The Best Healthy Food Restaurants in Shanghai

This is my first guide on healthy food restaurants in Shanghai. You can find more about healthy food places in Shanghai by clicking on my new post: Healthy Eating Places in Shanghai. You can also check out my many tips for healthy eating in China by clicking on this article about eating clean in China.

Eating healthily can be (and in my case, is regularly) a real challenge here in China. Although on the surface chinese cuisine can appear to be good for you- it’s full of veggies and tofu after all- the sheer amounts oil, MSG and meat scares means it can be tricky to find good places to eat. Lucky for me, Shanghai is only a few hours away and at the moment this is my favourite place to travel to simply because of the sheer wealth of food avaliable! Today, I want to outline the best healthy food restaurants in Shanghai: places to eat for those who are visiting Shanghai and are health conscious, vegan, have IBD/IBS or quite simply can’t face another bowl of rice and pork!

Pure and Whole (Shanghai Centre)

If you’re any kind of health nut, this place is heaven!  In my opinion, it is definitely one of the best healthy food restaurants in Shangai. It’s vegetarian (and quite often vegan) menu is full of delicious, nutritious versions of western dishes such as burgers, Thai curry and even vegan chocolate desert. When we went, we opted for the sweet potatoe falafel, beetroot humus and thai curry (and of course a fresh homemade juice). Unlike most places, the website provides a full breakdown of fat content and nutritional information so it’s super easy to plan. Some dishes can be a little high in fat but there’s few places in Shanghai can keep a promise of no MSG, no deep fat fryers and the freshest ingredients.

Sproutworks (Superbrand Mall)

There was a lot of buzz around Sproutworks when it first opened but it seems to have faded somewhat now. However it still great for simple, clean food. The idea centers around choosing cooked protein (usually chicken, fish, tofu- all of which are great options for those with Crohns) along with brown rice and other healthy carbs. It’s a little basic but cheap in price (you can have a whole meal for around 50 yuan or $7). What’s great is they change and update their menu daily (and sometimes hourly) so you can go online and see what’s avaliable right at that moment. If you’re picky like me, there’s no nasty surprises when you arrive!

 Element Fresh

Taken from www.elementfresh.com

Whether you are health conscious or not, you need to go to Element Fresh the moment you land in Shanghai. Famous for it’s giant salads (often with chunky laffa bread) and range of juices, it’s really popular with expats and you can find one practically in every part of the city (as well as Beijing and Nanjing)! It’s also great for the health conscious as there are plenty of clean wraps, salads (I add laffa bread to ensure I’m not getting too much insoluble fibre which is a big no-no for us crohnies!). The only downside is the lack of healthy options on the desert menu.

Wagas

This was the first place I stumbled on hours after landing in China. Like Element Fresh, Wagas has branches all around the city. Although it doesn’t bill itself as a health food place, there are some great clean options if you are looking for lunch. There juices and smoothies are made fresh in front of you, while sandwiches come with wholegrain options and protein packed fillings like smoked salmon. What’s more, the promotions (like breakfast sandwiches before ten am being around 20 yuan ($3) mean it’s a really cheap, clean option for a quick lunch or on the go breakfast.

City Shop

Technically not a restaurant, but if you need to buy some imported snacks this is your go to place. There’s everything here: organic veggies; freshly baked bread (without the weird Chinese sugar milk they add to all Chinese bread), a deli counter and lots of imported things like almond milk, humus and ….heat magazine! (Surely reading trashy magazines has been proven to improve your health?) The first thing I do when I get to Shanghai is to stock up on magazines and healthy treats (I stumbled across dark chocolate dairy free oat cakes last time which were divine!)

All in all,  from my guide to The best healthy food restaurants in Shanghai, you can see this place has plenty of options to cater almost for every option. Although it can be tricky to eat out with my crohn’s (and of course any kind of dietary restrictions) there’s no reason not to with the great places Shanghai has to offer.

What healthy options are in your own town? Remember I’m traveling to Bali, Chaing Mai and HK soon so if you have any healthy places to recommend please let me know below!