Restaurant Review: Cheap, cheerful and healthy (Puli, Nantou County)

One good thing about getting away from big cities is that prices can come tumbling down; one bad thing is that so too can quality.

This is not the case at TianCi Vegetarian (天慈素食; “Heaven’s Compassion” [no English]) in Puli Township (埔里), gateway to the mountains of Nantou. NOMM stopped there at the start of the famous Wuling (武陵) bike route last year, and two of us feasted for a total of NT$140 before the climb to Taiwan’s highest road at 3250 m.

Perhaps prices have gone up, but last year they included:

fried rice/noodles – NT$20~25

dumplings (水餃) -- NT$3.5 each

soups -- NT$20

leafy greens -- NT$20

marinated tofu, &c. -- NT$10~20

and with Dragon Boat Festival not too far away, they have zongzi at NT$20

Address: 262 Nanchang St (南昌街)

Tel: 049-2996312

NOMM fake meat/processed food index: 5 (moderate)

Text © Jiyue Publications 2012

Apologies no photos