Tianlong Bao Yan - Xian

This was the first vegan restaurant we visited in China. We're here late afternoon and it was huge and very empty. We weren't even sure we were in the right place first. We looked through the menu and it was HUGE (as many of the great vegan places are found). First we were confused when everything on the menu was completely vegan. My mandarin is fine and it was useful because it wasn't really an English spoken by the staff. It was a fight to choose exactly what to eat from this massive menu, but all we did was totally delicious. The disadvantage of this place was that it really had very little atmosphere, no music, it was huge and quite empty and the staff was quite serious. We had no chance to go back, but I would have for the enemies.

We went here for lunch after exploring the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and buddhist temple. It was very quiet but friendly staff. Very large menu with huge amounts of choice. To be honest, many of the mock meat options were not to my taste (e.g. various kinds of seafood, tripe etc. but I know that many people enjoy this kind of food. We had a range of options and tried all of them. The dim sum style options were very tasty. The noodles in broth were also very nice. Some of the dishes were a bit cold when served, but I'm not sure if this is usual. Staff did not speak any english, and I do not speak Chinese, so lots of pointing at the menu was needed! Updated from previous review on 2018-01-04

I don't know why this Restaurant is described as hard to find. I often had problems finding specific locations in china, but not with this one. Minni wrote how to get there coming from Shaanxi History Museum. If you are at the Big Goose Pagoda it goes like this: The pagoda is located in a temple and around this temple is a park. If you leave this park through the western exit, then the restaurant is to the right on the opposite side of the road. I added two pictures from the outside of the restaurant, so that it is easier recognized. The food was very delicious, but a bit spicy. No english spoken, but (a big) english menue with pictures.

We stopped by for a late lunch at ~3pm after visiting the giant wild goose pagoda. We were the only customers at the time. The server was standoffish. We weren't given any time to look through the menu (which was quite extensive, as the other reviewer noted). The waitress brought us a pot of hot water and just stood over us impatiently for us to order. I felt so rushed that I ended up picking a few dishes randomly (smoked tuna, stir fried peas with fake sausage, some sort of pickled veggie with walnuts, and a dessert dish with purple yam, pumpkin, and turnip in coconut milk and topped with red beans and chopped green pea). Fortunately, all the dishes we picked were very tasty. The pickled veggie with walnut dish was a cold dish. I was told not to eat any cold dishes in China in fear of contamination with tap water. We didn't have any issues after eating here. Oh and I asked for light oil, which they did a reasonable job accommodating. The price was reasonable. Our bill came out to be $125 CNY (the price might include a pack of napkins, which we had to ask for). Overall, it was a good experience. The food was really good and the price was reasonable. Just wish the service was better. Updated from previous review on Tuesday June 04, 2013

This restaurant is located on the Ci'en West Rd 慈恩西路 which is on the right, if you're walking along Xiao Zhai East Road towards the Big Wild Goose Pagoda from the direction of the Shaanxi History Museum. Once on the right road, walk along the road towards south a couple hundred meters, and the restaurant is on the right side. There is a big dining room with big glass windows and also an attached tea house. The food was ok and the ambiance nice. Menu is very long and has pictures. I'd recommend this place, especially because it's situated conveniently near big tourist attractions, such as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.