Vegan Guide to Melaka

Updated February 2024

Melaka gained UNESCO World Heritage status at the same time as Georgetown in Penang but tourism has been much slower to develop which means one thing, less people, which in our book is a good thing! Don’t get us wrong, Jonker Street night market is very busy at the weekend as tourists fly and bus in from neighbouring countries but the rest of the week (and the rest of the town for that matter) is much quieter and more peaceful. Spend your days exploring the shop houses of the old heritage town and the evenings sitting next to the canal with a cold beer or a coffee; in between all of this sightseeing and relaxing check out one of the many veggie and vegan options in town, hopefully our Vegan Guide to Melaka will help you choose where to eat as we’ve listed all of our favourite vegan restaurants in Melaka.

Just to avoid any confusion, you will see Melaka called Malacca in many places and this was the original name, and in fact the official name until just May 2017 when the state goverment stated that we should all use Melaka from that day forward…

Vegetarian & Vegan Restaurants in Melaka

Botanist Cafe (used to be Veggie Planet)

Botanist Cafe
43 Jalan Melaka Raya 8
Melaka

Opening Times: 11am-9.30pm every day

On our previous visits to Melaka this was called Veggie Planet and it was a favourite of ours. In fact, when we lived here for a couple of months back in 2015 it was our ‘go to’ veggie restaurant in Melaka. On our most recent it was the first place we had dinner and it was excellent. Lovely ambiance, friendly staff who could speak English and an exciting menu. We shared monkey head mushroom satay, veggie rendang, sweet and sour, curried tempeh, and the ‘special of the day’ which was biryani. All were excellent and could not be faulted. It’s going to be hard to not keep returning here, it is very good indeed, highly recommended and therefore deserves to be top of our guide with four pictures of their delicious vegan food!

Mei Lin Vegetarian

Mei Lin Vegetarian
98 Jalan Melaka Raya 25
Hatten City
Melaka

Opening Times: 11am-3pm and 6pm-8.30pm (closed Wednesday)

Large selection of vegetarian dishes with many being vegan. The staff were friendly and spoke English so we could order vegan food easily. It was good to have the choice of tofu, tempe and mock meat so we chose 1 dish with each, our favourite was the tempe and okra but all were very tasty. We liked the fact that most of the dishes can be ordered small, medium or large; we ordered small of each and they were a decent size, we shared 3 small dishes between the 2 of us with rice.

Vege Good

Vege Good
86 Jalan Laksama Cheng Ho
Melaka

Opening Times: 11am-8pm every day (closed Sunday)

No egg and no MSG in this all vegetarian restaurant in Melaka, there is milk in some of the food and honey in some of the drinks otherwise everything is vegan, just ask the staff and they can explain / change dishes as required. We ordered crunchy ‘chicken’, sambal fried rice, Hong Kong Kailan and veggie soy ‘ribs’ to share. Our favourite was the crunchy chicken and although all the food was good I’m not sure we would return as there are better vegan options in Melaka.

Man Yuan Fang

Man Yuan Fang
Jalan Pm 4
Bandar Hilir
Melaka

Opening Times: 12 midday-10pm (closed Monday and Tuesday)

We visited here initially 4 years ago but wanted to return as was hard to remember what we ate then! It is more upmarket than the other Chinese style vegetarian restaurants in Melaka and the prices reflected this. Not much more expensive but perhaps 15% more than similar, more simple establishments. We weren’t super hungry but had read about the KFC meal which consisted of fried ‘chicken’, fries, hash browns and coleslaw (you need to request for this to be vegan). It was of course not the healthiest option but it hit the spot for sure! The ‘chicken’ has a tasty breadcrumb coating and although fried did not taste to oily. We also ordered steamed dumplings which were very good, served with a ginger, vinegar and soy dipping sauce.

Hui Yuan

Hui Yuan
6B Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho
Melaka

Opening Times: 7am-2.30pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday

Next door to G-Teik Vegetarian Supplies and possibly the same owner this simple Chinese vegetarian restaurant has a daily buffet (which was nearly finished when we popped in at 2pm) and also daily a la carte options available. It was pretty busy and seemed to be popular with locals as there is a temple nearby, we didn’t eat as were not hungry but will check it out when we’re next in Melaka.

Anthony Vegetarian Restaurant

Anthony Vegetarian Restaurant
8 Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho
Melaka

Opening Times: 11.30am-8.30pm (closed on Wednesday)

This was closed on our first visit but we are so happy that we returned for their buffet as it was one of the best we’ve had. There was plenty of choice with curries, vegetables, mock meat and tempe all served with your choice of white rice, brown rice or noodles. Each of our plates of food cost just 4.5 MYR which is just $1.10 or £0.85 offering great value. We asked and were assured that none of the buffet items on the day we visited contained egg or milk so were suitable for vegans.

Shui Xian

Shui Xian
43 Jalan Hang Lekiu
75200 Melaka

Opening Times: 7.30am-1.30pm (closed on Sunday)

One of our readers told us about this local vegetarian restaurant in Melaka, saying it was their favourite vegan food in Melaka, but when we visited at lunchtime they were about to close for the day. The staff were friendly and it felt very welcoming, so we will return in the future for sure. It’s on a quiet street, not far from the busy Jonker Walk but could be a million miles away. Very peaceful location and we look forward to trying their vegan food next time we are in Melaka.

Vegan Friendly Restaurants in Melaka

Selvam

Selvam
3 Jalan Temenggong
Bandar Hilir
Melaka

Opening Times: 7am-6pm every day

We stayed in Melaka for 6 weeks back in 2014 and lost count of the amount of times we visited Selvam. Needless to say it was the first place we headed on our return and we were not disappointed. They have a great masala dosa and lots of fried Indian snacks that are vegan but it’s all about the banana leaf curry. Take a banana leaf, add rice and 3 vegetable curries, popadoms and pour vegetable sambar over the top to to create a vegan feast. Not only does it taste delicious (possibly the best banana leaf curry we’ve ever had) but they will happily serve more when you’ve finished, just catch their eye and they’ll be back to refill your leaf with more flavour packed Indian goodness.

Sri Kaveri

Opening Hours: 7.30am-9pm every day

Sri Kaveri
115 Lorong Hang Jebat
75200 Melaka

Our favourite banana leaf restaurant which we featured above was closed so we checked out Sri Kaveri and were certainly not disappointed. Our banana leaves were piled high with rice, three veg curries, dal, poppadoms and a sweet halva. We also ordered a small dish of veg chicken veg mutton and tofu sambal. Safe enough to say, we had a feast and loved it…

Kneading Peace Cafe

Opening Hours: 8.30am-4.30pm every day

Kneading Peace Cafe
37 Jalan Hang Lekiu
Kampung Dua
75200 Melaka

The vegan pizza here is excellent with homemade dough, perfect tomato sauce and vegan cheese. We also enjoyed freshly prepared lemonade and coffees with oat milk. Tucked away from the busy Jonker St this is an air conditioned (upstairs) haven and the perfect place to escape, relax and eat vegan pizza.

Christina EE Cendol

Christina EE Cendol
8 Jalan Hang Lekir
Melaka

Opening Times: 9.30am-6pm every day

All we can say is that you should eat as much cendol as possible whenever you are in Malaysia and one of our favourite spots is Christina EE Cendol in Melaka. Absolutely perfect on a hot day to escape from the heat and savour in the ice drizzled with gula Melaka (palm sugar syrup) sat in sweet coconut milk with pandan rice noodles and kidney bean goodness. If it sounds a bit strange trust us and give it a go and we’re sure you’ll go back for more!

Cendol Kampung Hulu

Opening Hours: 11am-10.30pm every day

Cendol Kampung Hulu
Makan Avenue
26 Jalan Kampung Hulu
75200 Melaka

No trip to Malaysia would be complete without eating cendol at least once so when your favourite cendol spot is closed, you just need to find another. And this riverside spot in Melaka serves excellent cendol which certainly made us happy. They also had soya ice cream which was a bonus. Maybe not the best cendol we’ve ever had, but the location next to the river is a big bonus.

Relish the Moment

Opening Hours: 11am-11pm every day

Relish the Moment
100 Jalan Kampung Pantai
75200 Melaka

Another nice riverside spot which we walked past when exploring because we spotted the clearly marked veggie and vegan options on the menu. We had already eaten to didn’t eat here, but thought it was worth including due to the location and also the fact their menu options were clear to see.

Health Food and Vegan Food Shops in Melaka

Zenxin Organic Food

Zenxin Organic Food
585 Jalan Melaka Raya
Melaka

Opening Times: 9am-7pm every day

This was our ‘go to’ heath food store when we stayed in Melaka and has a huge range of fresh and dried produce perfect for preparing healthy and organic vegan food in your own kitchen. A good selection of organic salads and vegetables were a real bonus and also plenty of nutritional yeast which is many vegans favourite ingredient. If you’re travelling it is also the perfect spot to pick up some nuts and snacks for the journey as they have a good variety of this type of food available too.

G-Teik Vegetarian Supplies

G-Teik Vegetarian Supplies
6A Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho
Melaka

Opening Times: 8.30pm-5.30pm every day

Checked this place out as seemed to be the biggest veg supermarket in Melaka. They had a big selection of fresh and frozen mock meat products and also lots of dried produce, jars and sauces etc. Nothing really to ‘eat now’ but perfect if you are staying somewhere with a kitchen and plan to be cooking your own vegan food in Melaka.

Other Vegan Guides to Melaka

Our friend Mostly Amelie wrote about her favourite vegan spots in Melaka which you can read about here, and of course Happy Cow is your friend as a travelling vegan so here’s their Melaka page. We also found this guide from Miss Filatelista which lists some of her favourite vegan spots in Melaka.