Malacca guide · Where to eat
Places to eat in Malacca, with what to order and how comfortable each is for families and older travellers.
Updated
Malacca's best-known food is Peranakan (Baba-Nyonya) cooking, Hainanese and Hokkien Chinese dishes, chicken rice balls, cendol with gula Melaka, and the Portuguese-Eurasian dishes of the Portuguese Settlement such as baked fish and curry debal. Most of it uses pork, seafood, shrimp paste or egg, and street stalls often share woks and oil. This is not an easy city for strict vegetarian or Jain eating, and we found no restaurant here that we could verify as fully vegetarian under Indian standards.
What we could verify is small. Thong Xin Vegetarian, a weekday lunch buffet stall at Hatten Square, and Enjoy Veggie Cafe at Batu Berendam both cook vegetarian Chinese and Malaysian dishes with marked vegan options, but each uses some egg. BananaBro, an Indian banana-leaf chain at Aeon Bandaraya Melaka, offers a marked vegan rice set on a mixed menu. For Indian meals, look for banana-leaf restaurants near the Little India area and ask for the vegetable set; check whether the gravies are made with meat or fish stock. Jain travellers should carry dry snacks, ask for no onion or garlic at every meal and confirm that with the kitchen, since none of the places we found says it caters to Jain diets. Hotel kitchens can sometimes adapt a plain meal on request.
For sweets and drinks, cendol (shaved ice with coconut milk and palm sugar) is the local treat, and the Jonker Street night market sells kaya waffles and fruit. Always ask about egg and animal fat before you order.
Menus and kitchens change. If you follow a strict diet or have an allergy, confirm with the restaurant before you order.
72 Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2C, Tengkera
A Tengkera shop selling Nyonya kuih such as ondeh ondeh, plus pineapple tarts, a sweet souvenir stop closed on Thursdays.
Lot G52, Ground Floor, Aeon Bandaraya Melaka, 2 Jalan Lagenda, Taman 1 Lagenda
An Indian banana-leaf meal chain with an outlet at Aeon Bandaraya Melaka, with a marked, customisable vegan rice set on a menu that also serves meat.
46 Lorong Hang Jebat, old town
A small dessert shop on Lorong Hang Jebat serving coconut ice cream, coconut shakes and jackfruit coconut ice cream with peanut topping, a few steps from the Jonker Street area.
41 and 43 Jalan Melaka Raya 8, Melaka Raya
A vegetarian Asian cafe on Jalan Melaka Raya 8 serving nasi lemak, spring rolls and rendang with lion's mane mushroom, open daily with a wheelchair-accessible entrance.
18 Jalan Hang Jebat, Jonker Street area
A Jalan Hang Jebat kopitiam serving Melaka's Hainanese chicken rice balls, rice shaped into golf-ball rounds and served with steamed chicken.
Jalan Merbok 1, Kampung Tengah, Batu Berendam
A casual vegetarian cafe at Batu Berendam serving Chinese and Malaysian dishes such as lion's mane mushroom rendang, with a separate vegan menu and a few egg-based dishes.
468 Jalan Hang Jebat, Jonker Street area
A Jalan Hang Jebat shop serving Melaka's chicken rice balls with steamed chicken, assam fish and stir-fried cabbage.
88 Jalan Hang Jebat, Jonker Street
A dessert and noodle shop at 88 Jalan Hang Jebat known for cendol, durian cendol and Nyonya curry laksa.
37 Jalan Hang Lekiu, Kampung Dua
A vegetarian cafe and guesthouse on Jalan Hang Lekiu in Kampung Dua, known for vegan pizza, passion-fruit sorbet and homemade ice cream, with indoor, rooftop and outdoor seating.
Plaza Mahkota, Jalan PM 4, Bandar Hilir
A fully vegetarian, air-conditioned Chinese restaurant at Plaza Mahkota in Bandar Hilir, known for mock duck, pork and chicken dishes, with a clearly marked menu and many vegan options.
12 Jalan KL 3/8, Taman Kota Laksamana, outside the Jonker Street core
A Peranakan restaurant in Taman Kota Laksamana serving Nyonya dishes such as ayam pongteh, curry chicken and kueh pie tee (top hats).
56 and 58 Jalan Laksamana 4, Taman Kota Laksamana
A North Indian tandoori and naan restaurant in Taman Kota Laksamana, open until late, serving tandoori chicken, butter chicken and cheese naan.
14 Jalan Kubu, old town
A small popiah shop at 14 Jalan Kubu serving fresh popiah, a soft wrapper filled to order, open Wednesday to Sunday daytime on a 2017 listing.
41 Lorong Bukit Cina, old town
A long-running satay celup restaurant on Lorong Bukit Cina where you dip skewers into a bubbling peanut-sauce pot, a Melaka specialty that mostly uses meat and seafood.
89 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren Street), Taman Kota Laksamana
A Western cafe on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock serving burgers and craft beer, named by three pages we opened.
Ground floor, Hatten Square, Jalan Merdeka, Bandar Hilir
A small weekday lunch stall at Hatten Square serving Asian vegetable dishes, rice and noodles by weight, with almost all dishes vegan according to a vegan-travel directory.
