Taiwan Vegetarian Wars

Cuisine Nationwide Restaurants
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Like the Kaohsiung burger thread, or pizza thread, by @TT I thought it might be fun to chat about excellent vegetarian restaurants in Taiwan. Dont want to limit it to a given city, just anything that you have tried and think is awesome.

Taiwan has some pretty fantastic vegetarian and vegan options. Loads of variety, not just the buddhist style (which is very good in it’s own right).

Maybe we can chat about the exceptional places (no point mentioning the lousy ones), where they are and whatstyle cuisine they serve.

Let’s not focus on price so much in regards to cheap or expensive. that’s up to the customer to decide their value. Just the quality.

I guess to make it easy let’s call vegetarian no meat. including seafood, insects etc. Dairy, eggs etc are ok but mention in the discussion for our vegan friends.

A master list of members recommendations

Hualien
天慈寶軒蔬食 (Vietnamese)
@afterspivak
No. 18, Gongzheng St, Yuli Township, Hualien County

Kaohsiung
Notice (Burgers)
@Explant
No. 96, Fuguo Rd, Zuoying District
Kaohsiung City, 813
.facebook.com/NoticeCafe/

Pingtung
Table 2 (Western pasta, soups, salad etc)
No. 161, Minxiang 1st Rd, Pingtung City, Pingtung County, 900
.facebook.com/Table2Cafe/

Tainan
Magic Monkey - 悟空活菌茶 (Burgers, Hummus)
@DunderMifflin
No. 2, Lane 108, Zhongzheng Rd, West Central District, Tainan City, 700
0974 206 609
https://g.co/kgs/VLVv3d 1

Taipei
KGB Kiwi Gourmet Burgers (Burgers & vegan menu)
@jimipresley
No.5, Ln.114, Shida Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 106

Plants (Western Vegan)
@Explant
1F., No.10, Ln. 253, Sec. 1, Fuxing S. Rd., Da-an Dist.,
Taipei City 106, Taiwan

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An observation I’ve had as a lifelong ovo-lacto vegetarian who’s spent 2+ years in Taiwan:

People here are obsessed with mushrooms. And I mean OBSESSED. I think I notice this more than other people because I’m unfortunately allergic to mushrooms. At least a dozen times, I’ve been to highly rated Taiwanese vegetarian restaurants only to realize 90% of the menu has mushrooms in it. Most vegetarian dumplings have mushrooms in them as well. Even restaurants that claim to be 疏食 do this even though mushroom is not technically a vegetable.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of local vegetarian restaurants try to imitate meat. Fake meat is the go-to dish for vegetarian places, and that grosses me out. A lifelong vegetarian would not be excited to see imitation shrimp. I guess the target audience for a lot of restaurants are not vegetarians but rather meat eaters who are trying to reduce meat consumption, or not lifelong vegetarians who “miss meat”.

Anyway, none of this is what you asked for, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I’ll add great vegetarian restaurants in a follow-up post.

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all good points. your post in the other thread made me.make this one. probably better here than derail that thread :slight_smile:
I agree processed is big here. vegetarian or meat based. Dumplings, whatever balls, sausages, tofu etc. all very processed. not a fan either. But real vegetables are exceptionally easy to find here in eateries :slight_smile:

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I agree! Those vegetarian buffet places are great, but they get boring and bland after a while. Nowadays I can’t go to them more than twice a week.

Personally, I haven’t been able to find anti-mushroom type vegetarianism that you mentioned in the other thread. I’m always on the lookout for places with vegetarian options that aren’t mushrooms or fake meat, and nine out of ten times it ends up being a non-taiwanese restaurant that requires 300 NT per meal :confused:

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KGB Kiwi Gourmet Burgers has by far the best veggie burgers I have ever tasted. They are made with lentils and walnuts, and there are nine options. They also have a great vegan menu.

No.5, Ln.114, Shida Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 106

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Thanks! The best vegetarian burger I’ve had in Taiwan has to be at Magic Monkey in Tainan.

Magic Monkey - 悟空活菌茶

No. 2, Lane 108, Zhongzheng Rd, West Central District, Tainan City, 700
0974 206 609

https://g.co/kgs/VLVv3d

Vegetarian (Vegan?) place. The boss makes his own bread, patty, and even sauces such as hummus. And you can taste the difference from that factory processed shit you get almost everywhere else. He also makes his own absolutely killer malt soda!

He’s a foreigner who moved to Taiwan in the early 90s I think? He plays jazz guitar and does some kung-fu demonstrations as well. Maybe he’s on Forumosa haha. He seems quite famous, so I’m sure someone here will read this and educate me :blush:

I’ve only been there once but really love it. He was great to talk to! Can’t wait for my next trip to Tainan!!

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I agree with the mushroom obsession. I’m slightly allergic to shiitake mushrooms which comes up as these weird straight red lines on my abdomen if I eat them.

There’s a place near dumpy that has vegetarian options on their menu. The chickpea patty burger was pretty good.

I do like those vegetarian buffets. The one I normally go to has 3 different rice options and plenty of vegetables.

I tried that beyond meat burger at McDonald’s a few times. The first time was most definitely different to all the others. So I’ve been wondering ever since if they put an actual meat Patty on it instead of the beyond meat one. The other times I felt it was thin and dry and too based on black beans.

There’s a heap of new vegan options at places like carrefour now. Even some of the Linda macartney range. The rosemary sausages were surprisingly good. The price is too much though.

A lot of the hot soup places can be easily vegan compliant. And easy to avoid mushrooms. But there was one vegan hot soup place I went to years ago that was excellent. Absolutely no idea where it was anymore. Or if it’s even still operating.

As for mushroom based places there was one near the old FE21 department store building near Banqiao station. And another across from Fuzhong MRT.

And a friend of mine owns a Taoist vegan restaurant. But I won’t put where it is. He likes how busy he is and his regular trade. Sells quite a few school lunches to kids going to the local school. I like his vegan soup bowl. Although it does have those fake pork balls made from mushrooms in it. He also makes jellies using agar powder.

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My favourite place might well be this simple but lovely Vietnamese vegetarian place in Yuli, in southern Hualien:

天慈寶軒蔬食

No. 18, Gongzheng St, Yuli Township, Hualien County

It used to be near Yuli train station; now it is in a quieter residential area (still easily walkable from just about anywhere in Yuli proper, which is one reason I love that town).

The proprietress (one of the thousands of so-called “foreign brides” who have come to Taiwan from places such as Vietnam) is locally famous for persuading many others in the community to give vegetarianism a try. The husband is a gracious man originally from Chiayi. The folding onto the menu of dishes such as majiangmian (sesame paste noodles), a staple in the south, here served with Vietnamese style herbs, is brilliant. The fresh Vietnamese spring rolls are the best I’ve had in Taiwan. How do they make vegetarian fish sauce? The quiet yet satisfying wonders of this place continue to amaze.

Guy

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Everything except one has mushrooms. Majority have imitation meat of some sort.

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:cold_face: This is about good vegetarian food!

I see your radioactive slop and raise you a slimy burger…Mcdonalds…0%.

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here is a link to a list of vegetarian places in Taitung. Sorry it’s a facebook link :frowning: But it is a fairly comprehensive list! buddhist to western. If people are having troubles due to facebook, I can copy paste the list here.

.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02KvTLVzHQoUD8TWBACvrQvd9VPfpUAMSNtGhaSzzE1cSHP1QCMK43XVAoFiyoVPUel&id=100076292135697

If anyone has tried any of these places, let us know how they were.

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I was wrong on the internet.

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In Kaohsiung I like Pinguo Pinguo.

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What do you like about it?

Guy

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The food

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Thank you for sharing—the vaguest possible report!

Guy

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I used to go to a place in Pingtung city weekly. Amazing. Went again a few months ago and the menu has changed a lot. used to love their burgers. Still very good. It’s a nice atmosphere for families, dates etc. I have never been to their Wandan shop.

Table 2
No. 161, Minxiang 1st Rd, Pingtung City, Pingtung County, 900
.facebook.com/Table2Cafe/

very close to the Sports center and adjacent park. easy walk from there.

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Wouldnt it be amazing if it was something else that made this spot so likable :sweat_smile: