Being a Vegetarian in China can sometimes be a daunting “task”. You’re living in a country where there is meat in almost every dish and people are normally not too understanding about not eating meat. But you are also in the country that invented tofu, the country that has fresh vegetables in most dishes AND a variety of dishes which seems to be incomparable to what we have in Europe!

I have been a vegetarian for more than 13 years now, including not eating any seafood, fish and hardly any eggs, and I have travelled to China quite often as well. If you don’t speak any Chinese, it might be difficult for you to make yourself understood about your wishes. So in the following weeks, I want to share some of my tips and tricks on how to get around as a vegetarian without having to abandon too many of your principles and still being able to go out with your internship company colleagues, with us for our weekly Intern China dinners, with friends and of course with your host family. 🙂

Today I want to introduce the easiest way for having a really nice dinner in Qingdao: We have a Vegetarian restaurant called “Crystal Lotus Vegetarian Diet & Tea House, 清水连素膳茗坊” (No. 6 Yan’erdaolu, 燕尔岛路6号 ).

“Crystal Lotus” is definitely not one of the cheapest restaurants, I have to admit. But it’s located in central Qingdao, easy to find, really good looking cosy furniture and an amazing service. The first time I went there, I waited outside for a friend and they asked me to come inside, have some tea and warm up. They are really nice and welcoming; as soon as my friend came they brought us to a free table. The menu is great, a lot of pictures (if you can’t read any Chinese), you get everything from starters over mock-meat Beijing duck to soup and “dessert”. The waitress was very kind and attentive, and also asked if we can eat onions, garlic, coriander and ginger.

If you are still new to Qingdao, this should be one of the first places to go, since you won’t have any unpleasant surprises here!

Join me next time I visit “Crystal Lotus”. Send us your application for language classes and/or an internship to info@internchina.com or apply directly through our website!