Vegetarian and Vegan Eats in Bangkok
A visual guide from the Bangkok travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
A yellow banner with red Thai script over a stall means jay, and behind it there is usually a steel tray line of stir-fried morning glory, mock-duck curry and pumpkin in coconut milk, ladled over rice for about the price of a coffee. Jay is strict vegan — no meat, no dairy, no egg, none of the pungent alliums. Mangsawirat is the looser vegetarian version. Between those Chinatown counters and a settled crop of modern plant-based kitchens along Sukhumvit, Bangkok is far easier to eat in without meat than its fish-sauce reputation suggests.
Where to eat
Broccoli Revolution on Sukhumvit 49, a short walk from Thong Lo BTS, is the reliable all-day one — charcoal-black burger buns, green curry bowls, cold-pressed juice. Veganerie built its name on desserts and has branches around Chidlom and lower Sukhumvit. May Veggie Home near Asok does vegan versions of standard Thai menus, including a decent tom yum. Na Aroon, in the garden of Ariyasom Villa off Sukhumvit 1, is the calm dinner option. For street eating, walk Charoen Krung and the lanes off Yaowarat looking for the yellow flags; during the nine-day Vegetarian Festival in autumn, much of Chinatown turns jay at once.
Ordering without accidents
Fish sauce, shrimp paste and dried shrimp are the three that catch people out, and they are in almost everything savoury by default — including som tam and most curry pastes. Two phrases cover it: gin jay for strict vegan, and mai sai nam pla, meaning no fish sauce. Shown on a phone screen in Thai script they work better than spoken. Reliable defaults at a general food stall are pad pak ruam, phat thai ordered jay, and rice with a fried egg where egg is acceptable. Tofu is everywhere and cheap. Mock meats made from wheat gluten are a long-standing Chinese-Thai staple rather than a recent import.