Vegetarian & Vegan Guide to Shanghai (2026)

Eating meat-free in Shanghai is easier than almost anywhere else in mainland China, and it keeps getting easier. Chinese Buddhist kitchens have been turning tofu skin and wheat gluten into convincing mock duck for well over a thousand years, the former French Concession is thick with plant-based cafés, and ordinary neighbourhood restaurants increasingly mark meat-free dishes on the menu. This guide to vegetarian and vegan food in Shanghai covers where to eat at every price level, what to order in a restaurant with no vegetarian menu at all, the Mandarin that actually works, and the traps — broth, lard, oyster sauce — that catch people out.

Table of Contents

• How Vegetarian and Vegan Food in Shanghai Works
• Buddhist Temple Restaurants
• Chinese Vegetarian Restaurants
• Shanghainese Dishes That Are Already Meat-Free
• International Vegan Restaurants
• Vegan Cafés & Brunch
• Cheap Vegetarian and Vegan Food in Shanghai: Under ¥50
• Veggie Options at Regular Restaurants
• Hotpot, Barbecue and Eating with a Group
• Mandarin Phrases for Vegetarians
• Tricky Situations
• Vegan Groceries & Snacks
• Delivery Apps, Payment and Ordering In
• Where to Base Yourself If You Eat Plant-Based
• A Worked Example: One Day of Eating
• Mistakes First-Timers Make
• FAQ

How Vegetarian and Vegan Food in Shanghai Works

Three separate traditions feed into the city’s meat-free eating, and they barely overlap. Understanding which one you are dealing with tells you what the menu will look like and what it will cost.

• Buddhist vegetarian cuisine — 1,500+ years of Chinese mock-meat tradition. Tofu, mushroom, wheat gluten, and yam-based “meats.” Best at temple dining halls and dedicated Buddhist restaurants. Inherently vegan-friendly.
• Vegetarian Chinese restaurants — modern chains and standalone places serving meat-free Chinese cuisine for non-Buddhist diners. Some plant-based, some lacto-vegetarian.
• International vegan — Western-style cafés, salad bowls, vegan burgers, plant-based brunches. Concentrated in the French Concession.

The single most useful thing to learn is the character 素 (sù). It means vegetarian, and it appears on shop signs and as a prefix on dish names — 素饺 (vegetarian dumplings), 素面 (vegetarian noodles), 素鸡 (vegetarian “chicken”). If a sign has 素食 on it, everything inside is meat-free.

Be realistic about the gap between vegetarian and vegan. Chinese cooking uses very little dairy and eggs turn up less often than in Western food. The problem is stock. A plate of stir-fried greens can be cooked in chicken fat and nobody will think to mention it, because to most Chinese cooks a splash of stock is seasoning rather than an ingredient. There is a specific term for people who eat around it — 锅边素 (guōbiān sù), “vegetarian beside the pot.” Knowing that word tells a server exactly how strict you are.

Buddhist Temple Restaurants

These are the most interesting meals you will eat, and often the cheapest. Two things to know: nearly all of them close early — many stop serving dinner by 19:30 — and they are overwhelmed on the 1st and 15th days of the lunar month, when observant Buddhists across the city eat vegetarian.

Jade Buddha Temple Vegetarian Hall

Inside the Jade Buddha Temple complex on Anyuan Road, Putuo District. Classic Chinese Buddhist mock-meat menu: vegan “fish,” “duck,” “beef,” wheat-gluten “shrimp.” Set lunches ¥60–120; à la carte ¥30–80 per dish. Quiet, contemplative setting. Lacto-vegetarian (occasional egg/dairy); ask for vegan options. There is also a much cheaper ground-floor canteen where a large bowl of noodles with double mushrooms runs around ¥20–30 — that is the one locals actually use.

Temple entry is roughly ¥20, with about ¥10 extra to see the jade Buddha statues themselves. Hours are usually 08:00–16:30. Take Metro Line 13 to Jiangning Road, leave by Exit 4 and walk south for five minutes. See our guide to temples in Shanghai for what to combine it with.

Longhua Temple Vegetarian Restaurant

Inside the Longhua Temple complex at 2787 Longhua Road, Xuhui District. Similar tradition; slightly more upscale. ¥80–200 per person. Sunday dim-sum-style brunch is popular with families. The signature is the vegetarian noodle bowl — chewy noodles in a deep mushroom broth — alongside kaofu (spongy wheat gluten braised with shiitake, wood ear and day lily), mock duck and mock ham. The takeaway counter sells mung bean cakes and, at Mid-Autumn, vegetarian mooncakes. Metro Lines 11 and 12 stop at Longhua.

Chunfeng Songyuelou (春风松月楼)

Shanghai’s oldest surviving vegetarian restaurant, trading since 1910 near the old City God Temple at 23 Bailing Road, Huangpu. Open roughly 08:00–21:00 and cheap — around ¥30 a head. The vegetable-stuffed buns (素菜包) are the reason to come. It is a five-minute walk from Yu Garden, which makes it the obvious lunch stop on an Old City morning.

Da Vegetarian Hall

Off-temple Buddhist restaurant with multiple Shanghai locations. Modern, English menus, ¥80–150 per person. Excellent introduction to mock-meat Buddhist cuisine.

Zhang Sheng Ji Vegetarian

Long-running Shanghai Buddhist favourite. Cantonese-influenced. ¥100–200 per person.

One quirk: strict monastery kitchens avoid the “five pungent” alliums — garlic, onion, leek, scallion and chives — on the grounds that they inflame the passions. Food cooked this way is labelled 无五辛 (wú wǔ xīn) and tastes cleaner than you expect. Most lay Buddhist restaurants use garlic freely, so this applies mainly inside temple walls.

Chinese Vegetarian Restaurants

• Vegetarian Lifestyle (枣子树) — modern Chinese vegetarian chain; clean and easy entry-point. ¥80–150/person. Branches at 258 Fengxian Road (Jing’an), 77 Songshan Road (Huangpu) and 1458 Zhangyang Road (Pudong). Spinach dumplings and mock sausage are what regulars order.
• Fu He Hui — Shanghai’s most acclaimed Michelin-starred Buddhist vegan fine dining. ¥800–1,500/person. Reservations needed weeks ahead. It sits in a converted house at 1037 Yuyuan Road, Changning, serving lunch around 11:30–14:00 and dinner from 17:30 as a fixed seasonal menu of eight to ten courses. Its Michelin Guide entry is the fastest way to check its current star status.
• Sweet Briar — modern Chinese vegan, French Concession. ¥150/person
• Wu Guan Tang (五观堂素食) — Cantonese vegetarian; dim sum specialty. ¥80–120/person. The Xinhua Road branch at number 349 is the pleasant one, open roughly 10:30–20:30.
• Gong De Lin (功德林) — heritage 1922 Shanghai Buddhist vegetarian, also written “Godly.” ¥80–200/person. Flagship at 445 Nanjing West Road, with branches on Wukang, Wuyuan and South Yunnan Roads. Order the mock duck and the tofu dressed to imitate crab. Service runs in three tight blocks and dinner ends around 19:30.
• Annya’s Kitchen — vegan-leaning modern Chinese. ¥120/person
• Pure & Whole — Cantonese vegetarian dim sum specialty, around ¥120 a head; 1376 West Nanjing Road and Kerry Parkside in Pudong.
• Da Shu Wu Jie (大蔬无界) — the smart-dinner option, around ¥250 a head, at 392 Tianping Road, Xujiahui. Plated like a Western restaurant, cooked like a Chinese one.
• Hui Yuan / Lotus Vegan (慧缘素食坊) — second floor, 49 Huaihai East Road, by Dashijie metro. Mock meats and noodles at neighbourhood prices; the fried “pork” chop is about ¥28.
• Dancing Dumplings (舞蔬尚饺) — 177 Guo’an Road. Meat-free dumplings and steamed buns; six vegetarian soup dumplings run around ¥30. Read our xiaolongbao guide for what you are comparing them to.
• Su Ren / Veg Inn — 1585 Huashan Road, Xuhui. Fully vegan, Buddhist and Tibetan influences, no alcohol.

Shanghainese Dishes That Are Already Meat-Free

You do not have to eat mock duck for a week. Local Shanghainese cooking — běnbāng cài — has a decent bench of genuinely vegetarian classics that any ordinary restaurant will have:

• 四喜烤麸 (sìxǐ kǎofū) — braised wheat gluten with shiitake, wood ear, day lily and peanuts, served cold and sweet-savoury. A proper Shanghai staple and almost always vegan.
• 素鸡 (sù jī) — “vegetarian chicken,” pressed rolls of tofu skin braised in soy and sugar. Cold, cheap, everywhere.
• 马兰头拌香干 (mǎlántóu bàn xiānggān) — chopped Indian aster with pressed tofu and sesame oil. Spring dish, vegan.
• 油焖笋 (yóumèn sǔn) — bamboo shoots braised in soy and sugar. Best March to May when the shoots are new.
• 葱油拌面 (cōngyóu bànmiàn) — scallion oil noodles. Vegan in principle, but many places finish it with dried shrimp (开洋). Say 不要开洋.
• 青团 (qīngtuán) — green glutinous rice balls sold around Qingming in spring. Red bean filling is vegan; the salted-egg-and-pork-floss version is not.

Two local favourites that look safe and are not: 生煸草头 (stir-fried clover greens) is traditionally finished with lard, and 八宝饭 (eight treasure rice pudding) usually is too. Our Shanghai food guide covers the meat-heavy half you will be skipping.

International Vegan Restaurants

• Yamayoshi Vegan — Japanese vegan ramen, sushi. ¥80/person. Multiple locations
• Pure Vegan Shanghai — Mediterranean-Asian fusion. ¥150/person
• Element Fresh (vegan options) — strong vegan menu at this fresh-food chain. ¥80/person
• Greens & Co — vegan-leaning international with salads, bowls, smoothies. ¥80/person
• Sproutworks — California-style health bowls. ¥80–120/person
• The Cottage — French Concession vegan brunch favourite. ¥100/person
• Vege Tiger — vegan Chinese-Sichuan fusion. ¥80–150/person
• Ru Pure Vegan — L4-03, Bohua Plaza, 388 Shanhaiguan Road. Vegan pizza, a terrace, and an afternoon tea set. Around ¥150.
• DULi — 227 Yanping Road. Small, plant-based, opened in 2020 and has built a loyal following; around ¥100.
• Qing Chun by Perma — fourth floor of the Wood Zone at Taikoo Li Qiantan, 500 Dongyu Road, Pudong. Taiwanese-influenced vegan, useful if you are staying east of the river.
• Vegegood (素来很好) — 411 Madang Road, bilingual menu, lunch 11:30–14:00 and dinner 17:30–21:00.

If you want to cross-check any of these against current opening status — Shanghai restaurants close and move quickly — HappyCow’s Shanghai listings are the most reliably updated English-language source.

Vegan Cafés & Brunch

• Baker & Spice — pastries with vegan options; multiple locations
• Wagas — chain with reliable vegan-marked items
• Le Bistrot — French-style with vegan brunch on Wuyuan Road
• Madison — modern American with strong vegetarian section
• Pure Brew Coffee — oat milk, vegan pastries; multiple French Concession locations
• RAW Foods — raw vegan bowls and smoothies
• Egg — Anfu Road; vegan options on the brunch menu
• Funk & Kale, Moka Bros, Lokal, Green & Safe — the reliable middle of the market, ¥70–110 for a bowl or a plate, all with clearly marked plant-based items

Practical notes: oat milk is standard in any decent Shanghai coffee shop and costs ¥3–5 extra. Weekend brunch between 11:00 and 14:00 on Anfu, Wuyuan and Yongkang Roads is genuinely busy — go at 10:00 or book. Expect ¥90–150 a head with coffee. The café belt maps almost exactly onto our French Concession walking tour.

Cheap Vegetarian and Vegan Food in Shanghai: Under ¥50

This is where Shanghai quietly beats most Western cities. Buddhist buffet canteens — search 素食自助 — charge a flat rate and let you eat as much as you want; Su Man Xiang and Supper Health Veggie both sit under ¥40 a head. Temple canteens do a noodle bowl for ¥20–30. Hao Mi Dao and Xin Lian Zhai are the workaday neighbourhood options at ¥30–40.

Street food is more of a minefield, but there are reliable wins: baked sweet potato from a drum cart (¥8–15), plain steamed mantou (¥2–3), fresh soy milk with fried dough sticks (¥6–10 for both, and vegan), roasted chestnuts in autumn, sugar-glazed hawthorn skewers. Scallion pancakes are usually vegan but some stalls use lard. Our street food guide and breakfast guide flag which stalls are safe.

Price tier	Per person	What you get	Examples
Street & canteen	¥10–35	Noodle bowls, steamed buns, buffet plates, soy milk breakfast	Temple canteens, Su Man Xiang, Songyuelou buns
Neighbourhood vegetarian	¥50–90	Full Chinese meal, 3–4 dishes shared, mock meats	Hui Yuan, Wu Guan Tang, Gong De Lin
Café & brunch	¥80–150	Bowls, vegan burgers, coffee, weekend brunch	Wagas, The Cottage, Sproutworks, DULi
Smart dinner	¥150–300	Plated modern vegetarian, wine list, booking advised	Da Shu Wu Jie, Sweet Briar, Ru Pure Vegan
Fine dining	¥800–1,500	Seasonal tasting menu, 8–10 courses, book weeks ahead	Fu He Hui

If you are watching every yuan, the wider budget Shanghai and cheap eats guides go further on this.

Veggie Options at Regular Restaurants

Most non-vegetarian Chinese restaurants have vegetarian dishes — just need to know what to order.

Safe vegetarian Chinese dishes

• Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐) — but ask for no minced meat (no 肉)
• Eggplant in garlic sauce (鱼香茄子 — confusingly named “fish-fragrant eggplant” but contains no fish)
• Stir-fried green vegetables (清炒时蔬, 蒜泥油菜)
• Tofu skin stir-fry (豆腐皮)
• Dry-fried green beans (干煸豆角) — confirm no minced pork
• Steamed egg custard (蒸蛋羹) — vegetarian; not vegan
• Veggie xiaolongbao at specialty places — confirm at the restaurant
• Plain vegetable noodle soup (素菜汤面) — confirm broth is vegetarian
• Fried rice without meat (素炒饭) — easy to specify

Two cuisines are unusually easy. Yunnan restaurants build menus around wild mushrooms, mint and rose petals, and will happily cook four or five meat-free dishes. Sichuan places have a deep vegetable repertoire — dry-fried cauliflower, tiger-skin peppers, cold cucumber in garlic, mapo tofu without the pork. Cantonese dim sum is the hardest: most of it contains pork, even the things that look green.

Hotpot, Barbecue and Eating with a Group

Hotpot is the meal where a vegetarian usually eats best, because the format is self-service. Order a split pot, take the mushroom side, and load it with enoki, king oyster mushrooms, lotus root, tofu skin, frozen tofu, sweet potato noodles and chrysanthemum greens. A full vegetarian spread runs ¥80–130 a head at Haidilao or a comparable chain — less than half what the meat-eaters at your table will pay.

Three warnings. The tomato broth at many chains is made on a chicken base; switch to mushroom if unsure. At the sauce bar, sacha sauce (沙茶酱) contains dried shrimp and fish, as does most pre-mixed “seafood” seasoning; sesame paste, chilli oil, vinegar, garlic and coriander are all safe. And if the pot is shared rather than split, everything in it has touched meat.

For a fully vegan hotpot with no negotiating, Yangege (焱格格) at 800 Changde Road in Jing’an does a fixed-price plant-based buffet. If you are eating with family, our family restaurants guide flags places with genuinely mixed menus.

Mandarin Phrases for Vegetarians

• Wǒ chī sù (我吃素) — I’m vegetarian
• Wǒ shì sùshízhě (我是素食者) — I am a vegetarian
• Wǒ chī chún sù (我吃纯素) — I’m vegan
• Bùyào ròu (不要肉) — No meat
• Bùyào yú (不要鱼) — No fish
• Bùyào jīdàn (不要鸡蛋) — No eggs
• Bùyào nǎi (不要奶) — No dairy
• Bùyào jīròu (不要鸡肉) — No chicken
• Méiyǒu zhū yóu (没有猪油) — No lard / pork fat
• Méiyǒu ròu tāng (没有肉汤) — No meat broth
• Wǒ duì ___ guò mǐn (我对 ___ 过敏) — I am allergic to ___
• Zhège shì sù de ma? (这个是素的吗?) — Is this vegetarian?
• Bùyào háoyóu (不要蚝油) — No oyster sauce
• Dàn nǎi sù (蛋奶素) — Ovo-lacto vegetarian: I eat eggs and dairy
• Guōbiān sù (锅边素) — I’ll eat vegetables cooked alongside meat

Tip: save a Chinese-character image of your dietary restrictions in your phone to show servers — far more reliable than spoken Mandarin. Tones matter more than usual here, and servers will politely nod rather than correct you. Showing beats saying. Our language barrier guide covers translation apps that work behind the firewall. One more habit: ask before you order, not after the dish arrives. A kitchen that has already cooked something will rarely redo it.

Tricky Situations

• Vegetable broth often isn’t vegan — many Chinese restaurants use chicken or pork stock as a base. Always ask, even for plain vegetable dishes
• Oyster sauce (蚝油) is common in stir-fries — vegans need to specify no oyster sauce
• Lard for “vegetable” dishes — particularly in northern Chinese restaurants
• Dumplings with “vegetable” filling may have small bits of pork; confirm
• MSG and chemical seasonings are common; not vegan-relevant but worth knowing
• Eggs in noodles — most fresh noodles contain egg; vegans should ask
• Buddhist mock-meats sometimes contain eggs — strict vegans should verify each menu item
• Five Pungent Spices avoidance at strict Buddhist temples — leeks, scallions, garlic, onions, chives. Most lay Buddhist restaurants allow these
• Dried shrimp as garnish (开洋) — scattered on noodles, cold dishes and steamed egg almost as an afterthought. Nobody counts it as meat
• Fish sauce and shrimp paste in anything with a southern or Southeast Asian influence
• Gelatine in desserts — less common than in the West, since most Chinese sweets are set with agar or starch, but check imported cakes
• Business dinners — if you are hosted, the host orders for the table and refusing dishes reads as rude. Say you are vegetarian when the invitation is made, not at the table. Our etiquette guide covers how to do this without causing offence

Vegan Groceries & Snacks

• Hema (盒马) supermarkets — Alibaba’s chain; good vegetarian section, fresh tofu, soy products
• City Shop — Western-friendly grocery with vegan brands
• Wagas To Go — vegan-marked grab-and-go salads, bowls, sandwiches
• O-CAFÉ — vegan ready-meals at airport and metro stations
• Vegan brand selection at major grocery: Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods (occasional), Tofurky, Daiya, oat milk widely available
• Convenience store options: plain rice balls, baked sweet potato, soy milk, plain pickled vegetables
• Vegan ice cream: Häagen-Dazs sorbets, multiple Asian brands at Hema
• The Avocado Lady — the long-running import shop on Wulumuqi Road, where the expat community goes for oat and nut milks, nuts, seeds and dried fruit at half the supermarket price
• Wet markets — the cheapest tofu in the city, sold by the block from morning stalls, along with fresh soy milk, tofu skin and seasonal greens for a few yuan
• Taobao — for anything niche: nutritional yeast, tempeh, vegan cheese, plant-based mince. Delivery is usually next-day within Shanghai

Delivery Apps, Payment and Ordering In

Shanghai runs on delivery, and it is often the easiest way to eat what you want. The two big platforms are Meituan (美团) and Ele.me (饿了么), both Chinese-only but navigable with your phone’s translation overlay — search 素食 to filter to vegetarian kitchens. Sherpa’s is the English-language alternative: smaller selection, higher fees, English menus. Delivery fees run ¥5–12 and food arrives in 30–40 minutes.

On payment: Alipay and WeChat Pay now accept foreign Visa and Mastercard, which has removed most of the friction that used to make eating out awkward. Set one up before you fly. Cash still works but small vendors struggle to make change, and card terminals are rare outside hotels. Our money and payment guide walks through the setup.

Where to Base Yourself If You Eat Plant-Based

Where you sleep changes how easy your week is more than anything else on this page. Here is the honest comparison.

Area	Strength	Weakness	Best for
Former French Concession	Highest density of vegan cafés, brunch and oat-milk coffee anywhere in China	Expensive; light on cheap Chinese vegetarian	Vegans, coffee people, long stays
Jing’an	Gong De Lin, Vegetarian Lifestyle, Yangege hotpot, good metro links	Commercial and a little characterless at street level	First-timers who want balance
Huangpu / People’s Square	Songyuelou, Hui Yuan, temple canteens, central for sightseeing	Crowded; tourist pricing near Nanjing Road	Short trips, sightseeing-first
Xuhui	Longhua Temple, Da Shu Wu Jie, Veg Inn; quieter and residential	Further from the classic sights	Repeat visitors
Pudong / Lujiazui	Mall food courts always have a vegetarian counter; Qing Chun at Qiantan	Thin outside the malls; long metro rides back west	Business trips, families near Disney

Our where to stay guide goes into hotels district by district, and the metro guide explains how far apart these actually are — usually less than you think.

A Worked Example: One Day of Eating

A realistic vegetarian day in Shanghai, with what it costs.

• 07:30 — Breakfast, Huangpu. Soy milk and a fried dough stick from a street stall, ¥8. Add a vegetable bun for ¥4.
• 10:00 — Coffee, French Concession. Oat flat white on Anfu Road, ¥38.
• 12:30 — Lunch, Putuo. Metro Line 13 to Jiangning Road, ¥4. Temple entry ¥20, then noodles with double mushrooms in the Jade Buddha canteen, ¥25.
• 15:30 — Snack. Baked sweet potato from a cart, ¥12, eaten walking.
• 19:00 — Dinner, Jing’an. Four dishes at Vegetarian Lifestyle shared between two: cold kaofu, mock sausage, garlic greens, a claypot. ¥110 a head with tea.
• 21:30 — Late. Vegan ice cream from a Hema store, ¥18.

Total: roughly ¥235 a head including a temple ticket and metro. Strip out the coffee and the sit-down dinner and the same day costs under ¥90. Add Fu He Hui and it becomes a ¥1,000 day. Both ends are good. Our restaurant guide and food streets guide cover the routes.

Mistakes First-Timers Make

• Assuming a vegetarian restaurant is vegan. Many Buddhist places use egg and milk freely. Chinese Buddhist practice forbids meat, not dairy.
• Turning up for dinner at 20:00. Temple and heritage vegetarian restaurants often stop serving at 19:00–19:30.
• Ignoring the lunar calendar. On the 1st and 15th of each lunar month, vegetarian restaurants are packed with observant diners. Book, or go at 11:00.
• Trusting an English menu translation. “Vegetable soup” on an English menu is frequently made with chicken stock. The English menu is a marketing document, not a specification.
• Expecting salad. Raw vegetables are not really part of Chinese cooking. Cooked greens are the local equivalent and better in winter anyway.
• Not saving screenshots. Addresses in Chinese characters and your dietary card should live offline in your phone. Mobile data drops in metro tunnels exactly when you need them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it hard to be vegetarian in Shanghai?

No — vegetarian dining is easier than in most major Asian cities. Buddhist tradition, Western vegan cafés, and modern Chinese vegetarian restaurants give plenty of choice. Vegan is slightly harder but still doable.

Are there vegan restaurants in Shanghai?

Yes — Fu He Hui (Michelin), Sweet Briar, Yamayoshi Vegan, Pure Vegan Shanghai, and various French Concession cafés are dedicated or strongly vegan-friendly.

Do Chinese restaurants understand “vegan”?

“Vegetarian” (素食) is universally understood. “Vegan” (纯素 chún sù) is increasingly understood but worth showing the Chinese characters or saving a description on your phone.

What’s the difference between Chinese Buddhist vegetarian and modern vegan?

Buddhist tradition uses mock meats made of tofu, mushrooms, and wheat gluten. Modern Western vegan tends toward salad bowls, raw foods, smoothies. Both are widely available.

Are mock meats popular in Shanghai?

Yes — Chinese Buddhist tradition has 1,500 years of mock-meat history. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods also appear at some restaurants.

Where can I find vegan brunch in Shanghai?

French Concession favorites include Sweet Briar, The Cottage, Madison, Pure Brew, and Egg on Anfu Road. ¥100–150 per person.

Is tofu vegan in Shanghai?

Plain tofu is vegan. Some prepared tofu dishes may use animal-based seasonings (oyster sauce, fish sauce) — always confirm.

What about vegan options at Chinese hotpot?

Hai Di Lao and most chains offer mushroom or vegetable broth, fresh vegetables, tofu, mock meats, and rice noodles. Easy to do vegan if you stick to plant-based sides. Ask about the tomato broth — it is often chicken-based — and avoid sacha sauce at the condiment bar.

How much does a vegetarian meal cost in Shanghai?

A canteen or temple noodle bowl is ¥20–30. A proper sit-down meal at a neighbourhood Chinese vegetarian restaurant runs ¥50–90 a head. Café and brunch food is ¥80–150. Fine dining at Fu He Hui is ¥800–1,500. Most travellers eat well on ¥120–180 a day.

Can I eat vegetarian xiaolongbao in Shanghai?

Yes, though not at the famous soup-dumpling houses, which are pork-only. Dedicated vegetarian kitchens such as Dancing Dumplings make them with mushroom, tofu and a vegetarian aspic that produces the same soup effect. Expect around ¥30 for six.

Do I need to speak Mandarin to eat vegetarian in Shanghai?

No. A saved image of your dietary requirements in Chinese characters and the ability to recognise 素 on a sign will get you through almost everything. Staff in the French Concession and in hotels usually speak some English; neighbourhood restaurants often do not.

Is Shanghai good for vegans compared with Beijing or Hong Kong?

Better than Beijing for Western-style vegan food and roughly level for Chinese vegetarian. Hong Kong has more international plant-based options per capita, but Shanghai is cheaper and has the stronger Buddhist restaurant tradition. Among mainland cities it is the easiest place to eat plant-based.

Plan Your Food Trip

Combine with our pillar guides on Shanghai food, street food, and our temples in Shanghai. For background, see Buddhist vegetarianism on Wikipedia, and the Shanghai municipal government’s own note on Longhua Temple vegetarian cuisine.