This is a brief guide to vegan food in Kuala Lumpur. This post will feature two low-key restaurants and affordable supermarkets. I always have heaps of fun looking for restaurants and hunting down fruits and vegetables at supermarkets. My vegan travel guides are some of the most exciting posts for me to create.
Restaurants
Dharma Realm Guan Yin Sagely Monastery
Well, my favorite place to eat vegan food in Kuala Lumpur is not exactly a restaurant – it’s a Buddhist temple. This temple offers a huge buffet with a great variety of food: salads, noodles, tofu, drinks, and sweets. In May 2017 the temple reported to be no longer using dairy and from what I could tell, all the warm food was vegan, and most of the sweets were as well.
The concept is quite simple, you simply grab a plate and load it up with whatever food you desire. Whenever you are ready you head to the checkout counter and pay. We ended up getting two plates full of food for roughly RM 8 each. Sesame buns were RM 1 each, tea was RM 1,50 and spicy peppers were RM 1.
The food was absolutely amazing and everyone was incredibly lovely! We ended up going on a Tuesday and the place was packed with office workers, and you could also spot a traveler or two. I am usually not very fond of buffets, the food at the temple is on another level though! If that doesn’t convince you, check out these raving reviews on Happy Cow!
Address: 161, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 50450
Open 11.30-2.30 (Mon to Fri).
Water Lily Vegetarian Restaurant
Water Lily is a small, low-key restaurant with a great variety of dishes. They offer noodles, soy-based alternatives (meat, fish, prawn), rice dishes, sweets, juices and heaps more. Check out their menu here. I ordered the Singapore Style Rice Noodles and a red bean bun. My partner ended up getting Szechuan Mee noodles. We ended up paying roughly RM 20 for everything. I really, really love this place! The food was excellent and the atmosphere was great. Have a look at what other people are saying about it here.
Address: 50000, 23, Jalan Tun H S Lee, 50100 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
Markets
Chow Kit Market is my favorite market for fruit and vegetables in Kuala Lumpur. At the market, you’ll find fruit and vegetables, tofu, tempeh – basically everything you need to make delicious vegan food in Kuala Lumpur. If you are interested in buying a lot, it is definitely going to be cheaper than at the regular supermarkets.
Supermarkets
Giant
This is hands-down my favorite supermarket in Kuala Lumpur. Giant has locations all over the city and I always went to the Sungai Wang store. The store has a great selection of fruits, vegetables, tofu, plant-based milk and everything in between. It’s just a regular grocery store and if I’d be living in Kuala Lumpur, that’s where I’d do my weekly grocery shopping.
Ben’s General Grocery Store
I like to think of Ben’s as Trader Joe’ on steroids. This store is definitely a lot more expensive than Giant and I’d label it high-end. They have a couple of stores in Kuala Lumpur and I went to the store in the Publika mall. While I wouldn’t do my weekly shopping here, I am mentioning it for two reasons. Ben’s has a huge selection of organic food (pasta, beans, etc.) and Ben’s has great deals. I got a huge bag of vegan cookies for RM 7,50 (they were 50% off!) and my partner got a bag of vegan crisps for RM 4 (they were 80% off!).
Mercato Pavilion KL
Mercato is located in the Pavilion mall and is on the expensive end. They have a huge selection of exotic and mostly imported fruits, chocolate, greens and heaps more. It’s a great place for expats as most of what they offer, is from all over the world. While I definitely wouldn’t do my weekly grocery shopping here, it’s a great place if you are looking for something very specific.
Resources
This was it for vegan food in Kuala Lumpur! I happened to have a kitchen at the place I was staying at and ended up cooking quite a bit. I found the Kuala Lumpur Vegans and Vegetarians group on facebook super useful. It’s a very active group so make sure to join when visiting Kuala Lumpur as a vegan. For more vegan food recommendations check out The Vegan Food Guide to Kuala Lumpur by Mostly Amelie and of course, Happy Cow!