Vegetarian and Jain Food in Bangkok

Bangkok is easier for vegetarians than its reputation suggests, but it takes a little knowledge. The challenge isn't meat you can see — it's fish sauce, shrimp paste and oyster sauce, which go into a huge range of dishes, including ones that look meat-free. For Jain travellers there's a further step: most vegetarian food in Thailand still contains root vegetables.

This guide explains how to eat well as a vegetarian, vegan or Jain traveller, and where to go when you want food you can trust completely.

The short version

The three words that matter

• Jay (เจ): Buddhist-style vegan food, with no meat, fish, eggs, dairy, garlic or onion. Look for yellow flags or signs with red Thai lettering. It's the most reliable label in Thailand, and during the Vegetarian Festival in autumn it's everywhere.
• Mangsawirat (มังสวิรัติ): vegetarian in a looser sense. It may include eggs, dairy, garlic and onion.
• Mai sai… (ไม่ใส่…): "don't add…". Useful phrases:
• mai sai neua sat — no meat
• mai sai nam pla — no fish sauce
• mai sai kapi — no shrimp paste
• mai sai nam man hoy — no oyster sauce
• mai sai khai — no egg

Phrases help, but busy street cooks use pre-made pastes and stocks, so a request isn't a guarantee. If it matters to you, eat at a jay or dedicated vegetarian place.

Eating Jain in Bangkok

Jain diets exclude root vegetables — potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, ginger and others — as well as meat, fish and eggs. That rules out much ordinary vegetarian food, and jay food isn't automatically Jain either: it avoids onion and garlic but often uses potato, taro, carrot and ginger.

• Pure-vegetarian Indian restaurants are the most reliable choice. Several in the Sukhumvit area say they prepare Jain meals on request; recent guides name Saras and Vrindavan among them. Call ahead to confirm, as menus and opening hours change.
• Say "Jain" and explain it. Staff at Indian restaurants will usually understand the word; at Thai places, list what you don't eat.
• Breakfast and snacks: fresh fruit from markets and stalls is the simplest Jain-friendly food in the city.
• Carry a note in Thai listing the ingredients you avoid, if you'll eat outside Indian restaurants.

Where to eat

Indian vegetarian restaurants

Bangkok has a large Indian community and a long list of Indian restaurants, concentrated in two areas:

• Sukhumvit — especially around the lower sois near Nana and Asok, where many Indian restaurants cater for visitors. Recent guides list long-running pure-vegetarian places such as Saras, Dosa King and Govinda (vegan). See Sukhumvit.
• Pahurat (Little India) — beside Chinatown, with simple Indian canteens, sweet shops and snack stalls serving the local Indian and Sikh community.

We don't rank these restaurants because we haven't independently reviewed them. Check recent listings and opening hours before you go.

Thai jay food

Plenty of Thai dishes have jay versions — stir-fries with mock meat or tofu, curries made without shrimp paste, clear noodle soups. Look for the yellow flags, especially in the Old Town and Chinatown. Jay restaurants often serve rice with a choice of ready-made dishes from trays: point to what you want.

Food courts and malls

Mall food courts (Siam Paragon, MBK, Terminal 21, ICONSIAM and others) usually have at least one vegetarian or Indian counter, and dishes are labelled. They're the easiest option between sights. See Bangkok on a budget for how food courts work.

Street food

Possible, but harder. Fruit, sticky rice, roti and some desserts are naturally vegetarian. For savoury dishes, see the dietary section of Bangkok street food.

Shared woks and cross-contamination

At most street stalls and ordinary restaurants, the same wok, ladle and frying oil are used for everything, and stocks are often meat- or fish-based. For most vegetarians that's an acceptable compromise. If it isn't for you — or if you're Jain or have a serious allergy — eat at dedicated jay, vegetarian or pure-vegetarian Indian kitchens, where the whole kitchen follows the rules.

Learn to cook it yourself

Many Bangkok cooking schools will adapt their menus for vegetarians on request, swapping fish sauce for soy sauce and meat for tofu or mushrooms. Ask before you book whether the curry pastes are made without shrimp paste, and whether Jain requirements can be met. See Thai cooking classes in Bangkok.

Dishes to look for

• Pad pak ruam — stir-fried mixed vegetables (ask for no oyster sauce).
• Tofu or mock-meat pad kra pao at jay places.
• Vegetable green or red curry at jay places (ordinary curry pastes contain shrimp paste).
• Som tam jay — papaya salad made without fish sauce or dried shrimp.
• Mango sticky rice in season, roughly March to May.
• Roti with banana or condensed milk from street carts (cooked with egg unless you ask).

• Bangkok Food GuideBangkok rewards curiosity more than reservations. This is the overview: what to eat, how ordering works, and which part of the city to go to for which kind of meal.
• Bangkok Street FoodBangkok's street food is concentrated in particular streets at particular times. Knowing where and when matters more than any list of stalls, which change constantly.