Vegan Guide to Kuching

Published November 2024

Here is our Vegan Guide to Kuching which was created during our long weekend visiting this often overlooked destination. We had a very enjoyable weekend exploring Kuching and will most certainly return. We could happily spend more time wandering the riverside, exploring the old town and enjoying the botanic gardens and orchid park, whilst seeing more of the stunning coastline and national parks that are close by would be high up on our agenda too. Everyone was so friendly and helpful during our time in Kuching, which made finding and eating vegan food very easy indeed. Our favourite vegetarian restaurant in Kuching was aptly called ‘Popular Vegetarian’ and our favourite vegan friendly restaurant in Kuching was without a doubt the excellent ‘Indah House’, both of them made us discuss how happy we would be to live in Kuching and visit them regularly. Our vegan travel research always starts with Happy Cow and spending some time online working out where we shouldn’t miss out on. This trip was also helped by Raw Chef Yin who was in Kuching just a few weeks before us and shared some of her favourite vegan spots on the Vegans in Malaysia Facebook group.

Vegan Restaurants in Kuching

The Noble Restaurant

The Noble Restaurant
7 Jalan Main Bazaar
93000 Kuching
Sarawak

Opening Hours: 7am-10pm every day

As we were leaving Kuching we walked past this sign and of course had a look inside. We had just eaten and our taxi was waiting so we didn’t have a chance to eat anything. The dining room on the ground floor of Ranee Boutique Suites Hotel had a lovely ambiance and the extensive menu was indeed 100% vegan. With smoothie bowls, burgers (four different vegan burgers!), salads and pastas there was plenty to choose from. They even had a vegan Sarawak laksa and vegan roti canai for that local fix. The Noble Restaurant doesn’t appear to have any online presence when we looked, and the hotel website still shows another restaurant in the same location, so we can only presume it’s newly opened? We will most certainly be returning to what seems to be the only 100% vegan restaurant in Kuching on our next visit.

Vegetarian Restaurants in Kuching

Popular Vegetarian

Popular Vegetarian
106 Lorong Abang Abdul Rahim 5a
93450 Kuching
Sarawak

Opening Hours: 11.13am-1.33pm and 4.38pm-8.01pm every day, closed Thursday

We had been told not to miss this restaurant (with the most unusual opening times we’ve ever seen) during our time in Kuching by a number of people, so we made sure to grab dinner on our final day whilst en route to the airport. Owner Christopher gave us the warmest of welcomes, and recommended that we try the local midin with ginger and also a vegan beef dish with Sarawak pepper. We also ordered curry mutton as the rendang which we fancied was not available. The pictures aren’t the greatest, but please trust us when we say that the food was excellent making this a ‘must visit’ when you’re in Kuching.

Zhun San Yen Vegetarian

Zhun San Yen Vegetarian
Lot 165 Jalan Chan Chin Ann
Sarawak
93100 Kuching

Opening Hours: 10am-3.30pm every day, closed Sunday

We arrived here early thinking we would have to wait for them to open at 10am but there was already food available at 9.30am. It seems that they prepare some fried snacks such as curry puffs and spring rolls (all vegan) and noodles (not vegan) before they actually open. We sat down and enjoyed some fried snacks whilst waiting for the rice and veggies buffet to be prepared. We had tofu, star beans, cabbage and seitan with rice and chilli sambal but there were even more options to choose from. Everything was cooked fresh which was great, but the dishes were all lacking a little in flavour. This is a decent option in the centre of town and we will be going back for some vegan curry puffs ‘to go’ as they were delicious.

Vegan Friendly Restaurants in Kuching

Indah House

Indah House
38 Upper China Street (off Carpenter St)
93000 Kuching
Sarawak

Opening Hours: 8am-5pm every day

This place is an absolute gem and our favourite vegan friendly restaurant in Kuching. The all female staff team were super friendly and made our visits extra special with their kindness. Not only did they have vegan chocolate cake and vegan coconut ice cream but their menu was packed with exciting vegan options. From rendang tempe sandwiches and vegan bolognaise quesadillas, to cauliflower rice with tempe and vegan nasi lemak they’ve certainly got you covered here. Our vegan nasi lemak rendang tempe was excellent, as was our vegan chocolate cake with coconut ice cream. In fact, our nasi lemak was sooo good we went back and had it again the next day, when we also tried their bbq tempe sandwich which was great. Don’t miss out on the home made granola and gula tempe chips to takeaway, they were also very good indeed.

Kechala

Kechala
Cove 55
93010 Kuching
Sarawak

Opening Hours: 7.30am-10.30pm (breakfast) and midday-9pm (dinner)

Kechala is the restaurant at Cove 55, the luxury boutique resort on the coast just 40 minutes from the city. They are open to non guests and have a vegan breakfast menu and a vegan lunch/dinner menu that are available upon request. If you want to escape the city and enjoy vegan lunch or dinner in the countryside this is a very good option. The Peruvian tofu ceviche and the vegan pesto pasta were two of our favourite dishes that we enjoyed for lunch, but the vegan chocolate cake was pretty special too!

Borneo Delight

Borneo Delight
13 Wayang St
93000 Kuching
Sarawak

Opening Hours: 9am-8pm every day, closed Sunday

This was our first Sarawak laksa and we were very impressed, although the flavour wasn’t as complex as we’d read and been told, it was very good, it was packed with veggies it certainly hit the spot. We also enjoyed curry noodles with vegetables and tofu from the vegetarian menu which had far more depth of flavour and was very rich. The curry noodles didn’t have egg, but the laksa did so make sure to order with no egg. One of the team spoke perfect English (maybe the daughter of the owner?) and understood that we were vegan and therefore didn’t want egg or dairy in any of our food. An excellent vegan friendly option in Kuching and great value for money.

Life Cafe

Life Cafe
62 Jln Padungan
93100 Kuching
Sarawak

Opening Hours: 10am-10pm every day

There are a number of Life Cafe locations in Kuching, and they have a vegetarian menu available we decided to try the one closest to us. We ordered spicy vegetarian dumplings which were poached, and vegetarian fried dumplings which were served with a soy and vinegar dipping sauce. We also ordered veg meat ‘sha cha’ mushroom noodles, with a medium spice level and spinach noodles, there were 5 spice levels to choose from and 4 types of noodle! Everything was ok but not outstanding. The fried dumplings had a nice filling but were very oily, whilst the poached chilli dumplings had an excellent spicy sauce, but were cold when initially served. We sent them back to be cooked again and then they were fine. The spinach noodles were excellent as was the sauce, but some of the mushrooms were tinned which is kind of below par in our book. There was a nice vibe, the staff were friendly and it’s good to go somewhere with so many veggie options, but we’re not sure if we would return.

Cafe Sublime by The LimeTree Hotel

Cafe Sublime by The LimeTree Hotel
Ground Floor
The LimeTree Hotel
Lot 317 Abell Road
Kuching

Opening Hours: 6.30am-9.30pm every day

So close yet so far. The team at Cafe Sublime hosted a World Vegan Day lunch buffet whilst we were in Kuching, but sadly we had already left the city so could not make it. The buffet spread sounded (and looked) excellent so we will most certainly try to coincide our return to Kuching when they host one of these events again. They have said there will be one towards the end of Chinese new year celebrations, and of course another when World Vegan Day comes around again. They clearly understand exactly what vegan means as their ‘normal’ menu at Cafe Sublime has a number of clearly labelled vegan options and a vegan section which is always good to see. One for next time for sure…

Vegan Friendly Hotels in Kuching

Cove 55

Cove 55
93010 Kuching
Sarawak

We headed out of the city and stayed at Cove 55 during our time in Kuching and we absolutely loved it. You can read our vegan friendly resort review here, which includes details from our experience, and also more pictures of the vegan food from their vegan breakfast and vegan dinner menus which are available upon request. For now, here is the healthy and nutritious chia seed coconut pudding and not quite so healthy (but delicious) vegan ‘full English’ breakfast that we enjoyed for breakfast during our stay.

Sheraton Kuching

Sheraton Kuching
2 Jalan Padungan
93100 Kuching
Sarawak

We stayed at the new and modern Sheraton Kuching using our Marriott Bonvoy points. This luxury hotel in the heart of Kuching was excellent value and we loved the location. Other than coffee in the Club Lounge where they had soy milk available, we didn’t dine at Sheraton Kuching during our stay as had made other plans. But we’ve included it in our Vegan Guide to Kuching because both the room service menu and the menu at Nomadic had a variety of clearly labelled plant based options. We will be sure to sample them next time we stay in Kuching.