Vegetarian and Vegan Eats in Bali
Part of the Bali travel guide — see every topic in All Bali Guides.
Bali — and Ubud in particular — is close to the best place in Asia to eat plant-based, and it got that way through two decades of yoga and wellness tourism. Dedicated vegan kitchens, raw-food cafes and tempeh done properly are everywhere, and Indonesia's own food culture helps: tempeh and tofu were invented here and are staple protein rather than substitutes. The complication is traditional Balinese cooking, which uses terasi (fermented shrimp paste) as a base seasoning and pork fat as a cooking medium far more often than a menu will tell you.
Ubud, the easy option
Ubud has a genuine plant-based restaurant scene rather than a token menu section. Sayuri Healing Food does raw and vegan across a full menu; Alchemy is a long-running raw kitchen with a salad bar people plan lunch around; Zest sits on a hill above the valley with a mostly-vegan menu and one of the better views in town. Moksa grows a large share of its own produce in a permaculture garden on site and is the most interesting of them. Down in Canggu, Peloton Supershop, Give Cafe and Nude are the equivalents. Expect 60,000–140,000 rupiah for a main.
Indonesian dishes that already work
Gado-gado is blanched vegetables, tofu and tempeh under peanut sauce — ask for it without the shrimp paste and prawn crackers. Tempe goreng and tahu goreng, fried tempeh and tofu, are on every warung's counter. Urap is vegetables dressed with spiced grated coconut. Sayur lodeh is vegetables in coconut milk. Nasi goreng sayur and mie goreng sayur are the vegetable versions of the national dishes, though both are routinely fried with a spoonful of shrimp paste or a splash of oyster sauce unless you ask.
The phrases that matter
Saya vegetarian means I am vegetarian; saya tidak makan daging means I do not eat meat. The critical ones are tanpa terasi (without shrimp paste), tanpa telur (without egg) and tanpa kaldu ayam (without chicken stock). Vegan is understood in tourist areas and not in a village warung. Be aware that in much of Indonesia "vegetarian" is commonly understood to exclude red meat rather than all animal products, so listing the specific things you avoid works far better than the label.
Beyond the tourist belt
Outside Ubud, Canggu and Seminyak the options narrow but do not disappear. Indonesian Chinese-Buddhist vegetarian restaurants, signed vegetarian or masakan vegetarian, exist in Denpasar and most larger towns and are entirely plant-based. Padang restaurants — the ubiquitous West Sumatran format where dishes are stacked in the window — always have vegetable curries, cassava leaf and jackfruit, though the shared sauces may not be meat-free. And a plate of white rice, tempeh, tofu and urap is available at essentially any warung on the island for under 25,000 rupiah.
Vegetarian and Vegan Eats at a glance
| Best area | Ubud, then Canggu |
|---|---|
| Plant-based main | IDR 60,000–140,000 at a dedicated cafe |
| Warung plate | Rice, tempeh, tofu, urap — under IDR 25,000 |
| Key phrase | Tanpa terasi — without shrimp paste |
| Also ask | Tanpa telur (no egg), tanpa kaldu ayam (no chicken stock) |
| Native protein | Tempeh and tofu — Indonesian staples, not substitutes |