The Best Vegetarian Restaurants In Ho Chi Minh City

Having spent 3 days in the city, I discovered that finding the best vegetarian restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City isn’t too difficult. There are a lot of options available for vegans and vegetarians alike. So whether you’re on the pursuit for a veggie only spot, need a place to simultaneously satisfy both carnivore and herbivore diets, or are simply looking for alternatives to the typical meat-focused dish, keep reading.

I have to say that not all of the restaurants I dined at here in HCMC were great. Sure the menu might have looked promising, but sometimes the food fell flat.

To save you from a bad meal, here’s a run down of some of the best vegetarian restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City and those you should probably avoid..

_{This post may contain affiliate links which means that I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, for qualifying purchases. For more information, read our disclaimer.}

Contents

Where to find the best vegetarian restaurants In Ho Chi Minh City

Nishi sat outside a pretty cafe in HCMC: Hot Beans

Hot Beans coffee & cuisine

Conveniently located in district 1 and a short walk away from the hotel we stayed at, I was super excited to see oat milk on the menu at Hot Beans coffee & cuisine. It was my first time seeing oat milk anywhere during my entire time in Vietnam and I knew we had to go here for a coffee and breakfast.

vietnamese iced coffee in a glass jar with metal straw

I ordered an iced oat americano – the coffee was absolute perfection. I have fallen head over heels with Vietnamese coffee and this was one of the best I have had here.

Jass ordered a salted coffee – iced coffee, topped with condensed milk and a touch of salt. This is very popular here too and I’m told it was surprisingly good. Sadly no vegan condensed milk on offer for me to try any though.

avocado on toast served with homemade baked beans in ho chi minh city

We ordered breakfast – I had the only vegan offering which was avocado on toast served with homemade baked beans. Given a choice, this probably wouldn’t be something I would choose on a breakfast menu, but I really enjoyed it.

Tandoor Indian Restaurant

We landed in Ho Chi Minh City tired, hungry and wanting a change from Vietnamese food. This is all we had been eating on our travels here and I personally didn’t have the best experience with vegan food in Hoi An; our last destination.

Jass found Tandoor Indian restaurant on Tripadvisor and we discovered it was just around the corner from our hotel, so we headed straight there. I have to say it’s often difficult to find good Indian food, or at least the kind of authentic Indian food we are accustomed in the UK else where – I’ve had some bad experiences in Portugal and the USA. Nevertheless, we though we’d give this place a go.

vegetable jalfrezi, chicken curry and garlic naan

I ordered a vegetable jalfrezi and garlic naan and upon ordering, the waiter asked if I would like the curry mild, medium or spicy. Now I can handle spicy food, but this was on another level of spice entirely. My mouth was on fire and I was sweating!

I could barely eat half of my curry, not least because it was so spicy but the portion was huge too. The naan wasn’t great, but I feel like the curry had great potential. Jass ordered a chicken curry and had the same issue with the spice level – and he can tolerate a lot more chilli than me!

As far as restaurants serving vegan food in Ho Chi Minh go, this would be a great option – I reckon they just screwed up my order as I asked for it spicy as oppose to serving it like this every time.

Bon’s Vegan Bistro

Craving a coffee and some shade in the afternoon heat while walking around the city, we found Bon’s vegan bistro nearby on Google maps. Beautiful decor, but the food and coffees sadly fell flat.

We both ordered an iced cashew milk coffee with dates – possibly the worst coffee either of us have ever had. It was so bad, we couldn’t even finish it. In hindsight, I think the mention of dates on the menu were what they’d used to sweeten the home made oat milk, but the coffee itself was very bitter and pretty undrinkable.

We weren’t massively hungry so we ordered the creamy mushroom pitta to share. As they’d run out of many items on the menu, we though this might be substantial for two people to share.

A couple sat next to us clearly must have had the same idea, as when both our pittas arrived, we were all confused.. it just looked odd. We each took a bite and opened it up to examine the contents – there weren’t many (if any) mushrooms in there and it wasn’t creamy. The filling was mostly carrot, pea and green beans – very strange to say the least.

I went back and ordered the mushroom pho which was lovely to be fair.. I mean, if you can’t get pho right in Vietnam, I’m not sure there’s much hope for anything else – ha!

Just a strange place overall – though I am grateful vegan places like this exist. Order the pho but definitely avoid the coffee. .

Veggie Saigon Restaurant

Veggie Saigon Restaurant is a wonderful little hidden gem that proved to be quite hard to locate on Google maps and Instagram! Funnily enough as we were walking up to the restaurant on the first floor, we bumped into a German couple we’d previously been sat next to and got chatting with at Katze vegan and veggie, another hidden vegan restaurant in Hanoi and it was the strangest thing!

They had just left and said the food was incredible and really well seasoned (which I’ve discovered is difficult to find in Vietnam).

They weren’t lying!

The vegan fish, while delicious, is also the fastest way of getting diabetes known to man. I was half way through the dish before I realised my teeth physically hurt and I felt as though I’d eaten about 5 bags of sugar – grim.

Still, it was incredibly tasty. Is that weird?

vegan pork chops with pak choi at Veggie Saigon Restaurant

The vegan pork chops with pak choi were good too – though I have to say neither the ‘fish’ or ‘pork’ resembled the real deal in any way. Not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, as long as the food tastes good, it doesn’t matter to me either way.

The rice was undercooked and burnt at the same time. We didn’t fancy taking our chances with food poisoning, so didn’t eat that.

This hidden gem is such a cheap eats place; possibly one of the cheapest meals we’ve had on this trip so far, that we really couldn’t complain. Under £7 for 4 dishes and 3 drinks!

The two female owners are the happiest, smiliest women we have ever come across too which made the whole meal and experience that much more pleasant. I highly recommend a visit here.

Filthy Vegan

Now hear me out, this is the first time I have ever been to a British restaurant in South East Asia – I mean, who’s really missing fish and chips or pie and mash while away?

Me, apparently.

Together with all the other travellers, backpackers, expats and the British people working as teachers in Vietnam. This restaurant; Filthy Vegan was packed – and understandably so!

If you don’t come here for the food, come just for the ‘LOL’s and you won’t be disappointed. The owner is a hilarious British expat who left London 22 years ago and hasn’t looked back since. He prides himself on the imported Heinz baked beans (sorry, but I couldn’t agree more – if they’re not Heinz, they aren’t baked beans in my opinion) and other English culinary delights.

Vegan Fish & Chips with Heinz baked beans? Vegan roast dinner? Vegan full English breakfast? Vegan hotdogs? You can see where I’m going with this. The menu is extensive, and this man cooks and serves it all.

Filthy Vegan is the place to go when you’ve had your fill of bun cha, phở and summer rolls. Sure these are all delicious, but there’s only so much fried tofu in a delicately seasoned broth a vegan can eat, if I’m honest.

vegan fish and chips and steak and kidney pie, chips and gravy at Filthy Vegan Saigon

Vegan steak and kidney pie, chips and gravy at Filthy Vegan Saigon

We ordered the vegan fish and chips and vegan steak and kidney pie, chips and gravy to share. I cannot tell you which was better – they were both simply divine.

As somebody who generally avoids both pastry and fried food at home, this somehow tasted even better – with Heinz ketchup to boot. The only addition I would have liked was vinegar on my chips, but you can’t have everything, can you?

Not wanting the evening to end – I simply love how you end up chatting away to random people in vegan restaurants here in Asia, we ordered dessert too! I’ve said this before, but dessert generally isn’t my bag. I probably fancy dessert a couple of times a year, and this was one such occasion.

vegan ice cream at Filthy Vegan Ho Chi Minh City

Sadly, they’d run out of the oreo cheesecake, so we ordered a chocolate peach and a chocolate vanilla ice cream instead. These were okay, but we were forewarned that we may not like them given that we’re not fully vegan. They were nice enough though, and definitely a welcome cooling treat in the heat.

Conveniently located in District 1 meaning you have no excuse not to visit and enjoy some glorious filthy vegan food and British home comforts. And if you’re a cat lover, even more reason to visit; their resident cat, Snowflake can’t get enough cuddles from the customers.

Chay 365

The owner of Filthy Vegan recommended Chay 365 to us for breakfast on our last morning in Ho Chi Minh City. Chay means vegetarian in Vietnamese and this eatery is in fact completely vegan.

What they lack in service here, they make up for with their delicious bahn mi. I’m talking spicy tofu and the mixed ‘meat’ version with extra spicy sauce.

two delicious vegan bahn mi sandwiches with an iced coffee in the background at Chay 365 Saigon

Finally, our very last meal in Vietnam actually had some spice and it was beautiful – this is what we had been missing this entire trip!

If you’re anything like me.. ask for no Thai basil, no Vietnamese coriander, no mint (basically no herbs) and you will adore the rest!

Eager to try one last weird and wonderful coffee combination, I ordered the salted coffee as they had an oat milk offering. Who knew salt in coffee actually works? This was like an iced mocha, topped with a dusting of cocoa powder and salt.

My mind is blown with how this combination works. Trust me, you have to try it!

PIN IT for later..

No time to read this post on the best vegetarian restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City? Pin it for later.