Gongdelin Vegetarian - Beijing

I wanna start by stating that the food wasn’t bad! But it was also not the best I’ve had in China. Reading about how famous it is, and seeing all the acclaims they have hanging on the walls in the waiting area (because the place is popular enough that you might have to sit and wait for a table), it’s hard not to get your expectations up! Unfortunately, the food didn’t really live up to the hype for me. It was good, like most of the food I had in China, but far from the best place I’ve eaten in Beijing… The prices reflect the popularity of the place, and I honestly felt bad that I had dragged my mom and her friend somewhere so expensive (relative to Beijing) when the food wasn’t even that amazing. We all agreed that this was probably our least favourite restaurant we visited. The food looks good and is nicely presented, but the flavour was just okay. I wouldn’t mind eating there again but it wouldn’t be my first choice. I did order something where I wasn’t 100% if it was vegan, because unfortunately they don’t specify on there menu if the food is vegan or vegetarian, which stressed me out a bit. Most disappointing I think, is the fact that for such a famous and expensive place it was really run down and the atmosphere wasn’t the nicest. It’s pretty small and they’ve squeezed in a lot of tables. The distance between tables wasn’t bad, but the bustling of the place meant that it was a bit noisy and not super cozy. The place felt old and unkept, with dirty wallpaper and dirty toilets with no soap or toilet paper, which is what I might expect of a Chinese public toilet not a nice restaurant!

We were a group of 5 adults and 4 kids. We ordered a set menu for 4 and it was enough food to feed us all! Food was delicious and it was the best meal we had in our stay at Beijing.

FIVE STAR for the TO GO WINDOW. The take out window by the side of the main entrance offers extensive and interesting local vegan food and drink. The 山楂银耳羹(haw/ white woodear 素肉米糕 （rice cake or 菜团子 would be a perfect combo. This is a Buddhism influenced venue. Thus the official formal restaurant has good service but most dishes are 仿荤 （meat alike to attract/ encourage people to switch to vegetarian for ethical reason

The food was very expensive and disappointing. It looked grand, twas easy to find but other than that there was not much else that appealed. I ordered some fake meats that were not done well and green vegetable/spinach balls that were bitter and made me feel queasy to consume because of the texture.

The food was quite all right, the menu is nice, with acceptable English translations and lots of photos. We spent roughly RMB 60 per person. The staff looked a bit bored and were not overly helpful, but the food arrived pretty soon and was really quite good. They set up Buddha statues which is good, but I think they should not be selling/serving alcohol. I did not find that appropriate.