Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten-Free in Shanghai: How to Eat Out (2026)

Eating vegetarian in Shanghai is easy; eating strictly vegan or gluten-free takes technique. The obstacle is not a lack of vegetables, it is that most Chinese soy sauce contains wheat, and that stock, lard and dried shrimp turn up in dishes that read as plant-based. Dedicated vegetarian restaurants such as Godly, Jujube Tree and The Lakeside Veggie remove the guesswork entirely. Everywhere else, you order with a written card. The mistake I watched a vegetarian friend make for three months was asking for dishes "without meat" and assuming that covered it. It does not. In a Chinese kitchen, meat means visible pieces of meat. The chicken stock the greens were blanched in is not meat, it is flavour. Neither of you is wrong, you are just using different definitions, and the fix is a translation card rather than a better accent. Why is gluten-free harder than vegetarian in Shanghai? Because soy sauce is in nearly everything, and traditional Chinese soy sauce is brewed with wheat. That single fact takes out most stir-fries, most braises, most dumpling dipping sauces, and a lot of dishes that carry no visible brown sauce at all, including plenty of fried rice and stir-fried noodle…