Looking for the best Sanur vegan food? We spent almost a week in this Bali beach town sampling all the vegan eats we could sink our teeth into. Here’s all the food we loved (and some we hated) in Sanur!
What’s in our guide to the best restaurants in Sanur?
1. The 3 Best Sanur Restaurants for Vegans
2. Other Sanur Restaurants Worth Visiting
3. Popular Sanur Restaurants Vegans Might Want to Skip
4. Our Day Tour Suggestions from Sanur
5. Don’t Miss our Other Bali Vegan Guides
If you’re heading to Sanur from Ubud (or even Canggu), prepare to be disappointed in the restaurants. This little beach town on Bali’s less-visited coast just doesn’t live up to its more popular neighbours when it comes to food.
With its flat beach and friendly waters, Sanur tends to attract young families who want a low-cost vacation at a beach resort. These travellers tend to be a little less fussy about food.
But, thanks to the general worldwide trend towards vegan eating, the best restaurants in Sanur offer options for those of us who want delicious plant-based meals.
(Don’t miss: Our guide to finding the best yoga in Sanur) →
We spent five nights in Sanur at the end of our two months in Bali, and though it was a bit of a struggle, we managed to find a few great places to fill our vegan bellies.
If you’re heading to Sanur, read on for…
Your Guide to the Best Vegan Food in Sanur Bali
The 3 Best Sanur Restaurants for Vegans
Malaika Secret Moksha
Jl. Danau Poso No.68, Sanur
Best restaurant in Sanur for vegan cakes
What a nice surprise it was to open the menu at Malaika Secret Moksha only to discover that it is almost all vegan. This is an omnivore restaurant, but they offer a huge selection of plant-based Japanese and Balinese fusion food.
Since it was painfully hot outside, we ate in the bright, indoor, air-conditioned room downstairs. If you go at night or on a cooler day, head upstairs to take advantage of their open-air roof seating. And we do encourage you to go – this might be the best restaurant in Sanur.
We ate:
- Gyoza – Just the right amounts of chewy and flavourful.
- Veggie tempura – Crunchy and satisfying.
- Tempeh sandwich – Thick slices of tempeh between multiple layers of toasted cornbread. Beautifully presented and filling, but a little lacking in flavour.
- Carrot cake – Who can pass up the chance to eat vegan cake? Not us!
(Don’t miss: Our guide to the best restaurants in Uluwatu for vegan and vegetarians and our complete guide to vegan travel) →
Square One
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.51, Sanur
Best restaurant in Sanur for breakfast and coffee
The first morning we went to Square One, a tiny cafe with a few tables inside and a few more out on the edge of Sanur’s main strip, they were out of non-diary milk, which severely limited our options.
(Being out of key ingredients seemed to be a theme with Sanur restaurants and it made us wonder if there’s an unreliable supplier in town.)
Despite this initial setback, we ended up returning to Square One for several meals.
There are lots of vegan options on the menu, especially for breakfast. These included really good smoothie bowls and toast with fancy topping options like almond butter, fruit, and syrup. They also (usually) have soy and various nut milks for your cappuccino and flat whites.
Vegan tip: Make sure to tell them you’re vegan when ordering toast. Otherwise they will fry it in butter.
We ate:
- Mojo Jojo – I admit I ordered this because I liked the name. I was expecting a smoothie bowl but got a cup of chopped mango over chia seed pudding. It was small but very tasty.
- Toast – We had every combo of vegan toast, including the almond butter and avocado toast. Always reliable for breakfast.
- Protein smoothie bowl – I would have been happy to have this every day for breakfast.
- Falafel wrap – Just the right combo of crunchy, oily, and fresh. We ordered this one several times.
Massimo Italian Restaurant
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.228, Sanur
Best restaurant in Sanur for a real Italian feast
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdUqst4B7kp
It used to be true that you just couldn’t find great Italian food in Asia. We thought it had to do with the climate or the water or something. It just wasn’t possible.
These days, a few places are proving that maxim wrong. Massimo Italian Restaurant, run by the friendly Italian Chef Massimo, is one of them.
This cavernous restaurant was packed to bursting on the Saturday night we went. There was at least a half-hour wait for tables and the staff were turning more people away than they were letting in.
If this happens to you – which it probably will since locals told us the restaurant is busy all the time – one solution is order take out. Yeah, our food took awhile, but not as long as it would have taken to get us a table.
It’s totally worth the wait for an authentic slice of Italy, right in Bali. Plus, while you’re waiting for your food, visit the gelato counter and order a cup of vegan gelato!
While there is no special vegan menu at Massimo, any good Italian restaurant has plenty of vegan options. Ask for no cheese on your pizza or order one of the many varieties of pasta with no meat or cheese.
Massimo gets bonus points for having the most friendly and efficient staff we encountered in Bali.
We ate: Pomodoro spaghetti, chick pea pasta soup, bruschetta, pumpkin ravioli with sage butter sauce (yes, we are flawed vegans!), vegan chocolate sorbet. All delicious.
Other Sanur Bali Restaurants Worth Visiting
Genius Cafe
Jl. Kusuma Sari, Sanur
Best beachside cafe in Sanur
Our first night in Sanur, we took a long windy walk along the beach to find Genius Cafe sitting on the edge of the world (more or less). Being right on the “corner” of the coastline, it seemed to be the windiest spot in Sanur, so bring a sweater if you plan to eat here on a cool evening.
The night we went, it was packed with big family groups including lots of kids – so don’t plan a romantic meal here!
But the food, focussing on Mexican and Western dishes, was excellent. Our breakfast a few days later was even better. The menu is clearly marked to show vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy free options. Plus, there are pages and pages of juices, smoothies and other elixirs to sample.
We ate:
- Mexican Bowl and Falafel Bowl – Both were just big salads, but salads done very well, with lots of protein, tasty toppings, and excellent dressing. Also, the veggies were fresh and tasty!
- Smashed Avocado – This dish takes avocado toast to the next level. Add a hash brown for the perfect breakfast.
- Genius Granola – There’s not much better than a house-made chocolate granola. Marked as vegetarian and dairy free on the menu – so doesn’t that make it vegan?
- Iced Chocolate Smoothie – Includes vegan ice cream, cashew milk, and whipped coconut cream, so how could we say no?
Warung Kecil
Jl. Duyung No.1, Sanur
Best Sanur restaurant for budget Indonesia food
There are not many options for budget vegan food in Sanur – so thank goodness for Warung Kecil. This little shop just off Sanur’s main drag serves up authentic Indonesia food to tourists – and plenty of locals, too.
At lunch, they have a great padang (buffet) selection. There are a few meat options but all the rest is vegan or vegetarian. A plate of nasi campur (three dishes, plus rice and vegetable fritters) was only 25K IDR (less than 2 USD)! It made a nice change from all the 100,000+ dinners we ate!
We went back again for dinner one night and ordered off the menu. The food was OK but not as good as the lunch selection had been.
We ate: Nasi campur, including a tempeh dish, two veggie dishes, a vegetable fritter, and rice.
Kokoya Japanese Restaurant
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.178, Sanur
Best Sanur restaurant for a veggie sushi feast
As I mentioned earlier, it seemed to be a trend in Sanur restaurants to run out of key ingredients. Kokoya even has a permanent whiteboard which lists the ingredients that are finished for the day. The first day we went, that included avocado and tofu – the mainstays of vegan sushi – so we went elsewhere.
A few nights later, we managed to have a proper Japanese feast. Kokoya has several menu pages of vegetarian options, most of which are also vegan. While it’s not the best Japanese food we’ve ever had, Kokoya supplied us with a tasty and satisfying meal.
We ate: All the usual things vegans eat in Japanese restaurants, like inari, edamame, soba noodles, vegetable tempura, and avocado rolls.
Gateway of India
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.103, Sanur
Also has locations in Seminyak and Kuta.
Best Sanur restaurant to satisfy your dosa cravings
Stephen is the only person I know who gets dosa cravings. Even my friends from India don’t hanker after a dosa the way he does. Luckily, there are Indian restaurants almost everywhere in the world and many of the ones in Bali serve dosas.
Gateway of India does a decent dosa.
Of course, it didn’t have that amazing crispy straight-off-the-wood-fired-tiffin texture that we enjoyed in Tamil Nadu, but at least the flavour was right. We were impressed with the sambar, too.
Unfortunately, the menu was a little pricey, so that’s all we tried here. There are plenty of vegan-looking options on the menu – but check to see if they use ghee or butter before ordering!
We ate: Masala dosa, which was pretty good and satisfied Stephen’s dosa cravings.
Popular Sanur Restaurants Vegans Might Want to Skip
Bread Basket
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.51, Sanur
Also in Kerobokan and Uluwatu
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnXtoRRAtZk
Right next door to Square One, Bread Basket has a bread counter on one side and a small cafe on the other.
We tried to eat here, we really did. There are no vegan options marked on the menu but they do have a build-your-own-sandwich option.
So we decided to order a bagel sandwich with the “vegetables” option. First, they were out of bagels. Then, we discovered that the vegetables option for the sandwich includes cheese. LOL. That’s when we gave up.
Instead of eating in the restaurant, we bought fresh baked bread at the bread counter. The ciabatta rolls slathered with peanut butter made an excellent vegan breakfast.
We ate: A selection of breads from the bakery counter.
Soul in a Bowl
Jalan Danau Tamblingan No.180, Sanur
Also on the beach at Jl. Pantai Sindhu, Sanur
When we met our friends for drinks at Soul in a Bowl one evening they asked us what was good on the menu.
Unfortunately, we can only tell you what’s not good on the menu. What’s not good on the menu at Soul in a Bowl are the vegan options.
There are only a couple to choose from and the ones we had were disappointing as hell.
Stephen had the Soul Ketoprak, which was like gado gado over rice noodles. According to Stephen:
Somehow, they managed to make peanut sauce bland.
The Soul in a Bowl veggie burger is marked as vegetarian, not vegan. When I asked our waiter what was not vegan about it, he just shrugged, not interested in finding out for us. I ordered it anyway and couldn’t detect the slightest hint of egg or milk. But, the burger was extremely bitter. And mushy.
Total vegetarian burger fail.
We came back for breakfast a few days later only to discover that the smoothie bowls contain honey and yogurt. Plus, they were sold out of smoothie bowls anyway!
Our omnivore friends weren’t at all impressed with their meals either. Soul in a Bowl has a nice modern concept, but at least for us, it’s totally missable.
We ate:
- Soul Ketoprak – Like gado gado over rice vermicelli, with bland, watery peanut sauce.
- The vegetarian burger – A squishy, bitter, burger fail.
Bali Buda
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.95, Sanur
Also has locations in Ubud, Uluwatu and more
Having been to Bali Buda in Ubud a few times, we are not big fans. But, for research purposes (and because we’d really like to like Bali Buda) we tried to check out the Sanur branch a couple of times.
On our first attempt, we biked through the pouring rain for 10 minutes and arriving at the restaurant soaked, discovered that they only take cash. We didn’t have nearly enough for a meal at Bali Buda, so we went around the corner for a budget dinner at Warung Kecil instead.
On our second attempt, we arrived at 12:30pm to be told they were closing for the rest of the day. It was National Day and the staff were going out to celebrate. We love that Bali Buda gave their staff a half-day to celebrate, but it’s also the reason we can’t tell you anything more about their Sanur location.
They do have vegan, raw, and gluten-free options on the menu, so give it a try if you’re in Sanur and let us know what you think.
Our Day Tour Suggestions from Sanur
One-Day Tour to Nusa Penida
(Don’t miss: Here’s what to expect from a Nusa Penida day tour →)
Blue Lagoon Snorkelling Day Trip
Private Bali Day Tour
Don’t Miss Our Other Bali Vegan Guides!
We hope you found this guide to Sanur restaurants helpful. All we ask in return is that you leave us a short comment below to tell us about your trip and what you plan to eat in Sanur. If you discover anything great or disagree with any of our reviews, please comment. Your fellow vegans want to know!
♥ Happy mindful adventures, Jane & Stephen
We’re not going to lie, it takes a LOT of work to create travel guides like this. But it’s easy to help us out! If you book or buy something using one of our personal links in this post, we’ll earn a small fee at no extra cost to you. Of course, we would never recommend anything we didn’t 100% believe in! Huge thanks in advance! –S&J