Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas

Less than an hour from Johor Bahru and Senai International Airport lies a Malaysian slice of coastal paradise at Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas. Here you can leave the traffic filled roads behind and settle into a serene escape where warm hospitality, luxury accommodation and an expansive white sand beach await. With 116 rooms, suites, villas and residences there is something for everyone, from a sea view suite with a private balcony to a pool villa right on the beach. We were welcomed by Mr Nasri who escorted us from the lobby to the Observatory Bar for one of our favourite check in experiences. Complimentary mocktails and juices were served alongside snacks including fresh fruit, nuts and colourful Malaysian kuih. From that first sip and bite we knew this was the place to relax, unwind and enjoy some vegan luxury travel as we gazed over the main pool with the beach beyond.

Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas - Pool
Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas - Beach

Being based just an hour away means we have visited Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas more than once and experienced both their excellent Executive Sea Facing Balcony Room and also one of their luxurious Lagoon Pool Villas. The villa offered the ultimate in privacy and our own pool in an expansive garden complete with a shaded poolside cabana which was perfect for lazy afternoons, but the views from the sea facing rooms were mesmerising, especially at sunrise when the sky turned pink and gold beyond the horizon. Both room types were well appointed with high quality amenities and luxury touches so it really comes down to personal choice, ocean vistas from a high floor balcony or your own private pool. First world problems indeed.

Desaru Coast Resort & Villas - Sea View Suite 1
Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas - Pool Villa

Vegan Breakfast at Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas

Breakfast is served daily at Turmeric, the all day dining restaurant where you can choose to sit inside or outside on the terrace to enjoy the morning breeze if you wish. During the weekends and other high occupancy occasions, guests can also choose to enjoy breakfast at Sea.Fire.Salt which offers a very pleasant ‘al fresco’ alternative. We started each day with freshly squeezed juices, coconut porridge topped with mixed berries, pumpkin seeds and chia, and a beautifully presented tropical fruit selection that was almost too pretty to eat. The expansive buffet at Turmeric included an Indian section which was all vegetarian and quickly became a favourite, offering aloo gobi, masala vadai, coconut chutney and putu mayam (a Malaysian classic similar to Sri Lankan string hoppers) and even a mock chicken curry. The excellent team were always on hand to help and prepared a selection of off menu surprises for us. These included fried noodles with tofu, avocado toast and a perfectly seasoned tofu scramble with avocado on turmeric sourdough, exactly the kind of personal touch that makes vegan travel special. Arrive early at weekends as Turmeric gets busy and definitely ask for tofu scramble, every vegan’s breakfast favourite.

Anantara Desaru vegan noodles
Anantara Desaru vegan avocado toast
anantara desaru tofu scramble

Vegan Dining at Turmeric

Executive Sous Chef Eddy personally looked after us during our stays and offered to surprise us for dinner, creating off menu vegan dishes that complemented the vegetarian options at Turmeric which can easily be adapted. We shared a trio of starters including fragrant pomelo salad with toasted coconut, crispy tauhu sumbat stuffed with julienned vegetables and paired with sweet chilli sauce, and spiced vegetable fritters with a fiery chilli dip. These were followed by other delicious dishes including vegan pad Thai and a fresh beetroot, walnut, mandarin, rocket and micro green salad with balsamic dressing paired beautifully with marinated baked cauliflower from the main menu. We were impressed with the team’s willingness and ability to adapt dishes for vegans which made for an enjoyable and stress free dining experience.

anantara desaru vegan lunch
anantara desaru pomelo salad
anantara desaru pad thai
anantara desaru baked cauliflower

Vegan Dining at Sea.Fire.Salt

We also dined at Sea. Fire. Salt which has limited vegetarian options but once again Chef Eddy and his team created a bespoke vegan dinner that left us smiling. We started with a selection from the main menu with the three vegetarian options being veganised for us. Our ‘Edible Garden’ was a selection of spring vegetables on a smooth potato mash with herb infused olive oil. The ‘Eggplant Croquette’ was topped with wilted spinach and leaks and served on top of a tomato and bell pepper ragu. The ‘Wild Mushroom Risotto’ was seasoned perfectly and certainly didn’t miss the dairy that would have been present in the vegetarian option. Each of these dishes were very good and we’d happily order each of them again. Chef Eddy and his team then prepared a selection of other plant based delights including an inspired dish comprising grilled jack fruit skewers and mango salsa that we both loved, a protein packed kidney bean curry and grilled veggies served on a block of Himalayan sea salt. There were other options available from the vegan menu which is available on request but we were more than satisfied with the dishes that we sampled and enjoyed our plant based experience at Sea.Fire.Salt very much.

Anantara Desaru vegan dinner
Anantara Desaru vegan risotto
Anantara Desaru vegan jackfruit
Anantara Desaru vegan veggies

The Vegan Essentials

Guests have two pools to choose from, a well equipped 24 hour gym and a programme of daily activities. We joined the early morning Yoga by the Beach session which was the perfect start to our day and we also planned to join the daily nature walk but time got away from us. Our visit to the Anantara Spa was an absolute highlight of our stay and a wonderful way to spend our final morning before checking out. The spa itself was an oasis of calm and our massage experiences were everything we had hoped for, leaving us relaxed before departure. Sustainability is an important part of the Anantara brand and we were pleased to see refillable bathroom amenities, glass water bottles and other eco friendly initiatives in use throughout the resort. These included organic produce from their hydroponic and local farm vendor which reduces carbon footprint, food waste which is composted monthly and coffee pods that are recyclable. In addition to this, an ongoing partnership with Jungle Walla and their ReWild Desaru project helps to protect and preserve the local habitat and with wildlife conservation. This excellent initiative is supported by the Dollars for Deeds programme which can be found at all Anantara Hotels & Resorts. The equivalent of $1 is added to guest folios (with their agreement) and used to support local communities and environmental organisations.

Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas - Spa Reception
Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas - Gym
anantara desaru bathroom amenities

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

There is something supremely relaxing about staring out at the ocean from your balcony or lounging next to the pool in your private villa and that is exactly why we loved our recent stays at Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas. Those treasured coastal vistas combined with excellent hospitality and some delicious plant based cuisine meant that we were very much at home and cannot wait to return. Don’t forget to tell them you are vegan and request the vegan menu, also ask for one of the team to assist you at breakfast each day to ensure that you enjoy the full vegan luxury experience!

Vegan Food Quest small banner logo

We were guests of Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views.

Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas
Persiaran Pantai, Desaru Coast, 81930 Bandar Penawar, Johor, Malaysia

Telephone: +60 7 828 0888
Email: desaru@anantara.com
Cost From: £175 / $222 (September 2025)

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