The Best Restaurants In Hoi An For Vegans & Vegetarians

Discovering vegan-friendly dining options in Hoi An, Vietnam is a breeze thanks to the abundance of top-rated best restaurants in Hoi An, so prepare to indulge your taste buds in this striking riverside town.

From cute vegan/vegetarian joints in the historic Ancient Town to the more traditional restaurants serving up a variety of plant-based options, there is something for everyone to enjoy. All while soaking up the charm of this incredibly picturesque town.

The best restaurants in Hoi An for vegans - morning glory signature

Banh mi, com ga and cao lau are the three must-try, traditional Hoi An dishes, particularly if you are a foodie.

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However, let me tell you about some of the best restaurants in Hoi An you must visit and those you should avoid..

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Best Restaurants In Hoi An For Vegans & Vegetarians

Contents

Best restaurants in Hoi An to dine at as a vegan

I have to preface this and say that I didn’t enjoy the food in Hoi An as much in comparison to Hanoi where I was smitten with Vietnamese cuisine. I think I was just overly enthusiastic at the start of our trip.

It’s also worth noting that the words vegan and vegetarian are interchangeable here in Asia, and I have discovered that there is no actual word for vegan in Vietnamese. So you have to specify what you can’t eat each time you order – eg: no dairy.

Nevertheless, here’s a run down of some of the best restaurants in Hoi An..

The Soul Restaurant

Certainly one of the best restaurants in Hoi An and conveniently located at the hotel we stayed at, The Soul has the same exceptional service as the Rivertown Hoi An hotel and the food was delicious! We ordered two appetisers each and the portions were huge – maybe don’t order two each!

Though it was so good, I have zero regrets.

I went for the vegan Hoi An rice pancake which was different to the one I had at one of the vegan restaurants in Hanoi – both excellent, but this was crispier, so it had the edge slightly. This won’t be the last time I’ll be ordering this pancake – it was delicious, light yet filling.

the soul restaurant hoi an platter and vegan vietnamese pancake

I also ordered the tofu salad with mixed veg – fyi, veg often means just salad here in Vietnam and it was just that. Lovely, but I’ve now come to discover that I really don’t like Thai basil and this salad was full of it. However, after about ten minutes of picking it all out of my bowl, the rest of it was fab.

Jass ordered the traditional Hoi An tasting platter and chicken rice. I spotted the Vietnamese pickles on the side of the dish and asked for a portion for myself. I’d forgotten all about these pickles that I love oh so much and the staff obliged with a big portion – they didn’t even charge me for it which was sweet.

While this restaurant is pricey by Vietnam standards, it was a very affordable meal for us at just under £20. Not to mention in a fabulous setting – in hindsight, this was one of our best meals here in Hoi An.

Breakfast at The Rivertown Hoi An Resort & Spa

We’ve already established that The Soul restaurant is one of the best restaurants in Hoi An. If you stay at The Rivertown Hoi An Resort & Spa (which I highly recommend you do), then you’ll likely be having breakfast here too.

They buffet was huge and staff would present me with a custom vegan menu each morning for me to order dishes from which was so lovely.

Chickpea Eatery

We skipped lunch thanks to a big breakfast and the heat curbing our appetite, so by the time we arrived in the evening, we were starving! Chickpea Eatery has one of those menus where I want to order one of everything.. simply because I can as it’s all vegan. This is one of the best restaurants in Hoi An, located in the Old Town.

They offer a veganised version of all the traditional Vietnamese food together with plenty of Western dishes (but nobody is interested in that). This is what got me so excited!

I have been dying to try bún chả giò for the entire time on this Vietnam trip, but have been unsure about whether it is vegan. It’s a bowl full of cold noodles, lettuce, cucumber, tofu and pickled carrots, topped with crispy (albeit quite oily) spring rolls and satay sauce to drizzle over the top. It was my favourite dish on the menu, I could quite literally eat this every day!

vegan food feast at chickpea eatery hoi an

I also wanted to try the local Hoi An signature dish – chicken rice, otherwise known as cơm gà hội an. Jass had the regular version of this the night before and loved it, however, it wasn’t for me. The chilli sauce on the side was delicious; not spicy at all, but the rest of the dish was pretty bland. I found the vegan chicken, aka tofu skin quite oily – much like the spring rolls above, which was a real shame.

As I was still dreaming about my bánh mì in Hanoi (honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that), we decided to order the vegan beef version here.

This was okay, but it really didn’t compare.

Sure, the cashew mayonnaise was stunning and sourdough made a nice change – but it wasn’t a baguette. Sadly no Vietnamese pickles inside and worse of all, the vegan beef was a black bean and mushroom patty. The colour was as close to the real deal as possible, but I love a mock meat and could have quite easily skipped this dish.

The rest of the menu looks fabulous though, and I wish we had enough time in Hoi An to go back. They also host a Vietnamese vegan cooking class here, which sadly wasn’t running on the dates we were visiting, but I would have loved to book a class.

A hidden eatery tucked away from the crowds.. definitely one of the best restaurants in Hoi An to check out.

Burger King at Danang airport

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist adding this one to the list. I know, I know it’s just Burger King but honestly, I was so excited to spot this at the airport and even more thrilled to find a veggie burger offering that I couldn’t just walk away.

I’d seen another blogger excitedly share she had chips for the first time on her Vietnam travels here, and I knew I had to do the same.

The veggie burger sadly isn’t vegan – I think the patty itself is a few mozzarella style dippers, with lots of salad and you can choose to remove the mayo and the cheese. The burger was huge; one of the biggest burgers I’ve ever had and it tasted incredible after about 10 days of eating nothing but Vietnamese cuisine.

Am I crazy for being so excited about this, or would you be the same? Let me know in the comments below – and show me some solidarity please.

Restaurants to avoid in Hoi An

woman drinking a glass of rose wine in hoi an

Morning Glory Signature

Much like The Soul restaurant, this place is pricey for Vietnam and has a multitude of great reviews online deeming it to be one of the best restaurants in Hoi An.

I strongly disagree.

Initially, I hadn’t been interested in trying this place as I don’t particularly care for fine dining – though fyi, this place really isn’t! However, we bumped into a couple we met on our Ha Long Bay cruise on our final day in Hoi An, who told us how fabulous Morning Glory Signature is, so we decided to give it a go.

The menu didn’t excite me and honestly, I don’t know if I was a bit bored of eating the same few Vietnamese dishes on repeat at this point or not – options are always slightly limited without the meat and I find the cuisine in general pretty bland for my tastebuds.

mushroom and tofu bun curry soup and hoi an chicken rice

My mushroom and tofu bun curry soup was okay, but really, the food was mediocre, service terrible and my rosé was room temperature. I simply don’t get the hype.

Jass got the chicken rice again which is something he’s ordered a lot here, though he found this one bland too.

Our bill came to about £20 for two mains, a glass of wine and a beer. That £20 could have bought us two, maybe even three better meals elsewhere!

So yes, if you ask me, this is certainly not one of the best restaurants in Hoi An.

An Hy Chay

An Hy Chay is a vegetarian restaurant in Old Town Hanoi – a small, cheap eats place that appears to be family run. We weren’t massively hungry, but I ordered the Bún chá An Hy now that I’ve discovered how much I love bun cha thanks to Chickpea Eatery.

vegan lunch in hoi an - bun cha and tofu

Jass ordered the tofu with spicy and sour sauce; dâu hú sôt chua cay. The bun cha was fine, nothing special, but the spicy and sour tofu was truly awful. I could barely stomach one small bite – it was essentially uncooked silken tofu with a sauce poured over the top.

The sauce reminded me of the British childhood classic, Heinz spaghetti hoops – oh yuck. Even typing this now is making me feel a bit ill.

I mean, this place is a real cheap eats place, and maybe other dishes on their menu are better. For just over £6 for two meals, a beer and a diet coke, you really can’t complain too much!

We loved our time in Hoi An so much – the entire place has such a warm and friendly, relaxed vibe. With excellent service at our wonderful hotel (our favourite place we have stayed at on this Indochina trip so far) – it’s just a real shame we didn’t love the food here as much. You can’t knock them for the amount of vegan restaurants in Hoi An though.