Vegan Guide to Sihanoukville
OCTOBER 2022: Due to COVID we were unable to travel for nearly two years, which means it’s been impossible to update our vegan travel guides. Therefore we cannot be sure if the below restaurants are still open, so please contact them directly to check. As travel has now restarted we will be updating guides accordingly, but in the meantime please check out the excellent HappyCow, which you can find via the link at the bottom of this vegan guide.
Published October 2016
If you’re heading to the beach in Cambodia, chances are you’ll pass through Sihanoukville, arguably Cambodia’s busiest beach town, our Vegan Guide to Sihanoukville to help you get the best out of this popular Cambodian destination. Serendipity Beach (the beach next to the pier where ferries and speedboats leave from) which stretches into Ochheuteal Beach are both full of tourists (Khmer and visitors from elsewhere). There’s a general “we’re on holiday” atmosphere which leads to a lot of beach frolicking, beer drinking and lazing about in bamboo bucket chairs or plastic deckchairs. Plus loud music, probably played over the loud music from the neighbouring bar and restaurant.
There’s also a number of people begging, selling bracelets and trying to convince you to go to their bar; it all adds up to a general low level of pestering. The beach is very seafood orientated, with some effort you could probably order a plain fried rice if needed but you’re better heading to Serendipity Beach Road and the area around the Golden Lions roundabout where all the bars and restaurants are where there is some serious vegan action. And when we say serious, we mean serious; Sihanoukville actually seems to have a number of vegan options to get excited about.
Cambodia Vegan Tour
We have been working with the award winning Vegan Travel Asia to create a series of immersive 14 day Cambodia Vegan Tours which launched in December 2022. Exploring the country and learning about the people, the traditions, the culture and the food that makes Cambodia such an enchanting destination. The itinerary for these small group tours will include spending time in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary and Siem Reap. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to join our Cambodia vegan tours!
Dao of Life
Open daily 8am-10pm
Dao of Life
Serendipity Pier (above Yasmine Restaurant)
Serendipity Beach
Hands down the best vegan option in town (and one of the few fully vegan restaurants in Cambodia) is the lovely all vegan cafe and community space, Dao of Life. Head here for juices, coffee, burgers, pancakes and more; enjoying the cool vibes, good food and friendly people. They’re closed on Mondays so don’t go then because you’ll be sadly disappointed. Note: the homemade vegan cheese on the burger is amazing and the pancakes are deliciously lovely in every single way.
Falafel
Open daily 10am-10pm
Falafel
Serendipity Road
Sihanoukville
The aptly named ‘Falafel‘ restaurant does great vegan falafel wraps with some potent homemade chilli sauce. The staff were friendly at this little vegetarian falafel joint and we’d definitely recommend heading there for a falafel fix.
Marco Polo
Open daily 11am-10pm
Marco Polo
#85 Ekkarech
Krong Preah
Sihanouk 18000
A good place to get a vegan pizza or a bowl of pasta, Marco Polo is nothing too fancy but the best option in town if you fancy home cooked Italian food. Good, thin crust pizzas with decent a decent range of vegan toppings and some tasty (egg free) pastas dishes to try.
Ernie’s
Open Daily 10am-10pm
Ernies
Ochheuteul Street
Krong Preah Sihanouk
Ernie’s is a American diner style restaurant where, wait for it, there is a vegan hotdog and burger on the menu plus a choice of nearly a million toppings. The soy hot dog itself is a little strange, falling somewhere in the middle of a cross between playdoh and tasty vegan pate but the whole experience of being able to add all the toppings made it entirely worth it.
Kamasutra
Open daily 9am-11pm
Kamasutra
Sangkat Burn
Krong Preah Sihanouk
This interestingly named Indian restaurant is up near the Golden Lions roundabout and although not the best Indian food we’ve enjoyed (the dosa was average) it’s OK if you need a quick Indian fix.
Psar Leu
We barely saw any tourists at the main market in town, located away from all the tourist action that’s near the beach and roundabout. There is an abundance of fruit plus a decent amount of vegan street food to be found so keep your eyes peeled for some favourite traditional snacks and eat away whilst soaking up the atmosphere, our vegan guide to Cambodain street food will help you.
Thank you for a very honest review of Serendipity Beach. Definitely not my sort of place, however the restaurants you reviewed could make a visit to the area worthwhile. I particularly like the sound of Dao of Life, and the market, with all those yummy snacks, sounds great. Pachamama looks like its worth checking out, too. Sihanoukville is not all about Serendipity Beach.
Hi Eileen,
So glad you found out guide useful, Dao of Life is definitely the kind of place you’d feel at home – it’s one of our favourite places in Cambodia just because of the good vibes and awesome vegan pancake stack!! We really enjoyed the local market too – so much going on but there were big wide paths down the middle so we could take our time browsing and not getting in the way of anyone! I think you’re right about Sihanoukville – it’s not all about Serendipity Beach – we drove around to other places and there is peace and quiet to be found. Pacha mama is on our list to visit for when we return too 🙂 Perhaps you can go and tell us what you think?
xx
Hi Eileen,
So glad you found out guide useful, Dao of Life is definitely the kind of place you’d feel at home – it’s one of our favourite places in Cambodia just because of the good vibes and awesome vegan pancake stack!! We really enjoyed the local market too – so much going on but there were big wide paths down the middle so we could take our time browsing and not getting in the way of anyone! I think you’re right about Sihanoukville – it’s not all about Serendipity Beach – we drove around to other places and there is peace and quiet to be found. Pachamama is on our list to visit for when we return too 🙂 Perhaps you can go and tell us what you think?
xx
Ah that burger at Dao of Life!!! I want a burger now!! 😀
You must be like us, anytime we see a vegan burger we want one! The Dao of Life is such a cool place too, such a nice atmosphere. They have just moved to a new location right by the pier, which means we have another excuse to go back and see them 🙂