Happy Buddha

Ordered the crispy mex wrap and a burger - was really impressed - great beers too - I was here a few months ago and they seem to have changed chefs - the food seemed much fresher and was really a delight - definitely going back for some vegan ice cream at some stage - I would say this might be the only place in Shanghai with it !

So the one thing I have to say about this place is that it's nice to see a restaurant with western vegan options, as there are numerous places in Shanghai offering Chinese dishes vegan or vegetarian, but few with vegan cheese, pizza, seitan etc.

Unfortunately, the dishes were rather underwhelming. I had the vegan grilled cheese sandwich, the mexican wrap (warm) and the kale sweet potato salad.

The vegan grilled cheese had a sort of a cream spread made of sunflower seeds, rather than anything texturally close to cheese and the mexican wrap was predominantly kale with small pieces of seitan in it.

The dessert was also sub par and soggy. We had the pretzel pie (?) and though the chocolate section was satisfying, it was overall a disappointing/heavy dessert.

I went because I saw they had Seitan, and well, that is hard to find on the road. A welcome addition to Shanghai's veggie/vegan food scene. I would have preferred it if the Seitan bites were thicker piece of Seitan though. They were more like breaded bagel chips than delicious chewy Seitan. Still, go, support them, and eat delicious freshly made food. I hear their deserts are awesome too.

Unfortunately we arrived on a Monday, and they are closed! We will try to get back here again soon and post a review. I've submitted an update to post their hours. Therefore I am only posting a 3 cows rating as we have not actually been there, but I must post a rating in order to post this information.

However, a couple of suggestions for finding the Happy Buddha: It is closer to the Jiashan Subway station off the #9 line than it is from the Shaanxi South Station off the #1 and #10 lines. The actual location is through the Jiashan Market gate and straight down the alley at the address: 259 Jiashan Rd. Once you head down the alley, the Happy Buddha is easy to find!