Month: January 2020

Chiang Mai: The best vegan restaurants

Chiang Mai, the cool city in the north of Thailand, has become one of the most visited places in Thailand because of its chill and relaxed atmosphere where you can get tons of good food.  When you arrive to Chiang Mai, you won’t help but notice all the signs that points out to vegan and vegetarian restaurants. It’s one of the best cities to visit if you eat a plant based diet. Since I’m a vegetarian (going vegan), I made sure to try as many restaurants as possible. This proved to be more difficult than expected though since there are SO many of them. It’s hard to choose which plant based restaurants to go to, but after doing some research and asking around, I found a few cafés I can highly recommend.  Here are my favorite ones.

GoodSouls Kitchen

It is a bit more on the expensive side, but you won’t find better vegan burgers in Chiang Mai than here. The staff are all very welcoming and friendly, the atmosphere is cozy and it’s located in the old city, which is great if your hostel/hotel is there. If you have some space in your stomach for dessert, don’t miss out on their amazing vegan cakes.

Vegan Heaven

This 100% vegan restaurant is a really good bargaining since the food is both really tasty and inexpensive. One pad thai will cost you 90 baht and the rest of the meals aren’t more expensive than that. The restaurant isn’t as beautifully decorated as GoodSouls Kitchen, but it’s definitely worth a trip here if you want to go to a fully vegan café where you don’t have to break the bank.

Free Bird Café

Free Bird Café is more than just a restaurant, it’s also a social enterprise and all the profit goes to the Thai Freedom House that supports refugees from Burma and Thai Hill tribes, therefore the Burmese influenced food. There’s some Thai dishes as well but don’t forget to try the Burmese salads, they’re delicious. If you don’t have any breakfast plans, swing by here and grab some vegan pancakes.

Bodhi Tree Café

Want to eat hearty vegan food and do yoga? Then you must go to Bodhi Tree Café! They offer yoga classes everyday for 250 baht. Afterwards, have a vegan meal at their cute café. The prices here are inexpensive as well, just like Vegan Heaven, and one meal costs about 100 baht. Their menu consists mostly of Thai food. Take the opportunity to try some local food with a vegan twist to it. It quickly became one of my favorite places because the place felt so welcoming and the staff were really nice.

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Finding the best cafés to work at in Ho Chi Minh

The biggest city of Vietnam might be slightly chaotic, but there’s plenty of cafés to go to if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. If you’re a digital nomad, or just want to find a quiet place to sit down for a cup of coffee, you’ll quickly notice that the city is filled with cufe, bohemian cafés. When I was there, I found a handful of them and I was pleasantly surprised by them all. Here are the best cafés to work at in Ho Chi Minh City.

M2C Café

M2C is a quiet and calm café with good service and, perhaps most importantly, excellent WiFi. They open early every day at 7:30 so you can pop in here for breakfast if you’d like to. They also have an extensive lunch menu. The food here is Vietnamese so you can try out some new dishes. They also have a wide variety of coffee, juices and other interesting things such as coffee with grass jelly. The decor is very European as well and overall the atmosphere is cozy. You’ll want to stay here for a long time with your laptop.

The Workshop Coffee

Perhaps the most famous coffee spot for digital nomads, it’s centrally located and has a rustic decor. The place is large and full of young people who are sitting on their laptops or chatting away with friends. However, if you want to try Vietnamese coffee, this isn’t the place to go to. But if you’re interested in trying coffee from around the world (and some local brews), you’ll find plenty here. The staff will happily help you pick out your coffee as well. Besides coffee, they have food such as sandwiches, burgers, pasta and pastries, for everyone with a sweet tooth.

The Maker

Located in the popular ‘Café Apartment’ building in Ho Chi Minh, it’s one of the best cafés to work in. It can get quite busy during the day, but you just need a pair of headphones to drown out the noise. They offer everything from coffee to western food such as burgers. After you’ve checked out all the boutiques in the building, sit down here and enjoy a cup of cold iced tea.

The Loft

Just as ‘Café Apartment’, it’s located in a building filled with boutiques and cafés. But The Loft is perhaps the best coffee shop to work in due to its cool interior with tiled floors and marble tables. It’s a bit more expensive but definitely worth it since you’ll probably end up staying here for a couple of hours. Yes, everyone who’s a digital nomad is guilty of ordering a cup of coffee and staying at the café for hours. But Vietnam is a cheap country to travel in so even if you spoil yourself and get two(!) coffees, you still won’t break the bank.

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