• CLOSED: Zǎozǐ Shù - Vegetarian Life Style - Gubeii

  • (15)
    9

    Closed

  • White Vegetarian
Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Chinese
Juice bar

枣子树 or Jujube Tree is a causal-fine dining vegetarian restaurant group that operates outlets in Shanghai and in a couple of other cities. Offers an extensive range of modern Chinese vegetarian and vegan dishes, including ones mushrooms and ones with mock meats made from tofu, seitan, and/or yam. Menu has English with photos of dishes. Reported closed December 2021.


Venue map for Zǎozǐ Shù - Vegetarian Life Style - Gubeii
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15 Reviews

First Review by wanderer

Dull_Irritation

Points +252

Vegan
28 Mar 2020

Relaxing atmosphere, delicious food

The restaurant is quiet and relaxing, almost serene. The menu is easy to navigate with many vegan options and the staff are attentive and professional. I'm told this location is the nicest one of the chain.

MichaelRobinson

Points +2864

Vegan
26 Mar 2020

A Lifestyle I Could Get Used To

I can't believe I haven't reviewed this place yet, an oversight on my part. We first went here with friends who speak Mandarin so can help make sure we get only vegan options. That time I don't remember exactly what we had except the duck pancakes which they make up for you at the table. I do remember the interior is lovely, it's upstairs and is very comfortably cosy. My most recent experience was eating take out from here, our same friends ordered the food to be delivered. They ordered 3 portions of steamed dumplings, spicy dumpling, rice pancakes with seaweed, mushroom balls and mushroom steaks in black bean sauce. My favourite was the steaks in black bean, so damn tasty like a thick marinated tofu. The rice pancakes were good in that they didn't taste too strongly of seaweed. The dumplings were delicious as were the mushroom balls. We managed to eat all of this between four of us.

Pros: Many vegan choices, Delicious, Friendly staff and nice interior

Cons: Not fully vegan

PiaKay

Points +832

Vegan
11 Jan 2020

Many vegan options

Nice staff, some understand English, all very helpful

Pros: Lots of vegan options , Nice staff, Good food

Cons: Some dishes are fairly expensive

SimonAmor

Points +26

Vegan
04 Jan 2020

Much variety, somewhat expensive

Many vegan options. Helpful staff. Menu is in English and Chinese with many photos. Bathroom has toilet paper and soap.

Somewhat expensive for China (354RMB for 2 people, leaving 2 takeaway containers of leftovers).

Pros: Many vegan options, Helpful staff, Menu in English & Chinese with many photos

Cons: Somewhat expensive for China

lisaferguson

Points +23

Vegetarian
19 Oct 2019

One of my favorites

Been eating here for many years. Menu has changed somewhat over time but consistently good food. Veggies are fresh and the mock meats, made with various soy products or mushroom based, are all good. Veggie versions of classics like sweet and sour pork and gong bao chicken. Also good skewers, curry and soups.

vrony

Points +130

Vegetarian
04 May 2019

Delicious selection and excellent decoration

Really clean and peaceful looking restaurant. Staff are kind and are ok with you pointing at the menu to order. They do specify for some dishes how many pieces of something they offer (e.g. dish comes with 5 or 10 mock meat pieces) so make sure you let them know. Overall, nice atmosphere and the price isn't too bad as I got 6 dishes for 256 RMB (around $51 CAD)

dontbedaft

Points +575

Vegan
03 Sep 2018

Ok, but not exceptional

I was very welcome to finally find this place after a much longer hike than I had banked on. This is clearly a buddhist-inspired restaurant and the obligatory informational booklets and status of Buddha decorate the way up to the restaurant on the second floor. The menu had English translations of the names of dishes but only a few of the dishes actually had pictures and I was a little wary after reading reviews mentioning unexpected dairy products in dishes. I tried to order things that I did not expect to possibly contain dairy. The Sichuan "chicken" was very tasty but I was surprised at what the Hot and Sour Soup was like. I order this all the time at Buddhist Vegetarian restaurants in Canada and it's fairly similar each time, but this was completely different - large flat noodles, chunks of soft tofu, and veggie meat floating around. It also seemed to have streaks of white so I hung back on trying it and, sure enough, after a while on the burner white-ish clumps formed not he surface of the soup so I think that some kind of milk or cream had been added so I left it. I also tried the alcohol-free German beer which was ok but I probably would not bother again, Overall, I would be happy to eat here again, but with such a long hike from my hotel I probably will try somewhere else next time.

Pros: Good air conditioning, Relaxing environment

Cons: Not a lot of pictures on menu

MiriamAgat

Points +666

Vegan
31 Jul 2018

Careful, vegans

It's a lovely place, but staff don't speak any English. I ordered the avocado salad, thinking it was a savoury and therefore safe option, but it was a fruit salad with yoghurt.
It is somewhat tricky to get your point across.
They took it back though, and didn't charge me, which was appreciated. The food I had was very tasty (and hopefully vegan).

Pros: Tasty food

Cons: ingredients not specified on menu

Sorana

Points +2199

Vegetarian
29 Jul 2018

Lovely traditional Chinese dishes

Located in the Japanese concession, this particular Jujube Tree restaurant has a really nice design and good vibes. The menu is the same as in other locations throughout Shanghai. We tried the sweet and sour spare ribs, the fried Lotus root (had some sort of smoky sausage inside), the truffle rice, the chicken skewers and the green beans. It was not a hit or miss kind of a situation, since all of the dishes were absolutely fantastic! Prices are average, but worth the offered service. Check it out!

Pros: Mock meat heaven

KyleMacyHall

Points +250

Vegan
28 May 2018

Great location in Gubei

Beautiful museum-like private rooms available. A bit pricy but quality food.

Pros: Many vegan options, Nice upstairs location

Cons: A bit pricy

MonikaZar

Points +148

Vegan
20 Feb 2018

Great place to have a dinner

We've been to two branches of this restaurant and loved it each time. My boyfriend who usually doesn't like Chinese food really enjoyed it too. Their food is absolutely delicious. We liked the most mock chicken sticks - they were amazing!
The restaurant is big and its design is really original. It has a pleasant, relaxed ambience. It wasn't busy when we went there in the evening.
The menu has a picture of every dish which makes it easy to choose. Sizes of the portions are also indicated on the menu. They serve tea, coffee (however I don't know if they use any plant milks) and juices. Staff is very nice.

VinayGunther

Points +155

Vegetarian
25 Aug 2017

Classy chain

This is one of the best vegetarian restaurant chains. Decor is always sylish. Service is great. Food is high class, tastes delicious, and theres a big range to choose from. Menus are in Chinese and English.
Try the grapfruit and barley drink - yum.

Pros: Great setting, Great menu choice, Perfectly prepared

Cons: Not super cheap, but not over the top.

flamekat

Points +388

Vegan
19 Aug 2011

Back to its old self

Changing my review as this location has reverted to its original concept. Some of the cheesy Western fusion dishes are still available, but no longer make up the bulk of the menu. The menu is the same as the other locations, but with a few extra dishes, mostly Taiwanese-style. Definitely worth going to again!

Previous review: I am also disappointed by the change in this location. This wasn't the branch we regularly went to, but we used to pop in occasionally for lunch when we had to go to Carrefour or for dinner on our way back from work.

As the previous reviewer stated, the menu has drastically changed and is no longer like the other locations. They have cheese now and are trying to do western food like pizza and pasta. The set menu we got was not very nice, especially for the inflated price. Also, some things in my set menu came with melted cheese even though it wasn't described that way on the menu. My husband ate those.

The only plus I can think of is that the atmosphere has somewhat improved. It is more Japanese in design now, perhaps to appeal to the large Japanese customer base they used to have.

I suppose we still might pop in here on those big Carrefour shopping days, but I wouldn't recommend this place to vegans anymore. Perhaps lactos will enjoy the new cheesy dishes though.
Updated from previous review on Saturday September 19, 2009

Pros: friendly staff, nicer atmosphere, good food

Cons: some cheesey dishes, getting a bit expensive

Earthling

Points +31

Vegan
06 Apr 2010

oriental + western

Yes the atmosphere is oriental & food is mix with western. not vegan. but they have option of olive oil instead of cheese. love the fusion taste

Pros: Atmosphere, menu

Cons: price according to location

wanderer

Points +81

Vegan
24 Jul 2009

Sooo Disappointed!!!

Vegetarian Lifestyle used to be my favorite restaurant anywhere. My husband and I would go to this location or the Songshan location 1-3 times a month. I went there tonight and was truly devastated to discover they have been taken over by the owners of L'abre de Provence. The menu is totally different and has only a few of the less exciting dishes from Veg. Lifestyle left. It is geared more towards set menus now, boring! I usually eat here on Friday nights and would be stuck with the same set menu every time (if I do ever go back). We paid 136rmb for two set meals of bland food and small portions. We used to spend that much there and get a feast with plenty of leftovers to take home!

We expressed our feelings to the English-speaking waiter there, and he told us many other customers had also said the same thing. Also, one of the items on the set menu came out with melted cheese on it. We told him we didn't eat cheese, and he told us it was made from mushrooms, not from cow's milk and was imported from Germany. I asked to see the packaging, since I had never heard of such a thing and was skeptical. He tried to find it but couldn't and told me to ask next time. I probably won't go back to find out.

Pros: possibilty of vegan cheese pizza

Cons: small portions, bland, small selection

flamekat

22 Feb 2013

I was also disappointed by the change. From what I could tell from the card describing the cheese, it's not vegan, simply vegetarian due to a mushroom-based rennet. My husband who eats cheese (and vegan cheese) tried it and confirms that it is dairy cheese, not vegan.

Luckily the Songshan Lu branch is still the same as always. :-)




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