Ah, what I meant was more, there's some dishes that are vegetarian and good (plenty of soups and small "side-dishes" that are delicious but they're usually not

Ah, what I meant was more, there's some dishes that are vegetarian and good (plenty of soups and small "side-dishes" that are delicious but they're usually not "full-meal" kind). And there's also some very good vegetarian restaurants but they're few and far between. I don't have much experience with chinese food outside of the regular more westernised versions you mention (which I do like), I tried a more typical chinese (at least that was how it was described to me) restaurant once and indeed the food and menu was different from the normal chinese restaurants I knew. China is also huge so I imagine it has a lot of variety throughout with completely different takes on it. Vietnam, Thailand and such also have interesting vegetarian dishes. I like all of them and I also like italian and many others but what I meant is as far as I've tasted and seen in terms of vegetarian food nothing comes really close to the variety in and around India (Nepal, Sri Lanka, etc), probably due to cultural roots based on vegetarian traditions? And this difference is also in terms of like, what you can get in an end of street corner, almost stall like place, to eat (not even a "restaurant") - some of the best vegetarian meals I've had where in places like this. I would like to visit china some day and see for myself for sure.