I’m looking for nice restaurants (let’s say price range $2,000 to $3,000 for two, with only one person drinking) where my wife and I can both enjoy a somewhat fancier dinner for birthdays or anniversaries - she’s vegetarian, I’m not. Many of the nicer western[ish] places have very limited vegetarian options (looking at you, Osteria by Angie), and my wife is understandably rather bored of the mushroom risotto that’s often her only option at other places. Most of the better East Asian places serve food based on shared dishes, which means we basically need to order only vegetarian, and I’m probably going to be disappointed with the meal.
The only place I can currently think of that suits what I’m looking for is Joseph Bistro. We both like Safranbolu and Eddy’s Cantina a lot, but they’re not quite “special dinner out” level. Any ideas?
No dead animals - so no pork, chicken, seafood, beef. Occasionally willing to overlook fish sauce, but not eager to, so that’s Thai mostly out. Fine with garlic, dairy, cheese, green onions, eggs, thank goodness. Doesn’t like “cold” food (such as side salads). No booze either, but is usually fine with sauce cooked with alcohol. Oh, and various doctors have told her to avoid white sugar and nuts, so desserts aren’t usually a factor (boy, I am SUCH a fan of Chinese medicine …).
On the plus side, we no longer spend much money eating out.
I sent you a PM. Cost about 2000-4000 depending on how much you eat and drink. But the food and experience is very good. One of my favorite Italian places.
Ok, I’m not entirely sure if you could take the hit and go to 100% vegetarian places, but here’s some recommendations.
This is one of the most expensive all vegetarian restaurants in Taipei at 1000-1500NT/person. I’ve personally never been there, but my aunt who’s a vegetarian says it’s a go to if you are any kind of vegetarian.
I’ve also been to this vegetarian dim sum place right above Songjiang Nanjing MRT Exit 8. I liked it, but not really something for a special occasion.
I like Miacuccina - very tasty food with different flavors that you usually find in vegetarian food. I’ve been wanting to try Miss Green. For inexpensive but good vegetarian noodles, I like vege creek. You choose the vege, noodle combinations yourself.
Thanks all - Mia Cucina is great, and we have eaten there MANY times. Too many, to be honest. If I recall correctly, their branch near Zhishan MRT station has better set menu options than the one in Xinyi. And there’s another branch somewhere that I’ve only been to once because the tables were too close together and it was far too noisy. (The only disappointing thing I’ve had there was the cinnamon roll. It looked so good! But nope.)
Miss Green is alright, but more of a diner style - for example, you order from a counter. If I lived in the area, I’d probably go there all the time, but I’m not particularly interested in heading across town for it.
We went to Yu Shan Ge a couple of anniversaries ago. It was good! And interesting too - Japanese “kaiseki”, or so my notes tell me, with many different courses and lengthy lectures explaining each one. I didn’t understand the lectures. Absurdly photogenic dishes. Fancy and tasty. (EDIT: around $3700 for the two of us.)
I’m fine with going full vegetarian, but, well, if we do that it pretty much means the meal is for her, not me. Of course that’s sometimes good, but it’d be nice to know about more places where we can both love the meal.
Hungry Girl’s a great resource, and I’ve gone to plenty of places based on her recommendations.
I wish Yelp were more of a thing here. It’s mildly useful if I’m in an area and want to see what’s nearby, but that’s about it.
It sucks that they backed out of Taiwan. I knew the country manager and she was doing a great job promoting (and peer pressuring me to actually write reviews).
Oh yes, of course Indian places are often great for vegetarians as well. Balle Balle is good; Saffron and The Spice Shop, both in Tianmu, are probably the fanciest ones. I consider those two somewhat over-priced for the quality, but they’re nicer looking restaurants. Plus Indian is probably the only cuisine for me where vegetarian dishes are often just as good as meat dishes.
For vegetarian food I used to go to “vege table” for fancier food. Honestly any western owned restaurant should provide you with more vegetarian options if you ask them in advance. Let’s say u plan a dinner just text them up on Facebook or call them and ask them if they can provide a couple more vegetarian options for you.
As you might guess, I would vote for Joseph Bistro, as the food and the space all work so nicely together. It is NOT cheaper than Spice Shop though so if that’s already over budget you may need to give this place a pass. Still, if you do give Joseph a try, I think you’d be getting something pretty special–for vegetarians the spinach paneer and/or Joseph’s stunning caldine. These are not just some of the best curries in Taipei; they may be some of the best food in Taipei, period.
After checking with their website, they recently closed service to the public and only do catering. I wonder if you can book them and to have a romantic dinner for a special occasion?
Hm. I’ve never heard of Mio Pane before - will have to investigate.
Spice Shop isn’t so much over-budget as somewhat overpriced. I like their food, but every time I’ve gone there I’ve been surprised at just how steep the bill turned out to be. It’s the “Huh, dinner was good, but not THAT good” reaction you sometimes get when time comes to pay.
Joseph Bistro is fantastic - we love the food there. But, well, we went there for the most recent mark-the-date dinner (last summer’s anniversary), and it’d be nice to go somewhere different for the next such dinner.
Anyway, soon we’ll be trying Il Mercato, in Tianmu. Their vegetarian options go beyond mushroom risotto!
…).