Taipei vegetarian food guide
Taipei vegetarian food guide
I went back to Taipei, Taiwan in August this year with my SO (he’s a lacto-ovo vegetarian) and went about trying a lot of vegetarian food. Taipei is extremely vegetarian-friendly so here’s a list of vegetarian-friendly food that we tried…
Ximending
Address: No. 11號, Lane 34, Section 2, Hankou St, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108
Quan Zhen Vegetarian (全真素食)
A small establishment tucked in one of the quieter streets in Ximending. Serves mostly chinese food and some fusion (western-chinese) dishes. Reasonably priced but I would say the taste is average.
I love their Salted Crispy Chicken (盐酥鸡) and their braised stinky tofu is one of the rare ones that I can accept (it’s not so smelly!).
So Free Wood-Fired Pizza
Address: 1, Ln 50, Xining South Rd, Wanhua District, Taipei, Taiwan
Vegetarian pizza joint serving unique flavours. The size of their pizza is about the same as a regular one in Singapore and cost a reasonable NT175 each.
The organic furniture and decor made for an unique interior and ambience.
They have flavours such as Apple Cinnamon, Ginger Superman and Rosemary Potato. I wasn’t feeling adventurous so we went for the Korean Kimchi (pictured below) and the Three Cups Mushroom.
This restaurant has really great reviews online…I did enjoy the pizza but it fell short of a satisfying meal.
Prince Cheese Potato
Address: 108, Taiwan, Taipei City, Wanhua District, 49-3 Emei Street
You can find stalls selling this snack in almost any night market.
We went for the egg flavour…
And god! It was super sinful. Deep-fried potato ball with cubed hard-boiled egg, drenched in cheese.
A great (and guilty) after-dinner snack.
Mai Wei Deng (麦味登)
Address: No. 132號, Hanzhong Street, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108
This is where I go for breakfast when I’m in the Ximending vicinity. They are usually very busy on weekday mornings because locals will be getting their breakfast here too. Note that they only open in the afternoon on weekends.
Their hashbrown omelette (薯饼蛋塔) and soy milk are my favourite combination.
Hua Shan Market
Fuhang Dou Jiang (阜杭豆漿)
Address: 100, Taiwan, Taipei City, Zhongzheng District, Section 1, Zhongxiao East Road, 108號2樓
One of the top recommended breakfast place in Taipei, I recommend you to get there early or you’ll have to queue. The queue starts outside the building on the ground floor and the store is situated in the food court on the second.
I’ll recommend their flat breads with omelette and bread with youtiaos! The soy milk is great too.
Note: The salty beancurd is not suitable for vegetarians as there are shrimps in it.
Zhong Xiao Area
Address: 106, Taiwan, Taipei City, Da’an District, 敦化南路1段246號B1
Sarabeth’s
Sarabeth’s originated from Japan and has branches in Taiwan and New York. The restaurant had a very nice and pretty interior and prices were slightly on the high side.
We visited the joint twice. The first time, we tried their eggs benedict and french toast with mango and coconut sauce.
The eggs benedict was average but the toast was really good!
It was crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. The toast had a faint charred aroma and wasn’t too sweet.
We returned a second time to get the french toast again but was distracted by the strawberry and gianduja chocolate french toast on their seasonal menu. I was reluctant to order it as it was really pricey but my SO insisted and it was the best french toast I tasted.
The first bite was heavenly! The chocolate was really premium and the toast was up to the same standards as when we first ate it. It was well-worth the price tag.
Address: 106, Taiwan, Taipei City, Da’an District, Section 4, Zhongxiao East Road, 200號明曜百貨 12樓
Guo Ran Hui (果然匯)
Reasonably-priced buffet restaurant which serves a great variety of dishes with, surprisingly, no mock meat! This place is usually full so make your reservations early.
The restaurant takes up the entire floor of the mall and is really spacious.
They have Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Mediterrean, Western etc etc and a whole corner for desserts. It was really a waste that I was so full and didn’t get to enjoy the full range of food. 
Not all the dishes tasted great but overall, it was a super satisfying meal.
[su_gmap address=”果然匯”]
Address: 106, Taiwan, Taipei City, Da’an District, Lane 408, Ren’ai Rd, 21號1樓
élément
This is a pricey restaurant with an incredible gothic, victorian style interior. The service was slightly cold and perhaps a little uppish but it wasn’t super off-putting as stated in most Google reviews.
We had a risotto, a crepe and mixed bruschettas. And I loved them all.
The risotto is definitely not cooked authentic and it tasted more like soft rice with sauce to me but I enjoyed the taste.
The bruschetta was flavourful and had a interesting fusion of ingredients. My only grouse was the tough bread. Crepe was great too, just not too gram-friendly.
Jiufen
Address: No. 28之2號, Jishan Street, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
Jin Zhi (金枝)
One popular Jiufen snack is the vinasse meat dumplings. This restaurant was the only vegetarian option that we found and it turned out good. The SO liked the red meat dumplings while I liked their meatball soup.
We even brought back some of the meat dumplings to Singapore!
Tian Xia Di Yi Gu (天下第一菇)
A vegetarian variation of the Salted Crispy Chicken (盐酥鸡), this uses mushroom instead of mockup meat. The mushroom was nicely marinated and had a great chewy texture.
As mentioned, Taiwan is super vegetarian-friendly place so there are tons more vegetarian restaurants out there that we did not try. Hope this post gives you a good head start in your vegetarian food marathon.
Feel free to drop even more recommendations in the comments. 😀
