Wu Guan Tang 五观堂素食
349 Xinhua Lu,
Changning
near Dingxi Lu
新华路349号
近定西路
6281-3695
Open 11am-10pm
Price Y100-Y199 per couple
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- City Weekend says
This vegetarian restaurant has been providing Shanghailanders with excellent Chinese food and friendly service for five years. The second floor provides a lovely view over quiet Xinhua Lu, and you'll order from a handwritten menus full of classic and seasonal dishes. Be sure to make a reservation (even on a week night) at this popular but eminently laid-back restaurant.
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Most Recent Reviews
eesh. My husband is vegan so we like to try a lot of different places in the city. This place is definitely a miss. We didn't have one dish that we liked. Service was lacking, the doujiang was watery, and every dish was flavorless--even the tea egg!
Best vegetarian in Shanghai, hands down. The handmade noodles in mala mushroom broth, potato in red bell pepper, pumpkin with celery and lily bulb... the veggies are all good. For dessert right now, there's a durian ice pop that's to dieeeeeeee for.
Have to say that I am rather the opposite of a Vegetarian, but the problem of this place is not that there is no meat. The problem is that all the dishes lack in taste. It's quite bland. Otherwise it would be a quite interesting place.
When I'm sick of cheap oily Chinese food and too tired to cook at home - that's the place for me to go. everything is so fresh!!! organic vegetables, no MSG or other unhealthy food additives- absolutely great place. they even have quite big set lunch for only 45rmb.
It's hard to find flavor in this food, that's for sure. Absolutely everything tastes like vegetable stock, and there are too many rubbery mushrooms covering this culinary simplemindedness. This is not a popular restaurant: it hardly sees any visitors at all, probably because Cafe Gratitude@San Francisco it is not. But even local Jujube Tree is way more inventive and flavorful.
Chinese Bite | Vibrant Vegetarian
We’re not sure if it was the robed monks chatting amicably at the corner table, the neat, handwritten menus or the complimentary shots of freshly macerated sugarcane juice that made us fall head over heels.
As committed meat eaters, we’ve always secretly felt vegetarian dishes lacked a little something (meat), but this gem completely surpassed expectations to deliver a meal worthy of Buddha himself.
A dish of spiced curry wild brown rice (¥38) came with the freshest diced avocado we’ve had in China. A hefty bowl of homemade five flavor noodles with oyster and enoki mushrooms, shredded carrot and baby bok choy (¥25) came in a thick and delicious vegetable consommé. From the dim sum section, we ordered mushroom pastries (¥18 for four). Peppered with toasted sesame, they came fresh and crackling from the oven.
It’s rare to find food prepared with such a fine-tuned awareness of flavor and detail, and even harder to find it in this price range.
Find of the Week | Faux Crab Roe
Hairy crab season is almost upon us, but alas, if you’re vegetarian, it’s pretty hard to get excited about those scuttling critters. While others delight in eating the sticky, rich orange roe that these crabs are famous for, we recommend trying the seafood-free version at Wu Guan Tang, a superb vegetarian institution that has been feeding local epicureans for more than five years.
The faux crab roe, made from a mixture of carrot and potato purée with precise amounts of vinegar, is as tasty as the real thing and, at ¥28, much cheaper. It looks simple, but has layers of seafood-like flavors that always throw new tasters for a loop. This restaurant’s version is even better than Godly’s signature vegetarian crab roe dish, and less oily. The food at Wu Guan Tang is never short of delicious, but this dish is a true standout worth going out to Changning for. When you’re done, cut up its container and enjoy the crisp slices of sweet bell pepper.