Hangzhou

Hangzhou's vegetarian food is elegant vegetarian food: what matters is not heavy sauce and oil but measure. The noodles at Lingyin Temple are cooked in Tianzhu spring water; at Jingci Temple the vegetarian "roast goose" made from West Lake water shield has the shape and flavour of the meat dish it borrows from; at Faxi Temple the refectory still keeps the full mealtime ritual — three mouthfuls of rice, five contemplations — so that what you are really eating is a measure of quiet. Three temples, three approaches; walk them once and you can trace the whole genealogy of Jiangnan temple cooking.

Beyond the temple gates there is tea. The Longjing village terraces are right beside you, and coming before Qingming means catching the first picking: asking about the tea, watching the wok, sitting in a grower's home for a cup of pre-Qingming Longjing. Come again in October when the osmanthus opens — the whole lakeside path smells of it, and the osmanthus and taro dessert in the temple is exactly in season. There is also a footpath up to Upper Tianzhu in the Lingyin area; walking it is far more interesting than taking the bus. Jiangnan's vegetarian food has never relied on abundance; it relies on being exactly enough.

The best seasons are the spring tea before and after Qingming, and the osmanthus season in October. Each lasts only two or three weeks, so the timing needs care. All three refectories keep fixed hours and close when the food runs out, so check the schedule in advance. Faxi Temple is up the hill and requires booking; Lingyin Temple sits inside a larger scenic area and needs a separate Feilaifeng ticket, which is worth budgeting for.