• Chun Shui Tang (Park Lane by CMP Branch) - 春水堂

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  • White Veg-options
Ovo
Delivery
Take-out
Taiwanese
Non-veg

Serves meat, vegan options available. Taiwanese restaurant known to be the original creators of bubble tea. Offers a variety of vegan Taiwanese dishes, including sweet potato leaves, spiced noodles, bean curd rice cakes, herbal soup, mochi dessert, spiced tofu, steamed mushrooms & tofu skin, etc. Open Mon-Sun 11:00am-9:30pm.


Venue map for Chun Shui Tang (Park Lane by CMP Branch) - 春水堂
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1 Review

First Review by kaieden

kaieden

Points +98

Vegetarian
14 Apr 2024

Decent vegetarian & vegan options in a famous Taichung chain restaurant

Chun Shui Tang is a famous Taiwanese chain of tea-shops & restaurants, best known for inventing the first 'bubble tea' or 'boba' in the 1980s. This location is in the B1 basement floor of the Park Lane CMP department store which is on the Gongyi Road corner of the Taichung Civic Square.

The menu has english translation but labelling might confuse non-natives. Pure Vegetarian dishes are labelled as vegetarian, but ovo-lacto and vegan dishes are not labelled at all - in some cases 'vegetarian' is in the name of the dish but not always. The staff will provide you with an allergy & dietary guide if you ask (printed in mandarin only) which allows you to see which dishes contain eggs or milk. You will still want to clarify before ordering as there are some dishes (such as the radish cakes) which could be either vegan or meat - in this case they contained meat which could only be determined by asking staff.
Figuring out which dishes are vegan may take a little communication - very easy if you're joined by a fluent Chinese speaker like I was, but perhaps less so if you're depending on a translation app.
In case you can't be bothered with the effort, or are concerned about translation errors - the pure-veg dishes are also delicious, vegan, and clearly labelled.

The staff were very attentive, and understood well the differences between different vegetarian diets. Despite the previous paragraph my experience was very good - it did not take me much time at all to choose & order.

I had the steamed tofu skin & enoki mushrooms, Sweet Potato leaves, Taro balls (ovo-vegetarian), and a vegan mixed-vegetable & peanut dish for which I can't remember the menu-item name. All were delicious, and because I was sharing with meat-eaters the staff gladly provided extra tableware so that we could avoid cross-contamination.

We asked the waiter if the cow milk in the milk-tea could be swapped for soy milk which was unfortunately not possible. I've since been told however that all Chun Shui Tang stores should sell soy versions of their famous milk tea, so perhaps they were simply out of stock - Soy milk is much cheaper than cow milk in Taiwan so it would be odd and unfortunate if they've changed the policy. Nevertheless they have a lot of other delicious tea options and I eventually settled on a plum tea.

All in all - I would recommend to other vegans & vegetarians looking for somewhere to eat within the mall or it's vicinity. Save your receipt to receive a parking discount!

Pros: Pure-veg options, Extra tableware available for sharing, English translations on regular menu

Cons: Labelling could be better , Soy milk options may not be available




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