Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Chinese
Buffet
大佛寺素食阁, at 广州市越秀区21号新惠中路, is a large restaurant with 300+ seats and air conditioning. Located inside the Gold Buddha Temple (Big Buddha Temple). There is also a vegan buffet on a seperate floor. Open Mon-Sun 11:00am-9:00pm.
21 Reviews
First Review by veggieyogini
Schifi09
Points +1202
Big selection - Edit
big selection, very tasty! can recommend
Read moreGuest
jenso
Points +421
Overpriced - Edit
Ok good and very big portions. But dishes are between 40-70, which is a lot more than regular temple food.
Read moreIf you look at the Buddha from the courtyard, you enter on the right and go one level down
Updated from previous review on 2024-05-12
Guest
AWG
Points +119
Good - Edit
The buffet is not vegan but vegetarian. It’s a bit complicated to communicate but anything that contains eggs or milk is clearly labelled. The buffet is on the basement floor. I was still a bit hesitant since there is no real distinction between vegetarian and vegan in general - I ended up using the photos from Vegan Passport to clarify what I needed.
Read morePros: Beautiful ambience
Guest
Cass706
Points +23
Great location, tasty food! - Edit
Went for the vegetarian buffet at Dafo (108RMB pp) and had an amazing experience. Staff was very kind and helpful. There is SO much choice, from cooked veg, fried noodles/rice, fake meats, soups for which they cook the noodles fresh in front of you, dumplings, a salad bar, sushi… a lot of desserts too across fruits, cakes, ice cream, mochi, tea… I loved that every dish was vegan/vegetarian, and would definitely go back.
Read moreLocated inside the temple (-1 floor) which was also amazing to visit.
Updated from previous review on 2024-03-27
Pros: Variety of dishes offered, Tasty food, Location
Cons: Some dishes are only labelled in Chinese
Guest
JJCzinner
Points +16
VERY GOOD, if you order right - Edit
Review for restaurant, not buffet
Read moreVenue 5 star
Service 5 star
Value 5 star
Food 5 star if you order right
Dishes to order:
Brocolli fried rice
Tofus in bowl with sauce (braised tofu?)
Braised eggplant
Guest
amberinski
Points +25
Great experience - Edit
Walking up to this gorgeous temple in the middle of a busy shopping street is simply magic—
Read moreThe buffet on -1 floor was RMB108 and while it was a big spread, I felt the dishes were hit or miss. I loved finding vegan food in such a meat heavy city, but didn’t necessarily enjoy all my food.
Walking around the temple afterwards more than made up for it though!
Guest
ElenaIoannou
Points +277
Tasty. - Edit
Edit: I also tried the buffet, and even tho the food was nice, I wouldn't say it's worth 140yuan.
Read moreThe restaurant is on the 2nd floor of a temple. There's also a buffet on the -1 floor, but it's quite expensive at 138yuan.
I had the veggie pork and rice for 50yuan. The menu is in Chinese, but there're pictures for every dish. Chinese speaking staff, but they are helpful. I'd recommend it!
Guest
WilsonGo
Points +19
Very good - Edit
The buffet is a combination of Western and Eastern dishes. Salad buffet included. Splendid.
Read moreGuest
BriggitteJ
Points +3002
AMAZING BUFFET! - Edit
The vegetarian buffet is absolutely amazing! So much food you could never try it all. All of the non-vegan items are marked in English so it’s easy to tell the vegan items. We really enjoyed all of the food, they even have vegan sushi and desserts! There’s also a sit down vegetarian restaurant on a separate floor so you can choose how you want to dine.
Read moreGuest
theveganvisa
Points +216
Traditional Cuisine in a Charming Temple - Edit
In our opinion, this would be the go-to place if you only had one day to explore Guangzhou. Conveniently located in Beijing Lu, a popular walking street, DaFo Vegetarian offers great traditional Chinese staples like Mapo Tofu, braised eggplant (our fave) and rice dishes. Their portion sizes are huge - we weren't able to finish everything (which was a first for us).
Read moreInsiders tip: DaFo Temple is especially stunning when the wood-carved facade is lit up at night.
Updated from previous review on 2019-08-30
Pros: Beautiful location (Great Buddha Temple), Big portions for fair prizes - top value for money
Cons: Chinese only menu (but lots of pictures)
Guest
stateofzan
Points +39
Buddhist Blessing! - Edit
Large Chinese-Buddhist dining hall in DaFo Temple, 2nd floor! Chinese only menu, but with photos of every dish. Food gets served quite fast after ordering. Very well presented and absolutely delicious! Highly recommended. For a more affordable option, floor B1 has a buffet style dining hall!
Read morePros: Strictly Vegan, Super delicious, Great location
Cons: Slightly Expensive, Chinese only menu and staff
Guest
shyshy
Points +55
B1 Level served fantastic buffet - Edit
RMB98 per pax
Read moreWide variety of food, Japanese, Chinese, Western, fruits, cakes, juices
Guest
Veggiedancer
Points +244
Fantastic temple restaurant - Edit
The temple is beautiful. The food delicious and plentiful, and not expensive (300 RMB for 7 dishes). The staff is kind and all the orders are done via photos on an iPad.
Read morePros: Delicious , Buddhist , Inexpensive
Cons: Busy
Guest
Sorana
Points +2277
Peaceful atmosphere - Edit
Located Inside the beautiful temple, this restaurant did not dissapoint. We were greeted by extremely helpful and friendly staff and we even received a present before leaving, a bag full of different sweets and peanuts. The food itself was ok, a little bit bland maybe, apart from the eggplant, which was drenched in oil. Still, I had a very good experience overall. My impression was that this restaurant is primarily visited by buddhists that practice their belief at this temple. For example, a monk preaching a buddhist mass could be seen on different screens located throughout the restaurant. Another example would be that people would make a short bow/prayer after receiving the food.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2018-08-13
Pros: Location - stunning exterior design, Good prices
Cons: Food too oily and/or bland
Guest
TanSL
Points +17
Nice place for vegetarian meals - Edit
Located within a large monastery, it is a wonderful place to hold banquets or have dinners as it is in Beijing Road, where all the shopping activities are located.
Read morePrices are reasonable. Waitresses are friendly, and some tried too hard to please. However , our requests for condiments were either forgotten or have to be reminded.
They should redo the menu as many items are no longer offered. Another point to note is that our rice was served cold which is not very appropriate for Chinese meals.
Pros: Nice location, Nice ambience
Cons: Many items on menu are obsolete, Service staff should be better coordinated
Guest
Pascal_HK
Points +313
Great place - Edit
How to find the place: whatever the entrance you chose to enter the temple (the north entrance at Xihu lu is the most obvious), go to the main square inside the temple (follow the people; entrance is free), where you will find 2 majestic banyan trees (see picture1). The entrance to the restaurant is facing the largest banyan (picture 2). It is indicated in a small board (picture 3). Go to second floor.
Read moreThe room is large. Large choice on a menue with photos; partly translated in English.
Service is slightly longer than what you get normally in China, but it is worth waiting. Food is very tasty. Mind that portion are BIG so don't take to much, unless you want to take away.
Guest
cykim82
Points +29
Nice .. - Edit
Chinese style vegetarian inside the buddha temple..
Read moreGuest
Minni
Points +261
So-so - Edit
I wasn't inspired by this restaurant. I've visited many Buddhist vegetarian restaurants adjacent to different Buddhist temples, and found this place only so-so. The ambiance was very bustling and the place is a little hard to find. Follow the instructions by the reviewer below!
Read moreFood here wasn't great, first of all it's not vegan, they use dairy in many of the dishes, like sushi. Putting cheese in sushi I find really unnecessary. Other dishes weren't great either. This restaurant isn't the cheapest there is, but the portions are big, so you could order one dish less than normally in a Chinese restaurant.
Cons: not vegan, hard to spot, food's not great
Guest
places-in-pieces
Points +679
large selection - Edit
it is a bit difficult to find, tucked next to a buddhist temple and flanked by a towering building (maybe a mall?).
Read moreanyway, once you locate it, you will be happy you made the effort. the selection is rather large, so you have many choices. i was with a friend that lives in guangzhou, so i didn't get to see an english menu, but all the items had pictures of the food.
we shared a large bowl of soup, that was amazing. it had mixed vegetables in a sour coconut like broth. we also shared an appetizer of fried vegetables made into thick crackers. they were a little oily. and, for our main meal we shared a dish of taro root, soy meat, and greens in a brown sauce. the serving sizes were large too.
if i make it back to guangzhou, i will definitely eat here again.
Guest
Kit117
Points +31
Amazing Place to Eat! - Edit
I used to love eating sashimi before I became a vegetarian. And I thought it was something I would never have again after I converted.
Read moreI would be wrong - this restaurant actually had completely vegan Japanese sashimi and it was delicious. I couldn't tell what vegetables I was eating but I absolutely loved it.
This place is a haven for vegetarian travellers in China where it is extremely difficult to find vegetarian food.
Also the place is actually located in the complex of a Buddhist temple right in the bringing road district (one of the most popular districts of Guangzhou). So the location is fabulous. The food is to die for and the service - eh it could be better.
I would go to this restaurant every time I'm in Guangzhou - no exceptions.
Please be sure to ask for the English version of the menu as their regular menu is only in Chinese. The text only English menu is a good way to reference with the Chinese menu as it has pictures of the food to match.
Pros: The location. , Quality of food. , Reasonable prices.
Cons: No tissues, water, etc, Hard to communicate with staff.
Guest
veggieyogini
Points +61
good food, nice atmosphere - Edit
good food, big portions, good value, friendly service, no english spoken but they have picture menu. a little bit difficult to find, on the first floor.
Read moreGuest
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