Sam's Top Vegan spots in Bangkok

My picks!

Chamlong's Asoke Vegetarian Restaurant (The official name, being "The Vegetarian Society of Thailand) is an open-air dining hall tucked away behind ตึกแดงวินเทจ จตุจักร (a shopping mall), and you won't find it advertised publicly. It's a favorite of locals and vegetarian Buddhists. The establishment is run by Santi Asoke, a Buddhist sect dedicated to minimalism, anti-consumerism, self-sufficiency and a life of simplicity. Asokians typically keep their hair short, prefer to roam barefoot and partake of a single daily vegetarian meal.

A map showing where Chamlong's is in relation to nearby landmarks.

Chamlong's opens at 6:00 or 8:00 AM, and begins closing down around 1:30 PM, with technical operating hours listed until 2:00 PM, Tuesday through Sunday. Like many food courts in Thailand, Chamlong’s Asoke runs on a coupon system, with coupons available for purchase in front of the shop inside and to the right of the dining hall. Don't worry: You can return any unused vouchers for your money back before you leave if your eyes happen to be larger than your stomach. A solid recommendation from me to you, free of charge, would be to perhaps start with ฿ 100 - 200 THB (Thai baht, the currency of Thailand) worth of coupons per person and return for more should your hunger pangs be unassuaged.

What the coupons you will purchase look like.

The remarkably low prices are influenced by Santi Soke's principles of Bunniyom (or meritism), with an emphasis on selling goods below market value to earn merit over profit. The delectable array of dishes owes its magnificence to the freshly harvested seasonal fruits and vegetables sourced from a well-knit tapestry of organic farms. Adjacently, a cadre of volunteers takes on the noble task of managing the wholesome provisions emporium in proximity to the dining hall.

Here are the GPS coordinates: 13°47'57.5"N 100°32'49.3"E for the hole in the fence you have to go through to get to Chamlong's.

Water is free and readily available. Don't worry, it's safe to drink. I tried it many-a-time with no ill effects.

Another feature you will find in many open food courts is a crockpot filled with hot water beside the utensils, provided as a sort of cleaning service if you’re less than confident with the sanitation of the fork which has seen thousands of other mouths prior to being shoved in your faceplace.

There are also several buckets for dirtied plates and cups, excess food scraps and used cutlery when you've finished.

The entire complex is closed on Mondays, and you may find, on occasion, long breaks are taken at mystery times. Try to get there relatively early on a weekend before or during, but never after a trip to Chatuchak Weekend Market; by the time you've finished wandering through all the vendors, Chamlong will be closed. Once you enter that market, it will swallow you whole.

Pictures of the dining hall inside Chamlong's.

The restaurant is set up with ten-or-so stalls, each serving their own distinct Thai vegan and vegetarian dishes, from vegan pad thai, fresh spring rolls, various mock meat dishes, rice, papaya salad, noodle soups, steamed buns, grilled vegetables, fresh fruits and oh-so-much more. There’s a lot to choose from. Try a few dishes and go back for seconds should you feel so inclined.

A walkthrough of some of the delectable offerings to choose from at Chamlong's.

Some of my favorite dishes from Chamlong's.

When you start seeing these drop-cloths being put up over the glass display cases of food, things are closing up. Hasten the speed at which you're dining.

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The entrance to Rasayana from the street.

Rasayana is a health retreat center with a lovely and unassuming raw vegan restaurant--in my opinion, the very best in Bangkok. Since the days of discovering Freelee the Banana Girl (Leanne Ratcliffe) and Durian Rider (Harley Johnstone) on YouTube in the early 2000s, I had fantasized about one day making a pilgrimage to this place and sampling their vegan fair. I was not disappointed!

The dining area of Rasayana.

Another vantage point from inside Rasayana.

In their natural state, plant foods provide a rich abundance of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Rasayana's raw food cuisine consists solely of unheated fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Each menu item is unprocessed and unpasteurized, and the cafe employs organic ingredients whenever available. The facility exclusively uses cold-pressed oils and purifies their water through Reverse Osmosis, a process which cleans by forcing it through a special filter. Imagine this filter as a super fine net with really tiny holes. When dirty water is pushed through this net, only the tiniest and cleanest water molecules can pass through the holes, leaving behind impurities like dirt, chemicals, minerals, and even some tiny bacteria and viruses. Needless to say, the water is very clean, safe to drink and tastes leagues better than tap water. Even the care with which they attend to juicing is a testament to their commitment to health and wellbeing, with each juice being meticulously crafted with a low-heat, masticating juicer to preserve nutrients without excessive oxygenation.

Scroll through the above images to glance through Rasayana's menu.

At Rasayana, I found myself transported to an epicurean realm where the orchestra of nature's bounty played in harmonious crescendo, guided by the maestro of the kitchen. Below are a few delectable selections I enjoyed very much during my time there.

Spirulina cacao smoothie from Rasayana.

A fantastically fresh raw vegetable spring roll with rolled cabbage leaves stuffed with savory nuts, topped with homemade sweet and sour sauce.

Vegan banoffee pie, with layered fresh bananas from Rasayna.

And unlike the lethargy which comes after a typical hearty meal is downed, leaving Rasayana, I felt positively energized and vibrant, bounding with vim and vigor!

Energized!

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Mango was a marvelous discovery made by my husband. Walking hand-in-hand, he pointed at this resplendent image of a cat on a building's edifice. My eyes expanded as if I had uncovered a cryptic riddle. The marketing ploy had ensnared me with the precision of one of Sherlock Holmes' masterful deductions. Cats, you see, are the unquestioned overlords of the animal kingdom, their supremacy unchallenged. It was elementary; I simply had to venture inside and unlock the mysteries of this feline-inspired establishment.

Mango Vegan / Vegetarian Restaurant.

Inside, you can see Mango is a popular dining location.

Mango's eclectic menu spans horizons uncharted; its cuisine a symphony of inventive flavors, masterfully presented, a tantalizing journey for the palate like none I've ever traversed before. An absolutely exquisite dining experience.

And did I mention there are cats inside?!?

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Veganerie has about five locations throughout Bangkok and boasts over 150 vegan recipes! Menu offerings, I must confess, tend to tread the path of extravagance, but the food is so dang good!

If you want a smoothie bowl, burgers, wraps, pizzas, lasagna, pastas, tacos, toasts, salads, fries, spring rolls, healthy soups, a vegan grilled cheese sandwich, curries, traditional Thai dishes veganized, rice bowls and noodles, ice creams, sorbets, waffles, pancakes, sundaes, brownies, cakes, milkshakes, smoothies, cookies, cinnamon rolls, scones, energy balls...you will find that which you seek at Veganerie.

Veganerie Berry Twist Sundae.

This sundae was the main course. Chocolate decadence, soft, pillowy dairy-free whipped cream, slivers of nut and the vibrancy of those berries!

And for dessert...

Vegan chocolate mousse pie.

Scroll through Veganerie's very lovely and well-laid-out menu above or click the link below to download their robust menu and salivate through each of the 31 pages in a more viewer-friendly PDF format.

Veganerie's Menu

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Download • 11.64MB

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The Banana Warrior Cafe is worthy of mention, with an assortment of beautiful fully raw desserts.

All of their products are completely vegan and organic wherever possible, with locally sourced ingredients. Only natural sweeteners like bananas, dates and coconut flower nectar are used to achieve these incredible flavor profiles. And no vegetable oils, refined or overly processed ingredients or plastics are used at all! Additionally, many dishes are gluten-free or can be made gluten-free upon request.

This is a wonderful place you should definitely check out if you have the time.

A visual sampling from The Banana Warrior Cafe's Instagram feed.

The ethos, the mission, the purpose of The Banana Warriors.

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Mango sticky rice and coconut ice cream at Chatuchak Market are not to be missed!

Khao Niaow Ma Muang--or mango sticky rice as it's more commonly referred to by English-speakers, is an irresistible and inadvertently vegan street food, popular in Thailand. This traditional dessert is made with a few simple ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup of Thai sweet rice (AKA sticky rice)

• 1.5 Cups of water

• 1 (13.5-ounce) Can of coconut milk

• 1/4 Teaspoon of salt

• 5 Tablespoons of brown sugar (or more, if you're me)

• 1 or 2 Ripe mangoes

One of my favorite colorful mango sticky rice stalls in Chatuchak.

Behold, below is a visual masterpiece capturing my inaugural taste of mango sticky rice topped with sweet coconut milk and coconut ice cream. A culinary symphony, each bite a crescendo of flavors. It was as if the heavens had descended to deliver this ambrosial delight. Mango and rice entwined in a sweet embrace, while coconut ice cream, like a siren, beckoned my taste buds to an exotic paradise. Alas, love at first bite may be a cliché, but in this case, it was a dramatic saga of taste, texture, and tropical temptation!

Feast your eyes on this: Vegan coconut ice cream with mango sticky rice and a vibrant pink orchid from Chatuchak Market.

Scroll through the above slide gallery to witness the extent of my addiction..

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Potato Boss with a refreshing tea from Chapayom are a perfectly acceptable meal combination while on the go or passing the time while beating the heat inside Union Mall if you're around the Lat Phrao junction.

Fry dinner with a nice tea from Chapayom.

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Not a top pick, but I did eat here twice, and you ought to be informed.

So Vegan! is a decent restaurant, as far as mall restaurants go. Everything is, of course fully vegan, cheap, fast and will get the job done if you happen to be nearby or at your wit's end with decision fatigue and enjoy things fried in cauldrons of oil. While I am not one of those people, I can appreciate the wide range of inventive menu offerings, as well as a helpful picture menu.

Scroll through the menu above to get an idea of the cornucopia of So Vegan!'s offerings.

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Look at how realistically on point So Vegan!'s vegan chickenless dish is. Then again, I suppose if you fry anything enough, it all looks about just the same in the end.

Scroll through the above gallery slides to enjoy the views of these oily, and mostly beige dishes from So Vegan!