Vegan Eats Ubud

If you read my last blog post you're probably already dreaming of a trip to Ubud and this post might just push you over the edge. The food in Ubud is excellent and even I managed to find enough to eat - no mean feat in a country where everyone loves chilli. One of the spots that Nick and I ended up visiting the most was Alchemy. It was located around 10 minutes from our gorgeous Penestenan Airbnb (seriously if you haven't already check out my previous post!) and we headed there for breakfast most days. They have a smoothie bowl bar which I was deeply suspicious of because I don't even enjoy smoothies let alone pretending that they're a meal. It turns out that smoothie bowls are actually amazing though! Who knew?!

The options were different every single day and you could mix and match your smoothie, fruit, and topping options to mix things up and keep breakfast exciting. My favourite days were the ones when they had strawberries in the fruit section and blueberry or turmeric whipped coconut cream in the topping area. I always went for chocolate granola because it's the best and I was wild about the bright purple dragonfruit soursop smoothie.

These gorgeous bowls were the perfect start to the day especially when they were paired with a glass of cashew milk cold brew. I'll be honest though, I wouldn't eat here for any other meal. Their menu after breakfast is 100% raw / salad bar based and that's basically my very least favourite way to eat. Raw foods don't jive well with my stomach! Alchemy Cafe also have a honey problem. They insist that their food is 100% vegan but when asked they also say that they use honey. Thankfully they can tell you which dishes and items have it but it's definitely annoying. Words have meanings and calling something vegan when it isn't just confuses things for real vegans who are out there trying to avoid all animal products. If you can't quit honey just use another word like beegan or almost vegan or even plain old dairy and egg free vegetarian.

Somewhere that did recently drop honey from their menu entirely is Earth Cafe. They're now vegan and their huge menu was full of things that I wanted to eat no matter my mood; from seitan steak and chips to brown rice maki filled with veggies and tempeh, they have something for everyone.

Nick ordered the spaghetti and meatballs one day and got this huge plate of pasta whilst I chose to dine on the tofu omelette. This was probably the only dish I was a little disappointed by. I enjoyed it, it was a delicious and simple plate of food, but an omelette this was not!

The service at Earth Cafe was great, they were so amazing with my allergies and a surprising amount of the menu was actually chilli, bell pepper, and paprika free which is not something that often happened in Bali. In fact on one memorable evening we tried to eat at one of the cheaper local vegan warungs and after trying to explain and eventually showing the owner my little homemade allergy card she just looked horrified and told me to try Alchemy instead! I totally understand, small restaurants in Indonesia often cook one meal a day and everyone gets the same thing, but I was definitely bummed to miss out on this side of the local dining scene. Nasi goring was something that I was excited to try in Indonesia and this chilli free version from Earth Cafe was a delight.

Brown rice, tempeh, edamame, and pickles with a dressing of sesame oil, tamari, and ginger made this an unusual and healthy version of the dish but it was just right. The other cool thing about Earth Cafe is that you can order take out over the phone or via WhatsApp. Nothing we ordered arrived at our Penestenan Airbnb in a particularly photogenic state but it was all delicious and getting to spend the whole day chilling by our private pool whilst someone brought food to us was a real treat. I also ate a lot of their power balls which were filled with crispy rice and dried fruits and covered in chocolate. They only cost 19000 / £1 / $1.40 which is a bargain for these perfect bites which made a great pre-yoga or post run snack.

Sage is my final recommendation and it's somewhere that you need to put on your must-eat list if you're heading to Ubud. It's a little out of the way, south of the Monkey forest and definitely a cab ride from Penestenan unless you're feeling very energetic. The menu leans heavily towards Mexican food so there were limited choices for me but I ate the best tempeh sandwich of my life there.

The bread was so amazing and there was so much tempeh on there. They even realised partway through putting my plate together that the side salad contained capsicum so they quickly whipped up a different salad for me. I'm always so appreciative when people notice the little things, since being diagnosed with allergies I've had to get used to not being able to eat the dip that comes with my summer rolls or having to skip my sides because nobody thought to check them. Nick went wild with the small plates and ordered a whole bunch of seriously gorgeous looking dishes.

I couldn't try any of this but doesn't it all look amazing? The tempeh wings especially looked fantastic, as did the corn cakes and Nick said that he loved the empanada type things. I'd heard really great things about Sage's coconut cake so we couldn't skip dessert even though we were already verging on too full. 

I thought that the coconut cake was very good and I would definitely have ordered it again if I'd had the chance. I preferred it to Nick's chocolate cake but he definitely disagrees! Ubud has a couple of other vegan dessert spots, Kokolato is a 100% vegan and raw ice cream spot that makes an decent coconut coffee sorbet and Tukies is a coconut focussed spot on the main drag which makes an uh-mazing mango coconut ice cream float with the creamiest homemade coconut ice cream.

Did reading this make you want to book a flight to Bali? Have you been to Ubud already? What were your favourite vegan eateries?