Vegetarian Restaurants in Taipei, Taiwan: Six Options

The Lonely Planet Guidebook to Taiwan unfortunately greatly exaggerates the availability of vegetarian food in Taipei. They tell you to look for the Buddhist symbol, which is a reverse swastika, and vegetarian restaurants will magically and plentifully appear. This is not so. As per usual, finding a vegetarian restaurant in Taipei will take some searching. So in hopes of making this search for vegetarian restaurants easier for you, I have written this article.

Vegetarian Kitchen: Shilin subway station. They are open from 11am-8pm, Telephone (02)8861-5141. As the National Palace Museum is a must-see for any tourist visiting Taipei, Taiwan, you will be delighted to know there is a vegetarian restaurant available for you nearby. Before or after your trip to The National Palace Museum, you can dine at Vegetarian Kitchen. Vegetarian Kitchen is conveniently located in the small pedestrian market at the bottom of the stairs at the Shilin subway station, which is where you get off to take the bus to the National Palace Museum. It is easy to find as it has a sign in English that clearly designates its vegetarian. Prices are reasonable, most expensive dish is 120 NTD. Staff speaks English. The vegetarian dishes at this Taipei restaurant are a bit on the plain side. I had the spicy vegetarian chicken plate, which was yummy and includes, black rice, fake vegetarian chicken patty, soup, veggies, hot sauce. Vegetarian Kitchen also offers some western style spaghetti dishes.

Evergreen Vegetarian Restaurant:Address: No.38, Sec. 2, Sinsheng N. Rd., Jhongshan District, Taipei City 104, TaiwanTel: 2511-5656/ 25115926 Time: Lunch 11:45~14:00 Tea 14:30~ 16:30 Dinner 17:45~ 21:00
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy ! ! ! This upscale Taipei vegetarian restaurant is buffet style and vegetarian in everyway. The staff doesn't speak English very well but what can you do they are nice people. The huge dining room of this delicious restaruant is on the 2^nd floor and is very popular with the vegetarian locals. Just to be clear, EVERYTHING IS VEGETARIAN. They offer at least 6 kinds of vegetarian soup, 4 kinds of vegetarian dumplings, full vegetarian salad bar (with familiar and unfamiliar veggies), freshly stir fried greens made to order, a plethora of vegetarian cold foods, ice cream bar, and many, many hot dishes with mock meat. They promptly close at 9pm and start removing the vegetarian food at 8:30pm, they show now mercy when it comes to closing, so get there with plenty of time to gorge yourself. Price was about $25 US dollars for 2 people. No alchohol available but you can bring your own beers in, Taipei is cool like that. The best way to get there is have your hotel staff in Taipei write the address in Chinese and take a taxi.

Joy Veggie:Telephone: (02)2559-6805, www.wretch.cc/aalbum/shuhuofang, email: gg.vv@msa.hinet.net

This is a little vegetarian religious restaurant I stumbled upon during my days journey wandering around Taipei. The staff was very nice, the restaurant clean, but the food was really plain. I had the dumplings, which actually were great, and the veggie combo plate which I didn't eat much of. The price of the combo plate was 220 NTD, which I thought was pricey considering other restaurants. They also have some vegetarian western style pasta options which I did not try and might be delicious. My best guess to justify the high price is that you are also making a donation to their religious cause.

City Star 24hr Hong Kong Style Restaurant in Taipei: Tel: 2741-2656 or 2777-1717. Just have your taxi driver use his cell phone to call the restaurant and get directions. This delicious Taipei restaurant is not vegetarian, but does offer some delicious vegetarian dishes. I thought I would mention it because its 24hr (late nite after party yum yums) and many times the people we love and travel with are not vegetarian and would like to eat some meat sometimes and experience delicious local cuisine; also it is featured in the Lonley Planet. Just ask for the server who speaks the best English and grill them on which dishes are vegetarian and then order with caution, the menu has pictures of everything. If you are the vegetarian type who will occasionally eat shrimp your meal options will greatly expand.

Starbucks: For your soy latte pleasures there is always Starbucks. I think there are more Starbucks in Taipei, Taiwan than in Seattle. You won't even have to look for a Starbucks in Taipei because you will stumble upon a location many times a day just aimlessly walking around. The staff are crazy friendly and speak English well so it is also a great opportunity to get some help with directions and/or have them write your destination in Chinese so you can communicate with your taxi driver. Another Starbucks bonus is that there is always toilet paper in the bathroom. Price for 1 iced tall soy latte is 90 NTD.

Subway: Subway sandwich restaurants are in Taipei and now all over Asia. Although I would be embarrassed to be seen eating at Subway restaurant in the USA, unless I was driving across the country and desperate, I love going to Subway when I am in Asia. It takes me to my happy place. This chain restaruant and their veggie delite sandwich can be found in Taipei with over 50 locations. Just take a surf to their website to find the closest one. http://world.subway.com/Countries/frmLocatorResult.aspx?CC=TAI&LC=ENG&Mode=