizza. And each pizza is only NT169 (about SGD7.40). By Taipei standards, this is a little on the pricey side, but we can't get such good pizzas in Singapore for this kind of price.

The decor of the place is quite nice too and there was a video on conservation of environment that was playing all the time.

There are two outlets in Taipei. One right in Ximending and the other near the university. The one in Ximending is not easy to fine as it's shop front is quite small and it is located in a small alley. Make sure you make a copy of the map from their web page.

http://www.sofreepizza.com.tw

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/SoFreePizza

http://www.facebook.com/SoFreePizza

The green lava dragon. Spicy and good! 

喷火海龙（有绿、红两种口味）

Basil with king oyster mushroom

罗勒杏鲍菇

Vegetarian Oyster Mee Sua @ City Square Johor Bahru

Was at City Square Johor Bahru today trying to look for vegetarian food. There used to be a food court on the 5th floor with a vegetarian stall but the food court apparently has closed down. I've read about a vegetarian restaurant on the 2nd floor but I couldn't find it.

When I saw a Taiwanese dessert stall selling a vegetarian oyster mee sua, that was the only option I had.

The desert stall was on level 3 of City Square (unit MF-10, near Delifrance).

The noodles came in a small disposable container and looked some what disappointing. There is not much ingredients -- just some mushrooms. But when I tuck into it, I found it very delicious. It is Taiwanese mee sua and the soup is very flavorful.

If you like Taiwanese mee sua, do check this out!

The stall is a chain from Taiwan known as Beanstalk (Beans/talk, Bean/stalk -- get it?). Besides City Square, JB, it also has branchese in Aoen Bukit Indah and Sutera Mall. http://www.beanstalk.com.my

Meat or me?

There was an interesting column on last week's Sunday Times.

In her article "Who's scared of dating journalists?", Sandra Leong wrote:

A while ago, while writing a feature about ethical eaters, I interviewed a woman who shared with me the pitfalls of standing up for her beliefs.

Despite being attractive and intelligent, she had apparently been told by several men that they "would never date a vegetarian".

When asked to choose between the two primal needs of meat and woman, the men decided that their stomachs came first.

- Sunday Times Oct 17, 2010. Lifestyle pg 14.

Now, I have not yet met anyone who says he is not willing to date me because I am vegetarian. Oh wait. Maybe I had. They just didn't tell me directly. Perhaps that's why they all disappear...

But I have met people who keep saying
1) he can't believe I am vegetarian (Get over it! Vegetable proteins CAN build muscles!)
2) he will never become vegetarian (but I didn't even suggest that he should be.)

I have not made anyone choose between meat or me (yet). Well, I never got that far anyway.

But I really don't require my partner to be vegetarian. It would be ideal if our partners share the same beliefs, but life's not ideal.

However, I do hope he is willing to settle for vegetarian food when we go out on dates. Sometimes, we can go to vegetarian friendly places and he can have his meat while I eat my carrots (sometimes, not all the times). He can eat meat for all he wants at other times.

I don't think that's too much to ask. But I know for some people, that's too much.

So meat or me,
what will it be?

Vegetarian food in Ho Chi Minh city

I was in Ho Chi Minh city for about 5 days last week.

It wasn't too difficult to find vegetarian food. There are a few vegetarian restaurants around, though it does take a bit of effort to look for them. You just have to keep an eye for them. I always look for the word "chay" (pronounced like zai as in banzai).

Vegetarian restaurants are called "quan chay". I was in a shopping centre looking at a menu, which did not appear to have any vegetarian options. The waiter could not speak English, but when I told him "an chay" (meaning "eat vegetarian"), he immediately pointed me to a few vegetarian dishes.

Of course, it helps that my friend there had a few local friends who knew were the restaurants are. Here's a few places I went to.

	Sen Vegetarian (Lotus Restaurant) This restaurant really needs to get into the Lonely Planet or any of the travel guide. It is a good restaurant in the Pham Ngu Lao area, which is the backpackers area. It is less than 5 min walk from Sinh Tourist. Prices are comparable (and in fact cheaper!) than the restaurants that caters to tourist in the Pham Ngu Lao area. A bowl of pho is only 26,000D. (I had a bowl of soup noddles of 35,000D at one of the touristy restaurant) Dishes are 30,000D upwards. A spring roll is 5,000D each. They crispy spring roll (see pic on left) is small and at 5,000D each, seemed pretty pricy. But it really good. They also sell vegetarian baguette (called Banh Mi) for 10,000D each. I tried to buy one to bring to the airport on my last day at HCMC, but they were sold out at 1pm. The mango salad (see pic) is similar to Thai's som tam, but not as spicy. It is sweet and tangy, and the extra herbs differentiates it from the Thai version. It is really tasty and makes a good appetizer. The pineapple rice is more like fried rice put in a pineapple. I won't recommend this. I really like the fried tofu with lemon grass (see garlic). The toppings on the deep fried tofu is a mixture of lemon grass and some other herbs. It was a little too salty for my taste, but otherwise would have been perfect. The second time I visited the restaurant, they run out of it. We ordered a braised pork in claypot (see pic). I must say it looked too much like the real thing! If I weren't in a vegetarian restaurant, I wouldn't touch it! The sauce is really tasty though again too salty. But it's great if you mix it with steam rice. The claypot tofu (see pic) is great too. The dishes here were all between 30,000D to 40,000D (i.e. about SGD $2 to $3). It is cheap by our standards, though this is probably one of the better restaurants locally. But if you go to the tourist street, the prices were all 35,000D to 50,000D. We walked into the Zen vegetarian restaurant (just 3 min walk from Sen Vegetarian), which is listed in the Lonely Planet. The place was practically deserted. We took a look at the menu and the prices were more expensive than Sen! So those of you who end up in Pham Ngu Lau, I really recommend Sen Vegetarian over the other restaurants. Address of the restaurant: 171 Ngyuen Thai Hoc. District 1. It is in the same block as the Chua An Lac temple, but on the side facing the main street. Directly opposite is the New Urban Male shop. The menu is in English, but very little English is spoken.
	Vegetarian Buffet at Liberty Hotel This is the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, also known as the Hungry Ghost month. My friend told me that many Vietnamese observe a vegetarian diet this month. Indeed, I saw a few restaurants put up posters indicating vegetarian options. I was walking along Pham Ngu Lau and I noticed this poster publicising a buffet for 110,000D for lunch and 140,000D for dinner. 140,000D is SGD $10! I am not sure if the restaurant is a vegetarian restaurant or not. We got there at 6pm and the restaurant was full of people. I think we were the only foreigners there. There was a very large spread of food and I didn't get to eat all of it. Finally, I had my first bowl of pho in Vietnam. Pho (pronounce like "fur") is rice noodle with beef broth. The pho was delicious and it was served with 2 slices of "beef". But what I was most delighted to find was a tomato broth noodles. I tried this once when I was in US. It was a vegetarian restaurant ran group of Vietnamese nuns in Portland OR. I liked it very much. But I was not able to find it again. So I was really happy to see it. It was really delicious. Unfortunately, I don't know what is it called. I like Vietnamese fresh spring rolls. They had 3 types of rolls. But one of them had this stinking vegetable which I really hated. There were a few pots of curries on the buffet spread as well. One of the curries is ketchup based (see pic), without curry powder and coconut milk. I don't know why it is even called curry at all. But it is good. I tried this curry when I was in central Vietnam and liked it very much. What is good about the buffet is that it is an opportunity to try many types of Vietnamese food. Well I tasted as much as I could without over-eating. I just could not eat buffet the way I used to eat when I was a te The restaurant is called Van Canh and is located inside the Liberty Hotel. There is a chain of Liberty Hotels around the area. This one is located directly opposite from the famous Ben Thanh Market across the round-about. It is at the junction of Calmette road and Tran Hung Dao.
	Local Roadside Stalls I told my friend I would like to try their local 大排挡(roadside stalls). Our Vietnamese friend brought us to this street where there are 4 to 5 Vegetarian stalls at a stretch. These are small "hole in the wall" eateries, with dining tables spread out along the streets. There were 3 of us. We each had a order of fried wanton, fried spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, curry noddles, and sugar cane. We were really stuffed and the bill came up to only 110,000D for the three of us! A bowl of noodles was only 15,000D! Unfortunately, there is no English menu and no English spoken. If you are not here with a Vietnamese friend, it will be difficult to order. The only thing you could do, I guess is to point at what others are eating. The street is Tran Dinh Xu. It is only a short distance from Pham Ngu Lao. At one end of the street, there is a Vegan restaurant call Dao Vien. The looked like a pretty nice restaurant too.
	Dinh Y If the restaurant is crowded with locals, it must be serving good local food. And Dinh Y does fit the bill. Dinh Y is listed on the Lonely Planet. It is across the road from Thai Binh Market, at the other end of Pham Ngu Lao area. (About 10 min walk from Sen Vegetarian or SinhTourist). I came during lunch time and it was packed with local working crowd. There was only 1 table of tourist. I ordered a bowl of soup rice vermicelli (hu tieu) and it was only 20,000D. (About SGD $1.50). I also order 2 fresh spring rolls (I think it was 2,000 each, i.e. about 15 cents!). But what I enjoyed most was Cha Gio, or fried spring rolls. A order of 6 spring rolls was 15,000D if I was not wrong. It was serve was a plate of greens and a dip. I saw how the locals eat it and ate it the same way. They take a leave of lettuce and wrapped the spring roll in it with other herbs like mint and basil (and a bunch of leaves which I can't recognize). It was great! The waiters could not speak English. They have an English menu and I just pointed at what I wanted in the menu. For simple good and inexpensive Vegetarian fare, I would really recommend this.
	Viet Chay On Sunday, I made a trip to Chua Vinh Nghiem (永严寺), which is supposedly the biggest Buddhist temple in HCMC. This is Chinese Mahayana temple. It was preparing for the Water and Land Grand Service (水陆大法会). There is a vegetarian restaurant within the temple grounds. It is a relatively upscale restaurant. Main dishes were 40,000 upwards. Food was pretty good, but pricy by local standards.
	Tourist stop I took a day trip to Cao Dai temple and Cu Chi tunnels. For lunch, we were drop at a nondescript eatery, which the tour guide claimed is inexpensive. It wasn't expensive for a tourist, but I think the locals would find it overpriced. Most dishes were 35,000D to 50,000D. There were only a few vegetarian options. I ordered a fried vegetarian spring rolls with rice. It was served with 5 mini spring rolls. 35,000D. The spring rolls were actually quite nice though. There are 2 types of wraps used for fried spring rolls. This one was the "net" type, which I like better. I don't know how to specifically ask for this though.
	Fruits On my first day here, I was delighted to find pink guavas at the Ben Thanh Market. It was only 30,000D per kg, which is about SGD$2 per kg! Pink guavas are quite rare in Singapore and are quite expensive. When I was in Taiwan, I bought 1 fruit for almost SGD$1! I bought 1 kg of pink guava and 1 kg of custard apple (I bought smaller fruits for 30,000D per kg. Bigger ones are 40,000D - 50,000D per kg). The guavas were very fragrant. I left it on the table in my friends apartment. When we came back from dinner, the whole place was filled with its fragrance. I had pink guavas and custard apples every day. The only problem was that they rippen very fast. I bought 2 kg of pink guavas home. Unfortunately, quite a few them were crushed. Dragon fruit is not native to Vietnam, but is widely cultivated and cheap here too. But I don't like dragon fruit. Durian was quite common too. These are big durians. But it doesn't doesn't have the pungent durian smell like those from Malaysia. So I wasn't interested.