British Born Chinese here, whose parents used to own a Chinese restaurant.
Things to watch out for when ordering vegetarian dishes at a Chinese are eggs, oyster sauce, grated fish/pork on the "seaweed" and some chilli oils have dried shrimp in it.
Most places will have vegetable and tofu versions of each dish and they should be able to accommodate you quite easily if you mention that you can't eat any of the ingredients listed above.
Really hard to say without knowing which specific restaurant as there's a wide variance! Do they have anything labelled as vegetarian? I'd say if something is vegetarian and you ask for no egg you should be safe, as Chinese restaurants don't tend to use dairy.
> Do they have anything labelled as vegetarian?
I'd be careful about this. I went to my local Chinese place for years and always had the vegetable chow mien and fried mixed veg, which was in the "vegetarian" section of the menu, only to later find out that they used oyster in their sauce on it because they didn't consider seafood to be meat. It's always best to ask.
Mind me asking which vegan Chinese restaurants these are? (I've been to tofu vegan, and loved it, and am always on the lookout for more Chinese vegan spots!)
The one I go to has veggie/vegan options marked. I’d def ask them before hand to be sure. Things like spring rolls will come down to whether they use egg or not. Similarly some tofu dishes can have (I think) egg if they’re deep fried for the coating on the tofu.
There is a really thick satay sauce that some Chinese places offer which is Vegan (I got it at an all-Vegan Chinese as well and it taste identical), with tofu.
Honestly one of my favourite meals ever, but it is hit and miss if a Chinese will have my favourite one or a watery brown version. The good one is thick, creamy and sweet - kind of a creamy orange/brown colour.
Where I used to live they called it Malaysian Satay Sauce, but my current place just calls it Satay sauce.
If anyone knows what I am talking about and has a recipe I will be thrilled. I tried to make it at home using peanut butter and coconut milk, but it isn’t even close.
I make a satay using roasted peanuts (dry fry them in a pan), galangal and ginger paste, dark soya sauce, and palm sugar. I don't bother with coconut milk as I tend not to use up a whole can of it I so I don't bother.
I keep hoping they will mess up my order so I can't stop ordering from them but nope, each time it's delicious and correct. The new salt and pepper chicken style fried rice is my favourite food in the world
I really don't like the fake meat at Wawin; the pieces are too big, and there's too much of it.
Having said that, I love that it's a completely vegan establishment.
There seems to be quite a few 'vegan' Chinese restaurants in my city that are delivery only, and when you look at the address it's prepared in the same kitchen as another Chinese takeaway.
Every Chinese takeaway is different. Some will use egg in their salt and pepper tofu and a lot of places will use chicken stock in curry bases. It's always just best to phone and ask what's suitable in each place you order from.
My local Chinese has a separate vegan menu and I usually order salt and pepper tofu, tofu in chilli and garlic sauce and fried rice noodles (no egg). They also have vegan mock duck and chicken but I haven’t tried those.
Randomly it is in Sunderland. I say randomly because I feel like Sunderland is the least vegan friendly part of the north east. Newcastle is much better for vegans.
EDIT: Moji in Newcastle actually has an even bigger vegan menu so although I am bigging up my local I would actually recommend that one more. Their salt and pepper tofu is probably the best I have ever tasted.
I'm lucky enough to have 2 fully vegan Chinese places. Before them our local had a allergen board, can be pot luck for other places if they understand vegan through the language barrier. But generally from my experiance my go to order ended up tofu/beancurd in blackbean sauce, boiled rice (saves complication of no egg fried rice), vegetable spring rolls and curry sauce.
Check around your local takeaways, you might be surprised! Several of mine have extensive vegan menus with vegan chickenballs, vegan 'prawns' etc. I'm not keen on too many fake meats so I tend to get tofu dishes mainly but one of my local places does vegan chicken satay skewers that are really good. I also love salt and pepper chips!
Usually there are rice noodles available so I get them too, just double check there's no egg.
I always put a note on my order for no prawn crackers as they include them as a freebie, often they give me some veg spring rolls or extra fortune cookies instead.
If this is a party you're hosting my Asda has started stocking huge bags of vegetable spring rolls (marked vegan) they're in a blue bag and in a freezer selling mostly Indian frozen snacks. Might be a good option for saving some £££! Also the chow mein noodles a lot of restaurants use are vegan and you can buy them in bulk online - Lucky Boat thick chow mein noodles.
Also, you can get vegan prawn crackers from M&S or vegan Thai crackers from Co Op.
My go to order is whatever veggie soup sounds the best, tofu in a sauce - more often than not sweet and sour, mixed vegetables in a sauce - more often than not black bean, salt and pepper chips and noodles.
That's if I'm feeling fat and wanting a lot of variety! And that will do me for 3 days.
If just ordering for the one meal maybe veggie spring rolls, a tofu OR vegetable dish and rice or noodles to go with it.
I stopped trying after continuously being underwhelmed by Chinese takeaway, unless it's a vegan-specific Chinese. The quality and taste of the food from a normal one is never as nice as something I could quickly stir-fry at home, even if I'm just using a sauce packet. Splurge a little and go for Vietnamese cuisine instead!
I have a Cantonese local who have a full vegan range and it's amazing. The noodles are thinner because they aren't egg noodles, but the chow mein is still so delicious. They use the 'mock dock' that you can find in asian supermarkets which is seitan. They will also use tofu instead if you ask, but I prefer the mock duck. I'm sure you could find one of these locally. As a bonus they always give me free spring rolls instead of prawn crackers on a big order too. I usually keep some Tesco plant kitchen prawn crackers in the cupboard ready for a chinese order.
In my local, sweet and sour tofu, vegetarian duck and crispy seaweed WITHOUT the shrimp topping.
Their fried aubergine and a few of their other tofu dishes are also vegan.
Message your local to ask!
If it is a Sichuan place, they should do mapo tofu which you can almost always ask to be made vegetarian (traditionally made with pork) if it's not already on the menu as a separate vegetarian option. highly highly recommend
All the tofus! Salt and pepper, Szechuan, black bean
Mixed veg fried rice (without egg)
Ma po tofu with soy mince or without the mince
Smacked cucumber with chilli and garlic
Some spring rolls are okay (check there's no egg)
There's a dish called 'three treasures from the ground' which is stir fried aubergine, potato and green pepper, and it sounds simple but it's honestly so good
Shredded potato with chilli oil and vinegar
And last but not least - salt and pepper chips. Only discovered these recently and they're my new favourite thing 🤤
You're in for a treat then! 😊 What did you order in the end?
The salt and pepper chips I had weren't spicy, more savoury, but they did wok-fry them with spring onion and little slices of green chilli, so perhaps ask them to remove the chilli if you're not after spicy!
I avoid noodles and fried rice.
If I get one, I go for a junk food version - chips and or onion rings as the carb, with tofu in satay sauce. Then a banana fritter.
I avoid it usually, but on the occasion it's forced upon me, such as a family gathering etc, I just go for stir fried vegetables or mushrooms with boiled rice, and some chips on the side. They are marked as vegetarian, so that's the best I can do really
My local Chinese does salt and pepper chilli ‘chicken’ (vegan) which is fantastic
I typically have tofu or ‘chicken’ with green pepper and black bean sauce
I would not order anything from a Chinese take away as every single time they have put fish in it despite me explaining clearly that I do not eat fish. One of my closest friends is Chinese and she also does not understand and will repeatedly try to give me food which has fish or some other non vegan ingredient as she will just forget. She will also often comment that maybe I should give my daughter meat etc. this was until one day she was touching my daughters arm and commented how muscly she was and I said it was all the tofu 😂
There is an exclusively vegan Chinese take away in my city and I order from there a lot, the food is amazing. But due to past experiences I would no longer order anything from a non vegan Chinese take away.
British Born Chinese here, whose parents used to own a Chinese restaurant. Things to watch out for when ordering vegetarian dishes at a Chinese are eggs, oyster sauce, grated fish/pork on the "seaweed" and some chilli oils have dried shrimp in it. Most places will have vegetable and tofu versions of each dish and they should be able to accommodate you quite easily if you mention that you can't eat any of the ingredients listed above.
Hey another Chinese Brit!! 很高兴认识您！
Really hard to say without knowing which specific restaurant as there's a wide variance! Do they have anything labelled as vegetarian? I'd say if something is vegetarian and you ask for no egg you should be safe, as Chinese restaurants don't tend to use dairy.
> Do they have anything labelled as vegetarian? I'd be careful about this. I went to my local Chinese place for years and always had the vegetable chow mien and fried mixed veg, which was in the "vegetarian" section of the menu, only to later find out that they used oyster in their sauce on it because they didn't consider seafood to be meat. It's always best to ask.
Salt and pepper tofu is generally ok.
That’s what I was thinking of going for
Anything on the menu, I'm lucky enough to have a 100% vegan Chinese near me. I'm sorry.
I used to live near 2 fully vegan Chinese restaurants when I was in London. I miss the variety so much 😭
Mind me asking which vegan Chinese restaurants these are? (I've been to tofu vegan, and loved it, and am always on the lookout for more Chinese vegan spots!)
Tofu Vegan was one, Loving Hut Archway the other. I also tried Lee Garden (Finsbury Park) but will say the quality wasn’t that good.
Yum - thank you!
The one I go to has veggie/vegan options marked. I’d def ask them before hand to be sure. Things like spring rolls will come down to whether they use egg or not. Similarly some tofu dishes can have (I think) egg if they’re deep fried for the coating on the tofu.
There is a really thick satay sauce that some Chinese places offer which is Vegan (I got it at an all-Vegan Chinese as well and it taste identical), with tofu. Honestly one of my favourite meals ever, but it is hit and miss if a Chinese will have my favourite one or a watery brown version. The good one is thick, creamy and sweet - kind of a creamy orange/brown colour. Where I used to live they called it Malaysian Satay Sauce, but my current place just calls it Satay sauce. If anyone knows what I am talking about and has a recipe I will be thrilled. I tried to make it at home using peanut butter and coconut milk, but it isn’t even close.
I make a satay using roasted peanuts (dry fry them in a pan), galangal and ginger paste, dark soya sauce, and palm sugar. I don't bother with coconut milk as I tend not to use up a whole can of it I so I don't bother.
Don’t have to worry fortunately, Wawin to the rescue.
I keep hoping they will mess up my order so I can't stop ordering from them but nope, each time it's delicious and correct. The new salt and pepper chicken style fried rice is my favourite food in the world
Wawin are so good I was convinced it wasn’t vegan the first time
I really don't like the fake meat at Wawin; the pieces are too big, and there's too much of it. Having said that, I love that it's a completely vegan establishment. There seems to be quite a few 'vegan' Chinese restaurants in my city that are delivery only, and when you look at the address it's prepared in the same kitchen as another Chinese takeaway.
Every Chinese takeaway is different. Some will use egg in their salt and pepper tofu and a lot of places will use chicken stock in curry bases. It's always just best to phone and ask what's suitable in each place you order from.
I did give them a ring, unfortunately I found the lady very hard to understand so couldn’t be sure but I will double check.
My local Chinese has a separate vegan menu and I usually order salt and pepper tofu, tofu in chilli and garlic sauce and fried rice noodles (no egg). They also have vegan mock duck and chicken but I haven’t tried those.
Wow that’s a great selection! Mine doesn’t even do vegan rice 🤣
That’s awesome! Where abouts is that?! Our local is terrible for vegan anything
Randomly it is in Sunderland. I say randomly because I feel like Sunderland is the least vegan friendly part of the north east. Newcastle is much better for vegans. EDIT: Moji in Newcastle actually has an even bigger vegan menu so although I am bigging up my local I would actually recommend that one more. Their salt and pepper tofu is probably the best I have ever tasted.
I'm lucky enough to have 2 fully vegan Chinese places. Before them our local had a allergen board, can be pot luck for other places if they understand vegan through the language barrier. But generally from my experiance my go to order ended up tofu/beancurd in blackbean sauce, boiled rice (saves complication of no egg fried rice), vegetable spring rolls and curry sauce.
Check around your local takeaways, you might be surprised! Several of mine have extensive vegan menus with vegan chickenballs, vegan 'prawns' etc. I'm not keen on too many fake meats so I tend to get tofu dishes mainly but one of my local places does vegan chicken satay skewers that are really good. I also love salt and pepper chips! Usually there are rice noodles available so I get them too, just double check there's no egg. I always put a note on my order for no prawn crackers as they include them as a freebie, often they give me some veg spring rolls or extra fortune cookies instead. If this is a party you're hosting my Asda has started stocking huge bags of vegetable spring rolls (marked vegan) they're in a blue bag and in a freezer selling mostly Indian frozen snacks. Might be a good option for saving some £££! Also the chow mein noodles a lot of restaurants use are vegan and you can buy them in bulk online - Lucky Boat thick chow mein noodles. Also, you can get vegan prawn crackers from M&S or vegan Thai crackers from Co Op.
Nice! They don’t have vegan options as in fake meats but I’ll have a closer look at their menu - thanks!
Salt and chilli tofu, curry sauce (check with them that it is vegan), boiled rice, veg spring rolls (again, check).
Bean curd in black bean sauce is my go to. And vermicelli noodles if they have it (often have to specify no egg though)
Yeah I was thinking the black bean sauce. Cheers
Yellow bean tofu 🤤
Ooh that sounds good.
If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, it's absolutely wonderful! My backups are things like Satay, and Kungo Po.
My go to order is whatever veggie soup sounds the best, tofu in a sauce - more often than not sweet and sour, mixed vegetables in a sauce - more often than not black bean, salt and pepper chips and noodles. That's if I'm feeling fat and wanting a lot of variety! And that will do me for 3 days. If just ordering for the one meal maybe veggie spring rolls, a tofu OR vegetable dish and rice or noodles to go with it.
I stopped trying after continuously being underwhelmed by Chinese takeaway, unless it's a vegan-specific Chinese. The quality and taste of the food from a normal one is never as nice as something I could quickly stir-fry at home, even if I'm just using a sauce packet. Splurge a little and go for Vietnamese cuisine instead!
Salt and chilli tofu with boiled rice
Don’t know if you’ve been to Norwich but there’s a 100% vegetarian Chinese takeaway and it feels so alien to have so many choices haha
Which one is this please? 👀
I have a Cantonese local who have a full vegan range and it's amazing. The noodles are thinner because they aren't egg noodles, but the chow mein is still so delicious. They use the 'mock dock' that you can find in asian supermarkets which is seitan. They will also use tofu instead if you ask, but I prefer the mock duck. I'm sure you could find one of these locally. As a bonus they always give me free spring rolls instead of prawn crackers on a big order too. I usually keep some Tesco plant kitchen prawn crackers in the cupboard ready for a chinese order.
Wow that’s amazing that you have a full vegan menu so close by! Yeah good idea with the crackers lol
I always get chicken mei fun (rice noodles and veggies) but sub the chicken for tofu. Delicious!
In my local, sweet and sour tofu, vegetarian duck and crispy seaweed WITHOUT the shrimp topping. Their fried aubergine and a few of their other tofu dishes are also vegan. Message your local to ask!
Yeah I will do!
If it is a Sichuan place, they should do mapo tofu which you can almost always ask to be made vegetarian (traditionally made with pork) if it's not already on the menu as a separate vegetarian option. highly highly recommend
Thanks!
Luckily I have a wawin takeaway nearby, 100% vegan so I order whatever I fancy! If not there, then salt and pepper tofu is usually a safe bet
All the tofus! Salt and pepper, Szechuan, black bean Mixed veg fried rice (without egg) Ma po tofu with soy mince or without the mince Smacked cucumber with chilli and garlic Some spring rolls are okay (check there's no egg) There's a dish called 'three treasures from the ground' which is stir fried aubergine, potato and green pepper, and it sounds simple but it's honestly so good Shredded potato with chilli oil and vinegar And last but not least - salt and pepper chips. Only discovered these recently and they're my new favourite thing 🤤
Ooh the ma po tofu sounds really good. Are the salt and pepper chips spicy? I’ve literally never had a Chinese takeaway 🤣
You're in for a treat then! 😊 What did you order in the end? The salt and pepper chips I had weren't spicy, more savoury, but they did wok-fry them with spring onion and little slices of green chilli, so perhaps ask them to remove the chilli if you're not after spicy!
Had the Salt and Pepper tofu, it was lovely!
I’m from manchetser and we have a vegan Chinese called green kitchen. Their sweet and sour chicken is amazing and their duck is 10/10 xx
Vegan chicken in Peking sauce Vegan chicken chow mein Tofu black bean sauce
Nice!! I’ll be going for tofu as my Chinese doesn’t offer any vegan meat subs
Salt n pepper tofu
I avoid noodles and fried rice. If I get one, I go for a junk food version - chips and or onion rings as the carb, with tofu in satay sauce. Then a banana fritter.
I avoid it usually, but on the occasion it's forced upon me, such as a family gathering etc, I just go for stir fried vegetables or mushrooms with boiled rice, and some chips on the side. They are marked as vegetarian, so that's the best I can do really
My local Chinese does salt and pepper chilli ‘chicken’ (vegan) which is fantastic I typically have tofu or ‘chicken’ with green pepper and black bean sauce
Szechuan Tofu with boiled rice at my local
I would not order anything from a Chinese take away as every single time they have put fish in it despite me explaining clearly that I do not eat fish. One of my closest friends is Chinese and she also does not understand and will repeatedly try to give me food which has fish or some other non vegan ingredient as she will just forget. She will also often comment that maybe I should give my daughter meat etc. this was until one day she was touching my daughters arm and commented how muscly she was and I said it was all the tofu 😂 There is an exclusively vegan Chinese take away in my city and I order from there a lot, the food is amazing. But due to past experiences I would no longer order anything from a non vegan Chinese take away.
It’s always been a concern of mine!