I have to be honest – our experience as a predominantly plant based family in Kuala Lumpur wasn’t the best. After a month in Bali – one of the best destinations for vegan food – coming to a city where we struggled to find vegan and vegetarian options was a real shock. It was also just something we weren’t prepared for after finding ourselves spoilt for choice in Singapore (and wrongly assuming that KL would be the same).
So in the hopes we can spare any other veggie lovers from facing the same struggles we did, here’s where we ate as a vegan/vegetarian family in Kuala Lumpur!
This place is super hard to find, and you would NEVER just stumble across it if you weren’t specifically looking. It’s in a very local mall, on the 3rd floor (4th floor if you’re American), and tucked away in the back corner. Each floor we went up, the mall appeared to be more and more.. abandoned – it was filled with empty boarded up shops, and the shops that were open were a mix of local travel agencies, printing press’, and clothing alteration spots.
Right as we had convinced ourselves we were on a wild goose chase (or the vegan equivalent), we saw it – MINF VEGAN CAFE. It’s unpretentious, and has a homely feel inside. They had a bunch of teddy bears that kept Gaia very happy for the duration of our meal, and the menu was fantastic. We struggled to chose what to have because everything looked so good! The staff were lovely, and we ended up ordering takeaways from Minf more than once while we were in the city. It was so good. HIGHLY recommend!
Kusa Japanese Vegan Restaurant
After a hot and sweaty walk through KL Eco Forest (the only inner city rainforest IN THE WORLD), we rocked up at Kusa for some lunch before Gaia’s nap. In our typical fashion, we were not prepared for how nice it was, and we were wildly under dressed. I would describe Kusa as accessible fine dining (assessable because of the price point, despite the service and food quality being 5*).
They do a kids plate of sushi, which Gaia was very pleased with, and they have so much to choose from on the menu. Josh ordered the small “all in one” (6 pieces), and we expected 6 ‘normal’ (normal to us) size pieces of sushi. What came out looked beautiful, but very, very small. This is often the way with fine dining, and despite the portion lacking in size, it tasted incredible. I had a fried ramen dish, which was a much more filling portion, and we also shared some fried mushrooms and tofu.
Okay so I’ll start with a disclaimer – this place is not exclusively vegan or vegetarian, they do serve meat, so if that’s not your vibe then check out the places above.
We had read about Tarma in a blog on the best street food spots in the city, and we thought that Iraqi food would be a really nice change. If you know me, you will know I love middle eastern food – I could happily live off hummus and flat bread. This spot is also easy to find, right in the heart of Bukit Bintang, and we were the only (western) tourists in there. We always think its a great sign when a place is packed with locals.
The food was great – I had a cold meze, and Josh ordered a falafel sandwich, and to our pleasant surprise, they brought out freshly made bread and lentil soup as a starter. Gaia was a big fan of the soup which we were also stoked about!
The food court (Signature) at KLCC is also a really great, quick, cheap, option if you are wanting food while you’re out and about in the city. They had a few places with vegan options (although not labeled as vegan), and we always love a food court as we can both go for different things if we want. Josh had Saravanaa Bhavan, which he had previously been to in Auckland, and knew they did a great Masala Dosa, and I went for middle eastern and had a falafel wrap with a side of baba ghanoush and bread.
We got a seat in the food court with views overlooking KLCC Park and the water fountains, and for all our food it was just $20 NZD, which we though was great value (we had a lot!).
This last place is perhaps a bit of a stretch – but they had more vegetarian options than most places we had seen, and they also had a number of options that were vegan friendly (or could be altered). The decor was very cool, they had a swimming pool (I’m not sure if this was for people to use or just decorative?), and they served oat milk. Win, win, win.
We both ordered the veggie stack sandwich, and we got a side or salt and pepper tofu and mushrooms, and the 3 of us all shared everything. It was also really close to our airbnb so it also won convenience points for us personally.
I’m sure that there are so many more places in KL we didn’t discover – only being somewhere for a week isn’t really long enough to find all the hidden gems, but I hope that this can serve as a starting point for others coming to KL, so you don’t get caught out like we did.