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The best vegetarian and veggie-friendly restaurants in Shanghai

Organic, healthy and eco-friendly joints to help you kick the meat habit

Posted: Friday April 24 2015, Updated: Thursday January 4 2018

Now home to around 50 million vegetarians, China's meat-free sector is booming and Shanghai restaurants are fully on board. Whether you're looking for organic veggie meals, places serving meat substitutes, or vegan dishes, here are Shanghai's best vegetarian and veggie friendly restaurants.

Vegetarian restaurants

Fu He Hui

Rated in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 and the proud owner of one Michelin star, Fu He Hui is a three-storey temple to vegetarianism with a tasting-only menu featuring Shanghainese vegetarian cuisine.

1037 Yuyuan Lu

Online booking

Gong De Lin

One of the city’s most famous vegetarian restaurants, Gong De Lin has made it onto Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list two years running for its Chinese vegetarian (and vegan) food.

445 Nanjing Xi Lu

GreenVege

GreenVege's sun-filled, high-ceilinged dining room is an inviting spot to tuck into a menu of globally inspired environmentally friendly vegetarian fare. Dishes range from the signature veggie burgers (including a portobello mushroom and pineapple patty), to spaghetti bolognaise with 'vegan beef', to sweet and sour veggie 'chicken'. The restaurant also has a strict no-frying policy and sources its veg from local organic farm BioFarm.

679 Zhongshan Nan Er Lu

Gwen's Jiang

This cute Yanqing Lu spot (formerly D'lish) is known and loved for its health-focused vegetarian and vegan fare. The space is small – with one ten-seater table taking up the room – but the menu is vast and varied, with power bowls, wraps, salads, soups, rice balls and more. Best for delivery or takeaway.

25 Yanqing Lu

Happy Buddha

Following the slogan ‘American comfort food, veggified’ Happy Buddha is a chilled option for affordable vegan and vegetarian food.

388 Shaanxi Nan Lu

Pure & Whole, Shanghai Centre

A guilt-free Western-style vegetarian chain with locations across the city. If you’re looking for wholesome, affordable and meat-free, you won’t go wrong here – don’t skip the dips.

1376 Nanjing Xi Lu

Vegetarian Lifestyle

With a full range of meat substitutes, you won’t even notice that what you’re eating is vegetarian at Zaozi Shu (Vegetarian Lifestyle). Not the cheapest joint in town, but not overpriced either, with delicious, hearty food.

258 Fenxian Lu

WUJIE Shanghai The Bund

An upscale contemporary vegetarian dining restaurant with one Michelin star. The food at WUJIE is meticulously presented and uses top-quality ingredients, with the restaurant themed around the five Chinese elements: water, wood, fire, earth and gold.

Zhongshan Dong Er Lu

Wu Guan Tang

Elegantly simple dark wood and glass oasis with a hand-written menu of delicious vegetarian dishes.

349 Xinhua Lu

Veggie friendly restaurants

M Glam

Glam goes fully vegan every first Sunday of the month with six-course sharing brunch (328RMB per person, plus 10 percent service). Previous menus have included the likes of avocado and tomato on beetroot chips; sweet potato and cassava gnocchi; eggplant stuffed with smoky lentils and wild rice, topped with pine nut cheese; and raw chocolate tart with vegan cinnamon ice cream.

20 Guangdong LuOnline booking

Green & Safe

Launched by a leading organic brand in Taiwan (which also owns Qimin Hotpot), Green & Safe's casual dining room is equal parts organic supermarket, deli and café with a range of vegetarian options and fresh produce from the company's 500-acre Kunshan farm.

6 Dongping Lu

Maya

Not a vegetarian-only restaurant, but with a fully vegan menu on offer, Maya’s Mexican food is always top-quality and a great choice for tasty and meat-free dining, particularly if you are eating out with a group of carnivores.

568 Julu Lu

Online booking

Qimin Organic Hotpot, Hengshan Lu

Qimin uses organic ingredients sourced directly from its farm in Kunshan. Unlike many hotpot places, here diners get their own individual pots (ideal for dining with meat eaters). There’s a vegetarian broth on the menu and a huge range of fresh veggie-friendly offerings that really steal the show.

191 Hengshan Lu

Sproutworks

A popular health-focused (but not annoyingly so) salad and sides café with a load of reasonably priced veggie-friendly options, Sproutworks is a solid bet to get your green fix.

123 Xingye Lu

The Urban Harvest

Equal parts open lab and eatery, eco-restaurant Urban Harvest hydroponically grows its own sprouts and mushrooms. Its philosophy is simple: to reduce the environmental impact of the food industry’s culinary endeavours and guarantee absolute freshness. The contemporary menu draws on influences from both the East and West, ticking all the right boxes for a solid, environmentally conscious, night out.

1601 Nanjing Xi LuOnline booking

Thought for Food

As the first restaurant from wellness platform Octave, the ethos at Thought For Food is all about ‘gourmet, natural and organic’. It aims to alter the way you eat and think about food. The kitchen team, complete with certified nutritionists, create mindfully prepared, healthy dishes – using clean and responsibly sourced ingredients – that don’t forgo on flavour. As well as a brilliant selection of vegetarian options, there's a solid variety of vegan desserts.

357 Jianguo Xi RoadOnline booking

TRIBE (closed)

This buzzing and hip organic and healthy eating restaurant offers a range of dining options for vegetarians and vegans. While the food can be admittedly pretty hit or miss, Tribe remains a popular spot for its farm-to-table approach and variety of dishes catering to different dietary requirements.

291 Fumin Lu