Welcome to my Guide to Vegan Food in Bangalore! Prior to visiting Bangalore, I ended up staying in Arambol, Goa for a week and I was so looking forward to visiting Bangalore and exploring its vegan food scene. I arrived in Bangalore knowing that lots of dishes may contain butter/ghee and whenever I was in doubt I always went with something that I knew to be 100% vegan.
While I do splurge occasionally I always seek out affordable eateries that are offering vegan options and that are deemed reasonably priced by local standards. This list consists of my favorite foods and spots in Bangalore.
Food You Must Try
Punjabi cuisine
I absolutely love Punjabi cuisine and while exploring Bangalore I stumbled upon Punjabi Daawaat and Swad Punjab Da. When wandering around Bangalore you’ll see lots of places offering Punjabi cuisine!
Swad Punjab Da is a small vegetarian restaurant and I ended up getting what they promote as a thali for ₹ 80 and the portion was huge. The best part: The minute I was done with my food, the waiter came with a “refill” – not once, but twice (!). I was incredibly full at the end of it all and loved the food! – Address: Gokul House No- 26, 19th Main, 7th Cross, Mahadeshwara Nagar, NS Palya, Stage 2, BTM 2nd Stage, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560076
At Punjabi Daawaat I ended up getting the Punjabi Veg Combo for ₹ 70 and while I did make it very clear that I don’t consume animal products, I ended up getting it with a side containing, what appeared to be milk. The food itself was really good though and the portions super were generous! – Address: 934, 16th Main Road, Beside McDonald’s, BTM 2nd Stage, Kuvempu Nagar
Biryani
Biryani or “spicy rice” is an Indian rice dish with mixed vegetables, meat or fish. My babe and I ended up getting Vegetable Biryani at Cafe Noosphere and they had a really awesome special for two people. It consisted of Vegetable Biryani, a small chutney and mushroom chili, all for only ₹ 249. It was heaps of food and I must say that the Vegetable Biryani is one of my favorite dishes ever. The mushroom chili was heavenly and the texture was incredible.
Dosa
Dosas are a typical South Indian staple. A dosa is a savory crepe that is made from fermented rice and lentils, usually accompanied by chutney. If you are in Bangalore, watch out for the “99 Variety Dosa” food carts that can be found all over the city in the evening hours.
If you are unsure where to go, look them up on google maps and go and search for it in the evening (after 5 PM). When ordering, just make sure to specify that you want yours without butter/ghee. I ended up getting a plain dosa for ₹ 30 and loved it!
Vada
Vada is a traditional South Indian breakfast staple. It’s a crispy deep fried snack made from black gram lentils and spices. It is usually served with coconut chutney and vegetable sambar. I ended up getting mine at Taaza Thindi, a small and very casual vegetarian eatery with inside and outside seating. You order by walking up to the counter, you get a receipt and slip and walk up to the next counter, with your slip in hand, to get your food. Their menu consists of typical South Indian dishes, it’s really inexpensive and I highly recommend the Vada for ₹ 10 and Plain Dosa for ₹ 25.
Address: 1004, Main road, Jayanagar 4T Block, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560041
Vegetable Momos
Momos are dumplings stuffed with vegetables (or meat, chocolate, etc.) that can be steamed or fried. It’s a snack in Tibet and is very popular in certain parts of India. If you walk around Bangalore’s streets in the evening you’ll see heaps of small momo food carts. Vegetable momos from a food cart are usually ₹40-50.
Sweets
While a lot of Indian sweets do contain milk, ghee (clarified butter) or khoya (dried milk) there are actually quite a few that are naturally vegan.
Laddu
Laddus or ladoos are ball-shaped sweets and the ingredients vary depending on the type (sesame, peanut, dry fruit) and recipe. Peanut and dry fruit laddu were definitely my favorite ones. You can find peanut laddu at most supermarkets and the greatest selection of laddus I’ve found was at Ever Fine Supermarket. At Kanti Sweets you can find dry fruit laddu made out of dates, almonds, dry coconut, sugar, raisins and cashews. It’s ₹ 590/kg and really good!
Barfi
Barfi is a milk based Indian sweet that usually contains milk powder, condensed milk, ghee and spices. However, Coconut barfi (coconut), Khajur Burfi (dates) and Anjeer Burfi (figs) are naturally vegan. While I wasn’t able to find coconut barfi, I was able to hunt down Khajur Burfi for ₹ 630/kg and Anjeer Burfi for ₹ 960/kg at Kanti Sweets. My favorite one was definitely Khajur Burfi, I loved the dates and its subtle sweetness. Big shout out to Vegan India! for introducing me to these wonderful sweets.
Other worthy mentions
If you are craving traditional italian ice cream, you can head to Milano Ice Cream. They have a handful of vegan flavours, just make sure to message them on Facebook to find out what’s vegan on their daily changing menu. I tried their mango and wild berries sorbet – go for the mango one, I loved it!
I didn’t include Enerjuvate and Carrots ,because they serve western vegan food. While I did go to Enerjuvate to have a chocolate cake as a treat, I decided to not include it here because, it wasn’t really up my alley. While in India, I figured to eat Indian, whenever possible, and while I did had delicious falafel in Goa, aside from that I’ve stuck with Indian food – I just really love it.
Resources
I learned a lot about burfi from Vegan India! and through this blog I also stumbled upon heaps of facebook groups. There is Vegans in India, a facebook group with almost 20,000 members and there is Vegan Bangalore, a small facebook group with almost 5,000 members.
The below hindi vegan travel card is also something that I used. There were places at which it helped a lot and then there were places at which it caused confusion. My recommendation is to simply save it on your phone and pull it out whenever you feel that you need a little help.
What are your favorite Indian dishes and do you have any favorite spots in Bangalore? I’d love to hear from you! 🙂