How to find vegan food at any restaurant
2026-09-26 · 5 min read
Most restaurants don't have a vegan menu — but most kitchens can make you something good if you know what to ask. Here's how to eat well without guessing.
Check the menu before you go
Look for dishes that are already plant-based rather than items that need several ingredients removed. A dish built around vegetables, beans or tofu will almost always taste better than a meat dish with the meat left out.
On DishVote, dishes tagged vegan show a small badge on each restaurant's leaderboard, so you can see which plant-based plates diners actually rate.
Ingredients that hide in 'vegetable' dishes
Plenty of dishes that look vegan aren't. These are the usual suspects worth asking about:
- Fish sauce and shrimp paste in Thai, Vietnamese and Korean cooking
- Butter or ghee used to finish rice, vegetables and curries
- Chicken or beef stock in soups, risottos and sauces
- Egg in fresh pasta, noodles, batters and some breads
- Honey in dressings and glazes
- Parmesan and other cheeses sprinkled on salads and pastas
What to say to your server
Say 'vegan' rather than 'vegetarian' and name what that means: no meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey. Then ask one direct question — 'Which dishes can the kitchen make vegan without losing flavor?' Servers usually know the one or two plates that work.
Cuisines where vegan is easiest
Some cuisines have plant-based staples baked in. Indian (dal, chana masala, aloo gobi — ask for oil instead of ghee), Levantine and Middle Eastern (hummus, falafel, mujadara), Ethiopian (lentil and vegetable wats with injera), Moroccan (vegetable tagines and couscous) and Vietnamese (tofu dishes and fresh rolls, without fish sauce) are all reliable choices.
Use votes, not just labels
A 'vegan' label tells you a dish is plant-based, not that it's good. Community votes show which vegan dishes people would order again. Browse the rankings below to see the highest-voted plant-based dishes in each city.