As someone actively trying to consume less meat and eat the rainbow daily, I'm always searching for spots that are good, healthy, and cheap. It's hard to check all three of those boxes, but this vegan restaurant in a random mall on Jiangsu Lu hits all three and looks pretty doing it.
The place is called 轻蔬不用等·素食 (no English name, so we just translated directly to "Light Vegetables Without Waiting"), and the dish that most people order is this bento-box tray that changes slightly each day. You get eight small dishes plus a little bowl of mixed grain rice, which you can refill as much as you like. The dishes rotate daily: maybe some vegan mapo doufu, spicy carrot puree, steamed broccoli, malantou, purple pickled lotus roots, various mushrooms, boiled cabbage, or something else. It's all colorful and diverse in flavor and texture, and all vegan.
While they don't use garlic, some of the dishes are spicy, but you can let the staff know your preferences, and they'll swap them for you. It's really laid back. You can choose from the 48rmb set or the 68rmb set. The latter has more expensive selections, like crispy spring rolls, a porkless pork chop, and their "lemon tofu", a silky, lemony, and dairy-free whipped dessert that everyone calls yogurt. So good. The pro move here is to get the 48rmb box (no fried food), add a soup for 3rmb, and get a lemon tofu for 11rmb. For 60rmb, you get the whole rainbow and enough energy for a good part of the day. You can also order from a longer a la carte menu that features these dishes in bigger portions plus vegan skewers, noodles, and more.
There's only one location, and it's owned and operated by Chongqing-native Ruoyu (若愚), who used to eat meat, then stopped, then restarted and found it didn't agree with her anymore. In 2021, she took over this spot from another veg restaurant called 素趣蔬来 and changed the name. On a recent visit, she told me how she prefers to only serve vegetables that are in season, even if they're available, and that she wants to just let vegetables be vegetables and shine, rather than do the whole fake meat thing (super common in Shanghai). That said, they do offer one "pork chop" because so many customers request something like this. She says about 30% of the vegetables are organic, and about 70% of the sauces and oils are (they cook with sunflower seed oil).
Light Vegetables Without Waiting stays open all day long, every day, and they're on delivery platforms and do catering as well. There's no music except the chimes from the Family Mart door next door. A sign on the wall in Chinese says, "Wish you happiness, there is only one today!" Good vibes, good place, always a good reset.
