The place
Vegan-friendly restaurants: few and far between in Shanghai. But now at least they can add Happy Buddha, a new vegan and vegetarian spot inside WTF Bike Shop at Jiashan Market, specializing in seitan made by a local company called Serenity Seitan.
Who or what is a seitan? According to Serenity Seitan, it's a vegan/vegetarian-friendly meat alternative made from cooked wheat gluten. They say it's higher in protein than tofu, fills you up for longer, is low in calories and carbs and has zero cholesterol.
The food
On the menu is exactly the kind of stuff you wouldn't expect to find at a vegan place. Double layer nachos? Check. Cheesesteak or BBQ sandwich? Check and check. All of the dishes are alternatives to classic comfort foods, supplementing seitan for meat. Not all of it is vegan, but everything is suitable for vegetarians.
We kicked off with quesadillas (RMB39) spinach tortillas filled with spicy Mexican seitan, two kinds of melty cheese, tomato salsa and sour cream.
In this dish we certainly didn't notice the absence of meat, largely due to the copious amounts of yummy melty cheese. Obviously, these are vegetarian rather than vegan, and if we were vegans watching our vegetarian friends eat this, we'd be jealous.
Next up was chilli lime soft tacos (RMB46) with marinated seitan, salsa, lettuce and avocado ranch sauce. While they looked very pretty, these were a little unsubstantial and could have used a little more seitan and warmed tortillas.
Also safe for vegans are the vegan cheeze sticks (RMB42), homemade vegan 'cheeze' coated in crispy panko crumbs and spices served with a side of marinara sauce.
Being accustomed to real cheese, we found the loose texture rather alien. However, if you're a real vegan we're sure you'll enjoy them more than us.
Next we tried Happy Buddha's most ballsy menu item: seitan cheesesteak sandwich (RMB42). How can you make the dairy and beef-laden delights of a cheesesteak vegan friendly?
The answer is you can't. But that's not to say this sandwich wasn't good – we enjoyed the larger strips of seitan, which have a very chewy and toothsome texture. The 'cashew cheeze' was alright too, but seemed a little more like scrambled egg.
Desserts, however, are where Happy Buddha gets a home run.
Mini cheesecake (RMB22) is made with a date and walnut crust and a naturally sweetened cashew cream filling, topped with fresh lemon rind. This is a great dessert period, let alone the fact it's vegan friendly.
We also totally fell in love with the oatmeal cream pie, RMB20. Made with two chewy oatmeal cookies, the light coconut cream was an flavorsome alternative that clicked with the intensely gingerbready flavors in the cookie.
Bad news about this one: it's only vegetarian. We'd get serious food envy here if we were real vegans.
Happily, vegan diners can be content with Happy Buddha's ice cream selection (RMB25 a dish) including vanilla bean, chocolate peanut butter and mint chocolate chip.
These are made with coconut cream and sweetened with agave nectar. We definitely enjoyed the mousse-like texture and would eat them again.
Food verdict: 2/3
The vibe
Being inside a bike shop, it's unsurprising that the place shuts at 8pm. If you're trying to have dinner there, however, it's rather inconvenient. As such, we'd say visit this place during lunch times. Being relatively new, expect to have the place largely to yourself if you come in the evening.
Service is friendly and warm, and we particularly liked that they gave us a doggy bag for our leftovers without even asking.
Vibe verdict: 0.5/1
Note: to find this place you'll need to go inside Jiashan Market. On Jiashan Lu, look for an archway that looks like this:
Value for money
Happy Buddha's portion sizes are generous, and you'll leave feeling satisfied after one or two dishes. True to their word, the seitan really does fill you up properly, and we didn't feel like we'd had a 'rabbit food' meal.
Overall, we'd be happy to take any vegan or vegetarian friends here, but if you're accustomed to meat and dairy, don't come to Happy Buddha expecting it to be the same as eating 'real' nachos, BBQ and Cheesesteak. It's not, but in it's category, this place makes good food and is recommended.
Value for money: 0.5/1
TOTAL VERDICT: 3/5
Price: RMB60-100RMB per person
Who's going: expat vegans and vegetarians
Good for: no meat, lunch and early dinner, vegan/vegetarian options, craft beer.
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