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• Vegan, OR NOT???

When Jing Ping opened a few years ago I was delighted to finally have a veg thai restaurant in Taipei, because I sometimes really crave Thai food. I took their word that it was all vegan (including the fake meat) and promoted their restaurant on my blog. So I was a bit concerned to see that it's been changed to "vegetarian" on Happycow, and to hear vegan Taiwanese friends describe it as "mostly vegan", especially after they again told me that their food is vegan. So as the Happycow Ambassador for Taipei, and because I still recommend them on my blog and am writing a vegan travel guide to Taiwan I thought I'd try to figure it out. So I visited twice, once when they were open and once when they were standing around waiting to open, and despite being as polite as possible was met with the same cold dismissal: "Our fake meat is all vegan; no more questions please." Of course this *could* in theory be true, but 99% of vegetarian restaurants in Taiwan insist that their fake meat is vegan, while 99% of fake meat in Taiwan contains dairy, (battery hen) eggs and often real meat. (Loving Huts are a notable exception, and most truly vegan restaurants use their products, if they use fake meat at all.) Jing Ping also uses fake fish, chicken and ham, which are the most likely to contain animal products (to closer mimic the flavour and texture of meat). Vegetarians ok with this should get a reasonable meal, which the previous reviewer accurately described as "Chinese Thai fusion" - perfectly enjoyable but might leave those craving Thai flavours a little unsatisfied, especially given the high price tag. By far the best and most authentic Thai meal I've had in Taiwan was a red curry from Mianto, near Daan Park. Also, for anyone living here, the iVegan supermarket sells good Thai and other international ingredients.