Vegan Guide to Melaka

SEPTEMBER 2021: Due to COVID we have been unable to travel for more than 18 months, which means it's been impossible to update our vegan travel guides. Therefore we cannot be sure if the below inclusions are still open, so please contact them directly to check. For up to date information, check out the excellent HappyCow, which you can find via the link at the bottom of this vegan guide.

Published August 2018

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…

Selvam

Selvam
3 Jalan Temenggong
Bandar Hilir
Melaka

Opening Times: 7am-10pm 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 currry. Take a banana leaf, add rice and 3 vegetable curries, popadoms and pour vegetable sambar over the top to to create a vegan feast for just 6MYR which is just £1.10 or $1.50. 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.

Mei Lin Vegetarian

Mei Lin Vegetarian
98 Jalan Melaka Raya 25
Hatten City
Melaka

Opening Times: 10am-3pm and 6pm-9.30pm (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 beteeen the 2 of us with rice.

Vege Good

Vege Good
86 Jalan Laksama Cheng Ho
Melaka

Opening Times: 11am-9.30pm every day

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.

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: 8am-3pm Monday-Saturday

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: 7am-3pm every day and 5.30pm-9pm Monday-Sunday

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.

Veggie Planet

Veggie Planet
43 Jalan Melaka Raya 8
Melaka

Opening Times: 9am-10pm every day

Having visited multiple times during our 6 week visit to Melaka in 2014 we just had to return on this trip and we were not disappointed, the location is slightly out of town for some but don’t let this put you off. Veggie Planet pride themselves on no MSG and no artificial flavours or colourings which is certainly not the norm with this type of cuisine in Malaysia. The food is therefore far healthier than what you may be served from other veggie restaurants. The all vegetarian menu has many vegan options and the staff are able to help with your selection if you are unsure. We had a curry bowl served with brown rice and a side of curry tempe cubes which provided a good accompaniment to the curry.

Tosca

Tosca
DoubleTree Melaka
Jalan Melaka Raya 23
Hatten City
Melaka

Opening Times: 11.30am-11pm every day

There isn’t a traditional Italian restaurant in Melaka so Tosca is a great option for those craving Italian food. Situated poolside on the 13th floor of DoubleTree Melaka it is certainly a very nice spot for lunch (or dinner). We enjoyed spaghetti with tomato sauce, pizza with no cheese and a fresh and tasty salad with asparagus, apple and a citrus marmalade dressing. They have both wheat and egg pasta so make sure to specify when you order…

Seeds Garden Bistro

Seeds Garden Bistro
60 Jalan Tokong
Melaka

Opening Times: 11.30am-3.30pm and 6pm-9pm every day (closed Wednesday)

Marketing itself as a ‘Plant Based Bistro’ and offering a tempe burger on their menu we had to make a trip to Seeds Garden Bistro when we were in Melaka. Sadly, we did not end up eating there as despite the space being very inviting the tempe burger that we craved was not suitable for vegans as the bun has milk in the ingredients. There were plenty of other options that were vegan and the staff were very helpful but we decided to eat elsewhere.

Christina EE Cendol

Christina EE Cendol
8 Jalan Hang Lekir
Melaka

Opening Times: 10am-7pm every day (closed Thursday)

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!

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 (closes at 11am on Sunday)

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 in Melaka and plan to be cooking.

Vegan Friendly Luxury Hotels in Melaka

DoubleTree Melaka

DoubleTree Melaka
Jalan Melaka Raya 23
Hatten City
Melaka

As the newest upmarket hotel in this fast growing city, DoubleTree Melaka offers guests modern and stylish rooms along with a number of dining options. We’ve always been impressed with the vegan food at DoubleTree hotels in Malaysia and have dined at many of their restaurants. We had lunch in Tosca which has a very good poolside location, we enjoyed pizza no cheese, tomato pasta and a salad which were all good but not great. Breakfast in Makan Kitchen was much better with a number of options on the buffet ok for vegans but also because the staff were happy to create something ‘off menu’ upon request. We stayed for 5 nights and each day they would bring a different dish to our table in addition to what was on the breakfast buffet which was appreciated.

Other Vegan Guides to Melaka

Melaka is only small but with the heat it was handy to have many Grab cabs available who were not only reliable but very cheap, here’s our referral sign up for Grab if you haven’t got an account already, we both get a bonus if you use this code: GRABUMVN3431

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.