Whole Vegetarian Cuisine (formerly Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant, website, map, 3068 Main St, Vancouver, phone: 604-876-8899) is a very popular Chinese vegetarian restaurant in uptown Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

The good sized and pleasant dining room of Whole Vegetarian is where you’ll find truly delicious Chinese vegetarian dishes, from the crispy and munchable Chef’s Special Chow Mein with imitation seafood (that tastes like the real thing!) to the creative and adventurous Seaweed and Soft Bean Curd Rolls.

Following the principles of traditional Buddhist-style vegetarian cooking, no garlic or onion is used in any of the dishes, but after the first bite you’ll discover that these kitchen restrictions have no effect on the overall flavor of these delightful dishes. My favorites such as the Sweet and Sour Pineapple Delight (a vegan-friendly version of the conventional sweet and sour pork) are always super fresh and mighty flavorful.

This inspired vegetarian restaurant fits in perfectly with the eclectic mix of dining options along the increasingly hip and trendy Main Street. With Whole Vegetarian’s great selection of large and affordable family-style dishes (all less than $15), the restaurant squarely hits the mark for Vancouverites and lucky visitors in-the-know. Here the tasty and satisfying eats might even fool a meat-eater’s eyes, while appealing to appetites of all persuasions.

Sweet and Sour Pineapple Delight (vegan) from Whole Vegetarian Cuisine restaurant in Vancouver BC Canada (Main Street).

Chef's Special Chow Mein (vegan, with simulated seafood) from Whole Vegetarian Cuisine, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant on Main Street in Vancouver BC Canada.

Another great Chinese vegetarian / vegan dish from Whole Vegetarian Chinese food restaurant on Main Street in Vancouver BC Canada.

About the Authors
Tony from RealMenEatGreen contributed to this article. Tony is a Vancouver based writer/blogger on masculinity, food, health, and man boobs.

This article was edited by Geoff from geoffmobile. Geoff also lives in Vancouver and leads a busy life as a software developer, video editor, and food enthusiast.

The Templeton (web site, map, 1087 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-685-4612) is one of my favorite places to visit on the Granville Street strip downtown, for healthy nourishing food. The decor is retro with the original furnishings of a 1950’s diner, including juke box controls at every table, swivel bar stools, and lots of stainless steel. The modernized menu is packed with vegetarian options as well as some non-vegetarian choices for those into something a little more meaty.

This area of Granville Street is a colorful mixture of new, high-end restaurants, older greasy spoon places, night clubs with pounding beats, and a couple of remaining sex shops left over from seedier days. The street is in transition with the sidewalk widening almost complete, making it a safer place to walk at night (along with the sometimes rowdy crowds of night-clubbers). It’s only a five minute walk from the upscale Yaletown shopping and restaurant district to the east, and about the same distance to Burrard Street to the west and beyond that the West End residential neighborhood.

Some of my favorite items to order at the Templeton are the Macaroni and Cheese (around $10, served with fresh tomato salsa, three kinds of cheese, and an organic green salad), and the Med Quesadilla (also around $10, made with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, green olives, aged white cheddar, fresh tomato salsa and sour cream). On my last visit however, I had already eaten something substantial earlier in the evening, so opted for the ultra healthy and “good for you” Dinner Salad (around $6.50, pictured below).

The Templeton is one of the few dining spots that is open with full service food late at night in the downtown area. I was there a little after 10:00pm on a Sunday night and they did Last Call for food at around 10:30pm. That’s pretty good for a Sunday. If it’s late and you’re hungry, it’s worth a shot – why not give them a call (604-685-4612) to find out if they’re open? =)

For more photos (and info about their breakfasts) please view Part 3, Part 2, or Part 1.

Dinner Salad from the Templeton on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver BC Canada.

Gorilla Food (map, web site, 101 – 436 Richards St. Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-722-2504) is currently one of the only restaurants in Vancouver that serves all raw, vegan, and organic foods.

I have a friend who follows a raw vegan diet, which means that he doesn’t eat any animal-related products (vegan) and foods must be unprocessed and not heated above 46 degrees Celsius (raw). He blogs about the Raw Vegan lifestyle on Eat Raw Vegan. I was interested to see what a Raw Vegan meal would taste like!

Raw Vegan food preparation takes a lot of creativity to make food that is satisfying and interesting to eat without using cooked or processed ingredients, and without meat or dairy products. Amazingly, all the dishes pictured below are raw vegan dishes. I must say that I was quite happy and full after the meal.

The Raw Vegan Cashew Alfredo Zucchini Linguini ($10, pictured below) was made with zucchini “newdles” smothered in a rich white cashew cream. It was served with a green leaf salad. It tasted cool and refreshing, and was amazingly creamy considering that no dairy products were used.

The Maui Waui raw vegan pizza ($6.00, also pictured below) is a sun-dried tomato and fresh tomato herb sauce topped with a mix of tenderized kale and seasonal greens then topped with fresh pineapple bits and a crumbly walnut “cheez”. It is served with a sprouted sunflower and buckwheat, flax and carrot crust.

For an appetizer we also tried the Raw Vegan Zucchini Hummus and Crackers ($7.50, pictured below). This tasted amazingly good, better than ordinary hummus I thought! The bean-free garlicky hummus dip is served with house-dehydrated crackers.

Other notable items included the Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice ($5.25, pictured below) – this is heavenly if you like orange juice; in fact I thought it was some of the best orange juice I have had in Vancouver! The raw vegan chocolate cake (also pictured below) was really fudgey and chocolatey, a treat not to miss!

The restaurant is open every day from 11am until 5pm.

Raw Vegan Cashew Alfredo Zucchini Linguini, from Gorilla Food in Vancouver. $10.00

Maui Waui Pizza ($6.00) raw vegan food from Gorilla Food restaurant in downtown Vancouver.

Fresh orange juice ($5.25) and Green Glory drink ($5.50) from Gorilla Foods in Vancouver.

Raw Vegan Zucchini Hummus and Crackers ($7.50) from Gorilla Foods in Vancouver.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Cake! (From Gorilla Food in Vancouver, downtown).