The Westin Desaru

Location. Location. Location. It’s been said many times before, but when you’re looking for that perfect staycation spot, it’s certainly all about location. The Westin Desaru Coast Resort boasts a prime location, with direct beachfront access, sweeping ocean vistas, just a short commute from either Johor or Singapore, and also not too far from Kuala Lumpur. For us, currently based in Johor, it’s the obvious option for a weekend away and has become our regular ‘go to’ beach escape from everyday life and the busy city, staying multiple times in recent years either on our own, or with visiting family and friends. But this 275 room Marriott International property offers even more than a prime location and first rate amenities, with their super friendly staff team always on hand to ensure your stay is everything you expect it to be and more.

Many of the rooms and suites at Westin Desaru benefit from South China Sea views, which for us is an essential when staying here. If we are staying near the beach, we really want to see the beach! As return guests and Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members, we often benefit from room upgrades and even have our favourite room at Westin Desaru which we request when we stay. We happily ‘waste’ hours on our spacious balcony watching the changing vista of the seemingly never ending ocean and skies. Being next to the ocean really is our happy place. Our 42 square metre King Bed Seaview room is well appointed with a huge and comfortable bed, large flat screen TV, and a stand alone bath tub that is the perfect place to relax and rejuvenate, which is exactly what we did during our stay.

The Vegan Food

Seasonal Tastes is the all day dining restaurant at Westin Desaru, and the breakfast buffet available there is extensive with everything you could want and more. There are veggie and vegan options if you know where to look, with many dishes labelled with allergens and ingredients that you may wish to avoid. But the friendly staff team are always on hand and happy to prepare off menu and vegan versions if requested. So whilst we were enjoying our oat milk decaf lattes, freshly squeezed juices and a generous platter of seasonal fruits, the team prepared a selection of dishes on each day of our stay. So whether you fancy avocado toast, uttapam, idli or masala dosa with curries and chutney or a vegan noodle soup for breakfast, they’ve certainly got you covered here at Seasonal Tastes. Don’t miss out on the fresh salad bar with leaves from BoomGrow and a whole manner of ingredients that can be chosen to create an uber healthy and protein packed start to your day.

We’ve always enjoyed pizza without cheese and spaghetti arrabbiata at Prego, and with a dressed salad on the side it’s always hit the spot. There have also been other dishes on the menu that could easily be adapted to be vegan, meaning that we have always enjoyed dining at Prego. But having stayed at Westin Desaru many times over the last few years, we have become friendly with the team, including the chefs, and have always discussed how vegan options on the menu would be an excellent addition. So when Executive Chef Jaffrey recently invited us to enjoy some of the brand new vegan dishes that are now on the à la carte menu at Prego, we were very excited. Our plant based lunchtime Italian feast included ‘Avocado Pottage’ with cauliflower meunière, ‘Pesto Pizza’ with toasted pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, and balsamic drizzle, and ‘Roasted Beetroot and Grilled Romaine’ with cauliflower purée and fregola pasta, vine tomatoes. Each dish had clearly been created with care and attention, ensuring that vegan guests at Prego, or those who wish to enjoy plant based food, would have an experience equal to other diners. Just when we thought our lunch couldn’t get any better, we were served a beautiful ‘Vegan Tiramisu’ with chocolate soil, coconut ice cream, coffee jelly and an almond tuile. We are so happy that the menu now has these vegan inclusions, and very thankful to the entire team who have worked hard to create these delicious dishes.

We were recently invited to taste the exciting ‘Chef’s Vegan Creations’ at Kedidi, which is the newest restaurant at Westin Desaru. With an al-fresco setting adjacent to the picturesque lagoon pool, it’s a relaxing and chilled setting both during the day for lunch, and for dinner in the evening. But it was the new vegan menu inclusions that we were here to enjoy, and enjoy them we most certainly did. The ‘Creamy Coconut Bisque’ was light and flavoursome, whilst the ‘Charred Eggplant Assam Pedas’ was an excellent plant based interpretation of this sour and spicy Malaysian classic. We always enjoy ‘Mapo Tofu’ and the vegan version at Kedidi was a generously sized portion (as were all of the dishes that we tried) with plenty of tofu and mushrooms that made us smile. But it was the ‘Jackfruit Rendang’ served with coconut rice, crispy shallots and coconut lime foam that was the star of the show. Young jackfruit is an excellent plant based replacement for meat, and its inclusion in this flavour packed dish was simply perfect. We are booked to stay at Westin Desaru with friends who are due to visit soon, and there is no doubt in our mind that we will be enjoying lunch at Kedidi and ordering the ‘Jackfruit Rendang’ again.

The Vegan Essentials

The large glass water bottles which were previously placed in each room have been replaced with an even more eco-friendly alternative since our last stay. Each room at Westin Desaru now boasts a BacFree water filtration system which further reduces the environmental impact. They even have water refill points in the lobby, meaning that guests who travel with their own water bottles (like us) can easily refill with filtered water whenever they need to. Of course, the shampoo, conditioner and shower gel were all in refillable dispensers which are in line with Marriott International sustainability standards. But there was still single use plastic used for some of the other bathroom amenities, which is something we will hopefully change in coming years, as hotels and resorts work hard to continue lessening their impact.

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

As Arnie once said, “I’ll be back”, and that’s an absolute given for us, as we never fail to enjoy our stays at Westin Desaru. We will never get bored of the beautiful beach and ocean views from our balcony, and we will certainly never get bored by the excellent staff team who have always looked after us in each and every stay. And the vegan food at Westin Desaru? Well, now that they have exciting and delicious vegan options on the menus at both Prego and Kedidi, we will never get bored of the vegan food either!

We were guests of The Westin Desaru but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views.

The Westin Desaru
Desaru Coast
Johor
Malaysia

Telephone: +14 07 838 3333
Email: sales.westindesaru@westin.com
Cost From: £200 / $270 (September 2026)