Your Vegan Food Guide to Vietnam

by Katja Kaven

Are you currently traveling Vietnam as a vegan or about to travel Vietnam? There is no need to worry, you will definitely be able to find some delicious food on your travels. Keep reading for your vegan food guide to Vietnam.

For your vegan food guide to Vietnam, I’ve compiled a few restaurants and cafes for each place. These are ordered from north to south.

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Ha Giang

You’ll most likely spend a night here if you are doing the Ha Giang Loop – which I would highly recommend. Therefore, I definitely wanted to include it in your vegan food guide to Vietnam. For recommendations on where and what to eat on the actual loop, check out my blog post on being vegan on the Ha Giang Loop.

Thien Phuc

This cozy little place has quite a variety of vegan options! I went for the vegan version of vermicelli nem and shared a plate of sushi with my friend.

Vegan Vermicelli Nem
I looove sushi!!

Hanoi

Hanoi is Vietnam’s capital. If you are looking for things to do during your time in Hanoi, check out my blog post on things to do in and around Hanoi. But there are also some great spots for vegans.

Jalus Vegan Kitchen & Cafe

This has got to be my favorite place in Hanoi. Apart from having delicious food, it’s such a cute place and ideal to get some work done there. I went there for two of my three meals when I was in Hanoi for a day after finishing the Ha Giang loop and before going to Myanmar.

While there wasn’t anything I tried at Jalus that I didn’t like, my favorite would probably have to be the mango pancakes. Their cakes are an incredibly delicious treat as well but they don’t always have all kinds of cake there.

Two of their cakes
V’s Home

This one was really difficult to find but worth the search. Google Maps and Apple Maps give you quite different locations. The right location is on Duang Thanh near the hospital, the location given on Google Maps. But even there it might be tricky to find the entrance. But this wouldn’t be your vegan food guide to Vietnam if I didn’t tell you exactly how to still get to the restaurant. Be on the lookout for Giadinh BBQ, V’s home is located right next to it. Once you go inside, you’ll be guided up the stairs to the actual restaurant.

The special thing about V’s home isn’t just their great vegan options but also that you’ll be served by deaf staff. They provide you with a guide with different useful phrases in English and in Vietnamese so that you can communicate with the servers. Besides, there is a pen and paper if you don’t find your question in the guide. I thought this was quite a cool concept and their food is amazing as well, so definitely a place not to miss when in Hanoi!

This is the guide you use to communicate with the waiters.
Minh Chay Vegan Restaurant

Minh Chay Vegan Restaurant is located in a little street not far from Sword Lake in Hanoi. Both Nexy Hostel and Cocoon Inn (check out my guide on things to do in and around Hanoi for more hostel recommendations) are just a short walk away. It is a little more expensive but worth it in my opinion. I had the toasted bread vegan pate which I really enjoyed. 

Nexy Hostel

We stayed here for two nights and were very happy. Along their vegetarian options is also a vegan burger that was quite nice.

Da Nang

Da Nang isn’t on a lot of people’s lists when traveling Vietnam – most people only go to Hoi An. However, it is a quite nice area if you stay somewhere close to the beach and a great place to start driving the Hai Van Pass from. I can 100% recommend staying at ROM Casa hostel. It’s been one of my favorite accommodations in South East Asia. The unique thing about this hostel is that the rooms, as well as the pool, are built inside of old shipping containers. They also have a bar and a rooftop with hammocks.

Roots Plant-based Cafe

If I had to pick my number one place to eat at as a vegan in Vietnam, this would be it. So naturally, I had to include it in your vegan guide to Vietnam. This lovely cafe is located relatively close to the beach and not far away from ROM Casa hostel. During both of my times in Da Nang, I was a regular customer. I tried everything from the rainbow bowl and falafel bowl over beetroot hummus toast and peanut butter toast to cacao dream bowl, smoothies, and cold-pressed juices.

It’s so difficult to pick, but my favorite would probably have to be the beetroot hummus toast with tofu feta cheese and the cacao dream bowl with extra peanut butter. I would recommend every single item, though!

My two favorites in one picture: Beetroot Hummus Toast (beetroot hummus, tofu feta cheese, mint, toasted charcoal bread) and Cacao Dream Bowl (cacao, banana, orange, almond milk, peanut butter, shredded coconut, cashews, granola)
ROM Casa

ROM Casa isn’t just an amazing hostel, they also have a bar across the street from the dorms where you can go for a quick bite. One of the vegan options is the fruit salad or you could go for tofu with tomato sauce. 

The fresh fruit salad

Hoi An

I’ve only been in Hoi An for a short time, and during a public holiday, so I avoided the city center and stuck around the beach area where my hostel was (Sun Paradise Villa). Hence, I’ve only got one recommendation for your vegan food guide to Vietnam.

Hoi An Smoothie & Juice

If you know me at all, you know that I love myself a nice smoothie bowl. I went here straight from the airport after a few things going wrong and it was the perfect pick-me-up. Their juice summer breeze was delicious as well and definitely very refreshing.

Banana Smoothie Bowl (banana, strawberry, cashew butter, almonds, oats) and Summer Breeze (apple, pineapple, cucumber, lemon)

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon, is Vietnam’s biggest city and definitely a crazy experience. These are some of the vegan places I would recommend you check out. I apologize in advance for the lack of photos in this part of your vegan food guide, as I have lost some pictures. You will just have to take my word for it!

Den Long

Hands down my favorite place to go for dinner in Ho Chi Minh City. But I don’t seem the only one who thinks that way. Den Long gets quite busy, so it’s best to book a table in advance (on the same day should be fine) or bring some time to wait for a table to get free which we did the first time we went there (we had to wait for around 40 minutes and just explored the area around the restaurant).

Den Long is more on the pricier side compared to what you usually pay in Vietnam, I paid just under 10€ for a drink, a starter, and a main course. Truth be told, their number of vegan options isn’t overwhelming, as most of their dishes include meat or fish, but the few options you have as a vegan are very delicious. My favorite was the crunchy tofu with salted lemongrass and the spring rolls (actually summer rolls) with tofu.

Poke Saigon

I love myself a good poke bowl, especially in a place as cute as this. It might be difficult to find as it’s through a kind of garage, up the stairs and hidden away but definitely worth the search. You compose your own poke bowl here, choosing a base (different kinds of rice or salad), a poke (tofu is the only vegan option here), a sauce, toppings (fruits and veggies), and a crisp (e.g. ginger or nori). Make sure you bring enough cash though, they didn’t accept credit card when I was there!

My poke bowl
JuicElixir

Smoothie bowls. Do I need to say anything more? They didn’t have a lot of options when I was visiting Ho Chi Minh City but it seems as though they’ve grown a lot since then.

Not quite as instagrammable but still tasty!

Edit: I just noticed that they have temporarily closed their store to focus on their website. Keep an eye open for their reopening!

Saigon Vegan

They have an extensive menu so you’ll definitely be able to find something. We’ve had a few dishes shared between the three of us traveling together at the time. 

Bông Súng Vegetarian food

Unfortunately, my experience with them wasn’t the best. I had really been looking forward to checking out this place after reading a great review. I ordered tofu and a vegan pate but it wasn’t until we had all gotten our food (at least 30 minutes and several times asking about it later) that they told me that they didn’t have anymore vegan pate and asked if I would like to have something else. I told them that I would like to have spring rolls instead but the waitress didn’t seem to have heard me. When I asked about the spring rolls another 30 minutes later, she hadn’t even ordered them in the kitchen. So, we decided to leave without me having anything else.

Apart from the disappointing service, my tofu was good, nothing special though.

That’s it for your vegan food guide to Vietnam. I hope you’ll have a great time traveling through Vietnam! Let me know if I missed your favorite place or if you go on to check out one of my recommendations. I always love hearing from you!

Follow me on Instagram here if you would like to keep up with my life after traveling.

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8 comments

Hannah January 30, 2020 - 20:48

What an amazing selection of restaurants! I’m not personally vegan but these recommendations look great and the food looks amazing. That cacao dream bowl looks phenomenal! Thanks for the great guide!

Hannah | https://getlost.blog/

Reply
Katja Kaven January 30, 2020 - 23:47

You’re very welcome! I think that all of these are great even for non-vegans 🙂

Reply
Shiloh January 30, 2020 - 04:45

All your food pictures look so yummy! This is a great guide.

Reply
Katja Kaven January 30, 2020 - 11:27

Thank you! I’m glad it’s helpful.

Reply
Shafinah Neville January 29, 2020 - 18:03

Everything here looks SO DELICIOUS – super missing Vietnamese food right now! 🤤

Reply
Katja Kaven January 30, 2020 - 00:17

Me too! Made myself a Vietnamese noodle salad tonight to make up for it 😀

Reply
Nina Out and About January 29, 2020 - 12:31

I had no idea there were so many vegan options in Vietnam. I’m not vegan but I try to eat vegan a few days a week and was worried Asia wouldn’t be ok for this. I also love that V’s has deaf servers – that’s incredible!

Reply
Katja Kaven January 30, 2020 - 00:17

Actually, most places in Asia are pretty good! At least, you’ll always be able to find rice or noodles and veggies, you just need to be aware that they put egg in a lot of things 🙂 And yeah I loved that fact as well!!

Reply

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