Vegetarian food guide for Vietnam

Vietnam is heaven for street food mainly for non-vegetarian. But I have strongly believed that finding vegetarian food shouldn’t be impossible especially if you are southeast Asian countries. Asian people have built culture in sync with nature, use plants for various purposes, and prepare delicious food from them. And Vietnam is no different in this. So lets get right into this.

Challenge for pure vegetarians

Lets address the elephant in the room. Vietnamese cuisine contains, vegetables, meat, eggs, sea food, and grains used as ingredients in various combinations. Most vegetarian dishes served in restaurants or stalls maay contain eggs, shrimp, fish sauce in some form and this makes it harder for Indian vegetarians to eat local food.

Availability of vegetables in Vietnam

A quick stroll in local markets, and you will see that Vietnam has abundant varieties of vegetables and many of them resembling to Indian vegetables. Some of the vegetables that I could identify and were similar to India are (beyond the staple vegetables like potatoes, onions, chilies, etc.); Bitter guard/ Karela, cabbage, capsicum, turmeric (raw & powder), lemon grass, radish, carrot, suran, tinda, spinach, coriander, etc.

What to ask for

In Vietnam, when you are looking for pure vegetarian food, you should be asking for Buddhist vegetarian food referred as “Zhai” in Chinese which loosely translates into mind kept clean. (This is true for some of the southeast Asian countries too but not all.)

Many Vietnamese people who dedicate their lives to Buddha while continuing their duties as householders, follow a strict vegetarian diet that resembles to vegetarianism in India. Food that does not contain meat, sea food, eggs, and sometimes even onion and garlic. Unfortunately its difficult to find Vietnamese restaurants dedicatedly serving pure vegetarian food as most of these people refrain from eating outside food. Though there are more pure vegetarians in South and central as compared to North Vietnam.

Tips on where to eat local Vietnamese vegetarian food

1. Homestays – if you are living in homestay wherein the family follows or cooks buddhist vegetarian food, you can request them to cook you Vietnamese pure vegetarian home cooked meals and enjoy the local delicacies.

2. Happy Cow app – For the vegan food choices, you can use Happy Cow app to locate the nearest vegan restaurant around you. However, this app currently provides service only in famous cities such as Saigon

3. Food stalls for locals – in all areas there are food stalls frequented mostly by locals serve vegetarian food. However, one challenge will be that most of these stalls are not serving only vegetarian food. Look for the word ‘quán chay’ or ‘cơm chay’ or ‘com phan’ to locate a vegetarian place to eat, or to find veggie options on a regular menu. We tried at one such stall in Hoi An wherein we ate a dish of steamed rice topped with varieties of sauted vegetables and clear green leafy soup. The food was delicious.

4. Snacks – There are some snack options that you can also look for general munching. Just like Indians, Vietnamese people also have varieties of papad mainly from rice. There are seafood-flavored papads as well, so be mindful to avoid them. But you also have plain rice papad, plain brown rice papad, rice papad with chilli powder, rice papad with shallots & garlic, and most unique banana papad. You will find these papads in raw form and roasted form in the main markets. You can also get chikkis made from peanuts, sesame, and murmura (puffed rice). Also try some dry rice cookies which have unique taste. Look for stalls keeping small nick knacks of such kind to explore more vegetarian snacks. Local chips made from tapioca, yams, etc. are another good munching options. Coated peanuts by name Tan Tan are lovely nibblers while you doing long walks or just chilling by sea side.

5. Desserts – There are varieties of deserts that can be mainly categorized into custard category, sticky rice, and barfi kinds. Custard desserts you will get in various flavors of coffee, pandan, etc. and some of these custards are made from vegetarian gelatin. There are many types of desserts prepared from sticky rice. Common we saw were (i) sticky rice cake called Banh Com (a specialty of Hanoi) by Nguyen Ninh – this we also got home as sweets to share with friends & family (ii) Xôi ngũ sắc or five-color sticky rice is rice made in different flavours sprinkled with roasted peanuts, shredded coconut & coconut cream. A traditional dish from Sapa which we tried in Saigon (iii) Grilled Sticky rice cake called Chuối Nếp Nướng which has a stuffing of fruits or nuts served with coconut cream & roasted peanuts. (iv) Banh Dau Xanh or Mung bean pastry which is similar to a moong barfi in India. This sweet is considered to be a royal treat and is gifted during weddings and such happy occasions.

6. Temple Kitchens – There are temple kitchens who provide free pure vegetarian food on special days. However, if you are tourist finding appropriate timings can be challenging. But incase you are in desperate need, you can always ask for some assistance from local people to guide you.

However, besides all of this, there will be times when you just want to hit a restaurant and not think much. I have covered you with the below list of vegetarian restuarants which are mainly Indian or Vegan for the 3 cities that we visited.

List of vegetarian restaurants – Saigon

1. Loving Hut in District 1 – Location pin
2. Dharma garden in District 1 – Location pin
3. Prem Bistro & café in District 1 – Location pin
4. Hum Vietnam in District 3 – Location pin

List of vegetarian restaurants – Hoi An

1. Ganesh Indian restaurant – Location pin
2. Am vegetarian & hideaway – Location pin
3. Vegan Zone Hoi An – Location pin

List of vegetarian restaurants – Hanoi

1. Namaste Hanoi – Location pin
2. Dalcheeni Hanoi – Location pin
3. Grills & Curry Indian restaurant – Location pin
4. The Eat List India restaurant – Location pin