Yizhan Mingdeng Vegetarian Restaurant (一盏明灯全素斋)

Yizhan Mingdeng Vegetarian Restaurant is a long-running all-vegetarian restaurant on Mingqing Street, near Wuye Temple, in Taihuai Town within the Wutai Shan Scenic Area, Xinzhou, Shanxi province, China. Wutai Shan is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China, and Taihuai is the temple-studded town at its centre, so a vegetarian restaurant here serves pilgrims and visitors who follow or respect Buddhist dietary practice. The restaurant serves Buddhist vegetarian cooking, and a meal costs about ¥50 to ¥60 (about $7 to $9 USD) per person, in the budget bracket.

The cooking relies on soy protein, mushrooms and grain-based dishes, techniques developed in temple kitchens to create varied textures without meat or fish. Sizzling rice with soy-protein beef is a signature that arrives at the table with a hot sizzle, and Wutai mushroom oat noodles draw on the local mushrooms and the oat flour that is a staple of northern Shanxi. These sit alongside other vegetable and tofu dishes in a menu suited to sharing.

The dining room is calm and low-key, in keeping with the pilgrim-town setting, with a quiet atmosphere and a clientele of tourists, pilgrims and monks. There is no dress code, and the drinks are tea and soft drinks, since alcohol is not part of the Buddhist vegetarian tradition.

The restaurant is walk-in and does not usually require reservations, though it can be busier around temple festivals and in the summer peak season. Its position near Wuye Temple puts it in the centre of the temple district, so it is easy to fit in a meal between visits to the surrounding monasteries.