Vegan Restaurants and Options in Dongmen, Taipei, Taiwan

Hello everybody, 大家好! Today we’re going to talk about Guting’s little brother, Dongmen, which translates to East Gate. Dongmen is situated on the Orange and Red line, sandwiched between Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall to the west, Da’an park to the east, and NTNU to the south. Dongmen has some great vegan options, so let’s dive on in!

VEGAN

• Uncle Q - One of my personal top three favorite restaurants in all of Taiwan has to be Uncle Q. Founded by an American basketball player who played for Taiwan in the Olympics, Uncle Q is an adorable all vegan restaurant that serves Italian and American food such as pastas, veggie burgers, and salads. Everything on their menu is delicious but it’s definitely more expensive. And don’t worry, they have an English menu. Trust me, you have to get yourself to Uncle Q.

• Tailai - This small vegan restaurant is run by a bunch of very nice women who will be very interested in where you come from, I promise. Their menu is small and limited and also a little pricey in my opinion, however, it’s a really nice atmosphere and good food. Their menu doesn’t have english but it does have pictures so feel free to pick out what looks good.

• Green small vegan place 金華素食滷味素食麵 & 水果行 - but I call them the small green place. This stall is all vegan, and run by a very nice couple. Sometimes they put out tables for seating but everything is typically 外帶 (to go). They offer curry, wonton, dumplings, noodles, and noodle soups. Their menu is not in English but essentially it’s very customizable. I’d recommend using your translator app or getting a friend to help you.

• Soypresso - A chain of all vegan, soy milk focused shops that offers soy milk drinks, ice cream, yogurt, bagels and cream cheese, and Douhua (or tofu pudding). Dongmen has two of them, both with casual seating inside. Their soymilk is super fresh so if you don’t like the taste of soymilk you won’t like any of their products. But I say, give it a try! Their English menu is always on the counter.

Now of course, I do not advocate supporting non-vegan restaurants. But it’s important to know where the plant-based food options are, right?

VEGETARIAN

• Nationwide Healthy Vegetarian - Right down the street from the small green place we have Nationwide Healthy Vegetarian. A chain of vegetarian buffets in Taiwan “healthy vegetarian” has a bunch of plant based options to try. They calculate your meal based on weight and charge an extra $10 dollars for rice. The bonus of going to a buffet of course is that you can take your food and don’t have to speak any Chinese. If you feel comfortable just skipping over the dairy and egg dishes, this could be a good place for you.

• LeeZen - Right across the street is another chain company here in Taiwan. LeeZen (or LeeRen) is a vegetarian grocery store. Please don’t be fooled. Google and even the staff will claim that this store is “vegan” because of a misunderstanding of the word. The place is vegetarian, and offers snacks, drinks, organic cotton clothes, soap, shampoo, fruits and vegetables, and vitamins and supplements. Check the ingredients of what you’re buying before you do (most of their products will have english on the box) and some even say vegan on them specifically. They’re a great place to get your cruelty free toiletries and fair trade chocolate.

MEAT

• Gusto Pizza - Gusto Pizza unfortunately sells meat, but they’re one of the few places in Taiwan that offers plant-based pizza. So if you’re comfortable in a restaurant like that, and craving some pizza-goodness, Gusto pizza has you covered. They have a specific section on their menu dedicated to vegan pizza, in English of course. They’re a hip, modern restaurant and a good place to go with a group. You can also find them on UberEats which can be very convenient if you can’t go out.

And there you have it folks: all the vegan restaurants and plant-based options in Dongmen. I hope this was helpful and I look forward to the next one. 再見