Langkawi was the final spot in our long trip to Asia last summer. We really ended the trip on a high in terms of the beautiful nature we saw. Food-wise, it was quite hard work because there is not a lot of Happy Cow action, meaning that there are few recent reviews and many listings look out of date and labelling on menu looks vague. We did find some great spots and enjoyed some really delicious meals though, so I think a bit of effort paid off.

Pegaga

We visited all-vegan Pegaga three times during our stay in Langkawi and really enjoyed it. It’s quite quiet, and most other guests appeared to be hotel guests at Ambong Ambong, but non hotel guests were welcome too. All three times we visited, the windows were open so you could see the sea and nature. One time we saw some monkeys playing in the trees (they stayed well away from our food).

We had breakfast there twice. There’s quite a few dishes on the menu. The French toast was too blackened for us the first time we had it, but improved on the second visit. It’s a nice thick, soft bread served with purple dragon fruit, toasted almonds, and a pot of maple syrup.

The avocado toast was topped with mushrooms and tomatoes, and felt more like a mushroom toast than an avo one, with a good assortment of mushrooms. The bread was quite good but was a bit soft and could have done with being a bit firmer. It was possibly a bit oily, but still recommended.

The nasi lemak was excellent! The rendang was spicy and fragrant rather than super hot from chillies. The tofu and tempeh were great.

From the lunch/dinner menu we also tried a couple of dishes. The rainforest curry was ok. The sauce of the green curry was good, but the flat rice noodles it was served with did not feel like a good match for us. They were also served on a separate plate and we weren’t quite sure how the dish was intended to be eaten. It was very spicy!

The rendang was both more straightforward and more delicious overall. There was loads of tempeh and that nice fragrant sauce from breakfast. A minor quibble is that the pickled vegetables were too sweet, but that always seemed to be the case on this trip so perhaps that’s just the Malaysian way.

The chocolate smoothies were fantastic, thick and cold and not too sweet.

Service was generally fast and friendly. On one of our visits it was quite busy, and we were given a fruit plate while we waited and more staff were brought in to speed things up.

While in Langkawi, we struggled to find food that we were confident was vegan and would taste good, so this spot is highly recommended.

Fat Cupid

This is a nice restaurant connected to a hotel, but you don’t need to be a hotel guest to dine there. We went for dinner and really enjoyed it.

We shared the spring rolls to start, and found them crispy and tasty. There were two rolls each.

My partner had the lontong and loved it. It was nicely seasoned with lots of good vegetables and tempeh. There were also two bits of crispy bean curd skin which were fun. The only downside is that it used vermicelli noodles, and could have done with a more robust noodle, but that may be personal preference. It was very spicy!

I had the rendang, which was tasty but a bit too spicy for me. There was loads of tempeh in it, which I loved, and some fried tofu on the side that I liked too. There were some vegetables on the side seasoned with sesame oil, they were very enjoyable.

Vegan dishes are clearly labelled on the menu, but note that the laksa is labelled vegan but the description refers to egg noodles, so I’m not sure about that one. We were pretty confident about the other labelling though. Service was friendly and fast, and it was a really pleasant spot for dinner.

The Fat Frog

We went to The Fat Frog for dinner one night – yes, two restaurants in a row with the word “fat” in the title, I’m not sure what’s going on! The website was adamant that you need a reservation so we booked and arrived at an empty restaurant. It did steadily start to fill as we ate but it looked like everyone was a walk-in. The dishes on the menu that can be made vegan are clearly labelled and you have to specify when ordering.

We got some potato puffs to start with, which were essentially little samosas. These were well fried with a good crispy coating. The filling was plentiful but a little bit under seasoned. They came with a mustard dip which I didn’t think really worked, maybe I’m just conditioned to expect a tamarind dip with my samosas.

For mains we both got the mushroom rendang and it was very tasty. It was made of oyster mushroom pieces in a well flavoured and spicy sauce. There was a little pot of seasoned tempeh pieces which tasted good, but I would have preferred a bit of a crispier texture as I have had in other restaurants. The pickles were a disappointment, as always. They mostly just tasted sweet. The spinach on the side was nicely seasoned and not just some limp wilted spinach. The rice was well cooked and it all made for a good sized plate of food.

We both got sticky toffee pudding for dessert, and were positively giddy to see it on the menu. These were nice little cakes with a good texture and flavour. They came with a coconut custard poured over the top. It was a tasty pudding but it wasn’t anything like a sticky toffee pudding, more’s the pity.

This is quite an expensive spot, and for us the quality of the food didn’t really live up to the price. It was an enjoyable meal, but not one that blew us away. The restaurant is located in the grounds of a golf course, so it felt a bit like we were paying for the location rather than the food. But it’s slim pickings for vegans in Langkawi, so if you go in with the right expectations, it’ll be fine.

Nian Cafe

Given the limited options, we were excited to try an all-vegan Japanese restaurant. We came here very hungry at lunchtime one day.

The mushroom kaarage was good meaty chunks of oyster mushroom coated in a crispy and well seasoned batter. They came with a mayo that tasted like it had a bit more of a citrus flavour to it, it made for a good dip and I’m not a particular fan of mayo.

The agedashi tofu came as a couple of big blocks of tofu that were well battered in a light coating. The broth was quite good but it could’ve had a bit of a stronger flavour. It was a tasty plate.

For mains, Dr HH got the Assam sambal fish rice bowl with a miso soup and green tea. The soup was tasty with a few quite big pieces of tofu and some wakame. Smaller pieces of tofu might be better, but that’s just a minor complaint. The tea was fine and free refills were included.

The main topping in the bowl was excellent. The fish was well seasoned and had a decent fishy taste and texture. The coating was good and crispy.

I got the mushroom tempura rice bowl (with the miso soup and green tea, too). The tempura mushrooms were enoki mushrooms and they were well coated and seasoned as well as drizzled with more of the mayo from the starter.

The rice for both of us wasn’t sticky short grain as I’d usually expect from a Japanese bowl, so it was a bit tricky to eat with chopsticks but I have no issues with the taste of a different rice. There was a bit of a dressing over the rice which had a strong taste of keffir lime leaves, it was just enough to stop the rice being boring. Both of our bowls were also topped with some vegetables, these were a bit dull. There wasn’t any flavour or seasoning on them and the bowl would have benefited from having some pickles rather than just plain vegetables.

A few of the smaller details weren’t quite there for us, but the main elements of all the dishes were fantastic, and I definitely recommend this spot. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to be close to anything of interest (for us, at least), so it might be a bit of a mission to get there – but worth it for a good vegan meal!

Activities in Langkawi

We organised a few tours in Langkawi, starting with a mangrove cruise. The mangroves here are a UNESCO site, and it was really interesting to learn about them and the wildlife in this area as we sailed around. There was some spectacular scenery. The majority of mangrove cruises feature a feeding session where the boat staff throw meat overboard to attract birds of prey – this is terrible for the birds, as you can imagine, so definitely look around for one of the providers that does not engage in this practice. Some also stop at fish farms, so make sure to steer clear of those as well.

We also took a rainforest after dark tour, which didn’t yield much wildlife for us unfortunately – but that’s the risk you take unless you have a dodgy guide who will use meat to lure the animals to you. We did see a couple of interesting birds and lots of monkeys, and really enjoyed the spectacular view from the top of the hill.

The highlight for us was a birdspotting tour, in which we saw over forty different types of birds in one morning! It was fantastic. We were driven to a few different locations and just wandered around with our binoculars looking out for different birds. We saw several different types of kingfishers, which kept us very happy indeed!

And of course, one of the main attractions in Langkawi is the beach! We are not really beach goers, and there was a lot of rain during our stay, but it was still nice to have a little paddle in the sea.