Pasta, pizza, and stir-fried noodles—all vegetarian. Delicious and refined, even without meat.

▲ Pesto Mushroom Pasta Box: The pasta is served inside a hollowed-out and toasted slice of bread.

Reported and photographed by Huang Shiyuan, Taipei

Vegetarian meals can be delicious too. Located next to the National Father Memorial HallHuajianmi Restaurantspecializes in plant-based cuisine, offering even strict vegetarians a unique and flavorful dining experience. Judging from its exterior and interior decor, you might mistake it for a French or Italian restaurant—unless someone tells you, it’s actually entirely vegetarian, and here you can also enjoy pasta, pizza, as well as dishes that blend Chinese flavors with Italian and French techniques, such as Five-Spice Noodles and Fragrant Sprout Rice.

What inspired the idea of opening an Italian-French style vegetarian restaurant? Turns out, owner Yang Huijing became a vegetarian by “chance.” She already ran a Thai vegetarian restaurant called Jingpin Taiwei Vegetarian, but she wondered if vegetarian food could be both tastier and healthier—without relying solely on “mock meats (tofu products).” So, she teamed up with the head chef from Jingpin Taiwei Vegetarian to launch Huajianmi, developing a variety of unique vegetarian dishes. Yang emphasized that their ingredients come from natural fruits and vegetables, with no additives or processing, aiming to deliver the true taste of plant-based food. She also mentioned that many sauces are handmade by the chef team, such as the pesto for pasta and the spicy sauce used in Qi Yuan Noodles.


▲ %The dish looks nothing like a typical vegetarian meal.