About this place

Zao Zi Shu is an excellent Buddhist restaurant that has been a mainstay in my restaurant repertoire since moving to Shanghai. It serves easily appreciated Chinese food in a very clean location.  The menu is great, as it features tons of classic Chinese dishes that use creative meat alternatives along with fantastic teas and fresh juices.  
 
Be sure to order the spinach jiaozi (dumplings), and the cucumbers and miso for starters. For a main course I love the fried tofu and peanuts, which is similar to but even better than Kung Pao (Gong Bao) chicken. The ginger chicken, stir fried noodles, and beef and peppers all come highly recommended.  There are plenty of options on the menu which I adore, but there are a few dishes that try a little too hard to be meat dishes and fail miserably. Stay away from the ribs, which have edible bones that are indeed quite strange.  I was also not crazy about the “scallops,” which lacked the consistency of a true scallop. Otherwise everything on the menu has been a success!  For me, the best aspect of Zao ZI Shu is that you can try all those unusual Chinese dishes made with faux meat, that might otherwise make you a bit nervous at a typical local Chinese restaurant (like boiled intestines - I have no idea how Zao Zi Shu makes this dish out of tofu).  Be adventurous!
 
How to get there: Take Metro Line 1 to Huangpi Nanlu Station. Exit onto Huaihai Lu and head east.  Take a right on Songshan Lu.  Half way down the street on the left there is a small alley with a lighted entrance. Zao Zi Shu is on the left side of the alley.
 
Other locations of Zao Zi Shu:
 
No.258 Fengxian Lu, by Jiangning Lu, Shanghai (上海市奉贤路258号)
Tel: +86 (0)21 6215 7566, 5228 0693
 
No.848 Huangjin Chengdao, by Shuicheng Nanlu, Shanghai (上海市黄金城道899号)
Tel: +86 (0)21 6275 1798