Shanghai's Top Notch Vegetarian Cuisine Songyuelou
净素之冠·春风松月楼

Occupying 2 floors and only a few hundred square meters in size, Songyuelou is not Shanghai's biggest restaurant, but definitely it is one of the biggest names in the industry. The vegetarian restaurant has achieved national and international fame since a long time ago.

Sonyuelou was first established in 1910 during the second year of Emperor XuanTong's Reign of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, many temples existed in the surrounding vicinities of the City God Temple. A large number of Buddhist pilgrims and tourists gathered in the area, resulting in a significant increase in the demand for quality vegetarian foods. Xu Huijia, an apprentice at the Suliuluxuan Vegetarian Restaurant, saw the business opportunity. He borrowed money to rent the "Ninghui Chamber" of West Garden and opened "Chunfeng-Songyuelou" restaurant. Hui had excellent skills in making vegetarian dishes. To purchase the finest quality raw ingredients, Hui visited the production sites in person, and also cooked the gourmet dishes himself. On the restaurant signboard, there were eight Chinese characters, which meant "Pure vegetarian food all the year round and no meat whatsoever served". Mr. Xu's effort received excellent feedbacks from customers and his restaurant quickly gained popularity. At the beginning of the Republic of China Xu bought Wuji Vegetarian Restaurant which was a fairly well-known restaurant on the west side of the City God Temple. Wuji Restaurant had since become an affiliated company.

In July 1917, Shanghai Great World Entertainment Centre was first opened for business. The founder, entrepreneur Huang Chujiu, started his business career by selling eye drops beside the Nine-Zigzag Bridge near the City God Temple. One day after entertaining friends at the Mid-lake Pavilion Tea House, Mr. Huang came to Chunfeng-Songyuelou and had a bowl of Assorted Vegetarian Noodle Soup. Huang highly praised the noodle soup and invited Xu to set up a small vegetarian cafeteria in the Republic Hall of the Great World Entertainment Centre to sell vegetarian dishes and dim sum. The deal was that Mr. Huang would provide all the funding and equipments, while Songyuelou would lend the restaurant's reputation and manage the daily operations. The partnership was an instant success. Every day the dining hall was like a bustling marketplace and packed with customers. Chunfeng-Songyuelou gained more popularity as a result.

In 1937, the then Bureau in Charge of Foreign Concessions in Shanghai used to entertain guests at Chunfeng-Songyuelou Restaurant, and got really good praises from British and American guests.

Today Chunfeng-Songyuelou has been renamed to Songyuelou. It is located at the intersection of JiuJiaoChang Rd and BaiLing Rd. The restaurant not only strictly adheres to the tradition of serving pure vegetarian food, it also specializes in cooking "meat imitation vegetarian dishes". No doubt, all the ingredients of this unique dish are vegetables, but the taste and the appearance resemble meat dishes. The imitation is so well done that it is difficult to tell apart. In July 2002, in a celebration of the 30th anniversary of normalization of Sino-Japan diplomatic relations, a Japanese TV production company came to Songyuelou Restaurant to shoot video for a TV series called "A feast of Chinese food-Vegetarian cuisine". The restaurant's chefs demonstrated their extraordinary culinary techniques by making some of the most amazing vegetarian meat dishes, including Crab Eggs with Baby Bo Choi, Eel with the Tremella Mushroom and Baby Squid in Coconut Sauce. The Japanese audiences were astounded by the chef's performance and the Chinese culinary art. Renowned Kun opera actor Ji Zhenhua ate the vegetarian food here and gladly wrote a dedication to the restaurant, calling it "top notch vegetarian cuisine." The best recommended food at Songyuelou is the Steamed Vegetable Bun Filled with Shitake Mushrooms. Its filling is made with green vegetables, fresh white bean curd, dark Shitake mushrooms and Tremella Mushrooms. The fillings are fragrant with the sesame oil and wrapped in soft fluffy dough. No wonder the bun has received excellent reviews from customers.

Imitation Crab Eggs with Baby Bok Choy 菜心蟹黄油

This dish has won the title of "Famous Chinese Vegetarian Dish". The ingredients include turnip, minced ginger, shitake mushroom, cubed bamboo shoots, egg white, and soy protein. The ingredients are first made into a paste which tastes like crab roe. Then it is stir-fried until golden brown. Baby Xiaotangcai, a type of leafy vegetable grown in Shanghai, is boiled in a pot and the broth is thickened with tapioca starch. Finally, the vegetable is placed around the "crab roe" paste on a plate. This dish bears a striking resemblance to the real crab roe in every way. It features vivid color, pure flavor and rich savory taste.

Winter Mushroom with Crispy Vegetarian Duck
冬菇脆皮鸭

Bean Curd (tofu) Sheet is the main ingredient of this dish. The other ingredients are Chinese mushroom, Sichuan Pepper, fennel, cassia (Chinese Cinnamon) and clove. Half of a Bean Curd Sheet is immersed in a sauce made with Sichuan Pepper, fennel, cassia and clove. After soaking in the sauce for 5 minutes, the Bean Curd Sheet is taken out and let dry. Once dried, it is wrapped inside the other half sheet with some Chinese mushrooms. The wrapped sheets are deep fried until crispy. The final product is a perfect blend of savory taste, aromatic flavor, flaky and light texture, and a mixed flavor sweet and salty.

Fried Vegetarian Eel 响油鳝糊

The ingredients of this dish are shitake mushroom, salted tender bamboo, soy beans, ginger, sugar, white pepper powder, starch and etc. The key in making this dish is to cut the shitake mushrooms in a circular path, starting from the edge and gradually spirals toward the center. The length of the spiral cut is about 10 cm, and its appearance resembles an eel. After squeezing out excess water, the mushrooms are coated with starch and deep fried. Lastly, soy sauce, sugar and white pepper powder are added. The dish is refreshing, fragrant and tastes like real eel.

Vegetarian Noodle Soup with Five Nuts 五仁罗汉面

The five nuts used in this dish are ginkgo seeds, lotus seeds, jujube (Chinese dates), olive kernel. A soup base is prepared with Tremella mushroom, Button mushroom, sweet peas, dried peas, bamboo shoots, carrots and seasoned with Soy Sauce, sugar and sesame oil. When it is ready to serve, the soup is poured over boiled home-made noodles. The chewy, silky smooth noodles and the mouth-watering soup make a perfect combination.

Address: 23 Bailing Rd, near the City God Temple

Telephone: 021-63553630

Hours of operation: 10:30-14:00

16:30-20:30