Chegongmiao doesn’t just have a new meat-free eatery, it has a movement. All who dine at the New Plum Garden Yuantong Vegetarian Restaurant wonder how the all-you-can-eat buffet can be so good and yet so cheap (RMB30). The answer is the owner doesn't care about making money. He simply wants to make vegetarianism easily accessible.
The restaurant has several phases, the first of which begins outside in the parking lot courtyard. Here, patrons can skim Buddhist texts displayed on tables underneath tents, like a mini Buddhist book fair. Passing through this section, women giving away red apples and little cards with foxes on them request people become vegetarian. After these proselytizers, beyond the displays of prayer beads, is the cash register, where diners pay RMB40.
After payment, patrons are given two receipts: one to show the staff at the dish dispensary and one to show the man by the dirty dish drop-off near the corn juice vat. (It’s important to give the man your ticket once you’ve returned all your dishes at the end of your meal, as he will give you backthe RMB10 dish deposit.)
Immediately after the register to the right comes the last area of New Plum Garden: the buffet itself. Over 50 dishes are spread through sections of fruit and desserts, salads, wraps, fried dishes, steamed dishes, soups and cold dishes.
We piled the crunchy sweet and sour tofu on our plates along with boiled and fried taro, steamed eggplant, dumplings, mushrooms with hot peppers, broccoli, carrot and cabbage steam buns, and capped it off with a glass of fresh watermelon juice. Of what we tried, everything had an excellent consistency except for the eggplant, which was overly soft. All the food had a slight aftertaste of peanut oil – not overpowering, just distinctive.
The restaurant makes all their cooking oil onsite and sells it along with other veggie goodies in their small health food store at the entrance.
Make sure to go between the limited opening hours of 11am to 2pm or 5.30 to 8.30pm. Staff begin closing up at 8pm and patrons clear out by the posted end times.
Cheap, quality food, unlimited fresh juice and a health food store. We’ll definitely be back to re-experience all the phases of New Plum Garden.
Price: RMB30
Who’s going: Everyone, especially Buddhists and vegetarians
Good for: Vegetarian food, cheap food, family outings
// Listing.
0 User Comments