Being a tourist can be terrifying, even in a quaint coastal town like Bournemouth.
How’s a vegan supposed to find places to eat? It’s not as though most eateries are accommodating.
This list is here to help any vegan Bournemouth tourist find a restaurant in the resort town of Dorset.
For a vegan or vegetarian restaurant in Bournemouth, consider:
- Plant Hustler (previously Dirty Vegans)
- Mad Cucumber
- Pause Cat Cafe
- Ludo Lounge
- Pizza Co
- Ojo Rojo
- Slug and Lettuce
- The Neptune
- The Real Greek
- Turtle Bay
- Urban Beach Hotel
We also have a nice selection of vegan places in Newcastle, if you pass by this city one day!
And if you sometimes feel more like cooking at home, you can check our favorite vegan supermarkets in the UK, like ASDA and its great selection of products !
#1. Plant Hustler (previously Dirty Vegans)
Specialty: Everything vegan !
Vegan food doesn’t have to be a healthy option! Who wants to be healthy on holiday, anyway?
You deserve to let loose and relax and be a dirty vegan.
Dirty Vegans serves pure fast food, burgers, chips, and hotdogs, with decadent ice cream for dessert.
Eat in, or grab a takeaway and do whatever you want. It’s an inexpensive place with highly-praised food and highly-praised staff.
The praise comes from vegans and meat-eaters alike!
You can check the menu right here.
#2. Mad Cucumber
Specialty: Everything vegan !
Not in the mood to let loose and devour fast food? No problem. Mad Cucumber’s menu is more organic and based around healthy, vegetable-based ingredients.
It’s a quirky lounge, equipped with a smoothie bar, and all food and beverages are made from scratch using locally sourced ingredients.
But you won’t only find uber-healthy fruit-filled smoothies.
You can also kick back with a vegan dessert and hot drink, or you can order a cake from Mad Cucumber for an occasion outside of a visit to the location!
Outside of cakes, the lounge’s menu includes everything from marinated tofu to enchiladas.
For those of you who enjoy Greek food, there’s some Moussaka on the menu, an excellent comfort food.
If you’re more traditionally British and like a roast dinner on Sundays, then stop in for the nut roast with vegetables and gravy.
Mad Cucumber is a mixed bag of goodies that you won’t traditionally see on a menu together, but somehow it works. You can check the menu right here.
#3. Pause Cat Cafe
Specialty: Cafe / Pastries
Stepping out of the lounge environment, we come to a vegan cafe Bournemouth is hiding in its depths.
But this is far more than a regular cafe.
This is a cat cafe.
As you take your pick of falafel and chickpea burgers and browse the raw desserts, you get to bathe in the luxury of many cute cats. The cats are also available to sponsor.
This cafe has one downside, though. You have to book your visit in advance.
So if you want to try it out, make sure your trip to Bournemouth coincides with a day you can get into Pause Cat Cafe!
Once you get in, you never know exactly what the menu will hold. The two examples above are just a segment of the rotating menu, which often changes daily.
It will always be vegetarian and often heavily vegan. The dessert menu is the main non-vegan culprit. There’s even a children’s menu with vegan cheese options!
Other treats you may find there are:
- Scones with jam and coconut cream.
- Vegan mac and cheese.
- Smashed avocado with black pepper, limes, and olives.
#4. Ludo Lounge
Specialty: British cuisine
For a lounge with all the charm of every possible eatery combined, consider Ludo Lounge, the best vegan restaurant Westbourne has to offer.
It has a bar area, small cosy tables resembling a casual cafe, and some slightly fancier looking tables that are most restaurant-like.
But luckily, you don’t need a reservation to go. As the website says, “just come on down!” And if they don’t have a table available, don’t worry.
You can wait or take your food to-go!
They serve all meals all day, and there’s something for everyone on the menu. There’s a specific gluten-free menu, and one for vegans too.
You can even fish around on the lounge’s website and exclude certain ingredients from your search.
Find a dish you know you’ll like so you can walk in knowing your order in advance; this search applies to every menu, the vegan one included!
Over on the vegan menu, there are all your favourite typical vegan foods like avocado toast.
But there’s also vegan bacon for a vegan butty, a vegan beyond cheeseburger, vegan BLT, and even vegan carrot cake.
If you’re a vegan who does it for ethical reasons but misses the world of meat and cheese, definitely check this place out.
Health-conscious vegans need not fear either, indulge in roasted sweet potato burritos and fruity flapjacks!
Take a look at the menu :
#5. Pizza Co
Specialty: Pizza
Let’s step away from regular dishes and go for something special—vegan pizza Bournemouth style. It really does reminds us Green's Pizza in Belfast - you can check our favorite vegan adresses there as well.
Although several locations offer vegan pizza, including a few Italian restaurants, the best pizza has to come from a specialist.
Eat in, order takeaway, pick it up, or have it delivered. Whatever you do, the experience will be incredible. The restaurant is beautiful if you decide to eat in, dignified with knives and forks and everything. There’s even wine! (And beer, and cider, but that’s not as fancy.)
Of all the pizza options available, half have vegan options, and one is completely vegan.
There are more vegetable toppings than meat ones, and there’s also goat cheese for your vegetarian or meat-eater friends who don’t do cow-milk products.
All pizzas are made fresh to order, at a very reasonable price. Alongside that, you can purchase a dip—vegan garlic mayo!—and a dessert.
All but one of the five desserts have vegan options.
The starters are all vegan, too, except for one which has a vegan option alongside the meaty one.
As far as vegan restaurants go, this is one of the most in-tune and inclusive out there. The fact that it’s a pizza place makes it even better. You can check the menu right here.
#6. Ojo Rojo
Specialty: Mexican cuisine
If you want to explore Mexican cuisine, take a look at Ojo Rojo. The name may be accurate—some of the food may be spicy and make your eyes red.
The food inspired by Mexican street food has a mixture of vegan and non-vegan stuff.
Unfortunately, none of the tacos are vegan, nor are the platos.
Luckily the restaurant does vegan nachos and several vegan desserts, including a brownie.
Two out of three sides available in the restaurant are vegan, and the third has a vegan option available.
So if you have a taste for Mexican street food spiciness and chocolatey delight, stop in for a quick treat and maybe some sweet potato fries but without the chipotle mayo.
You can check the menu right here.
#7. Slug and Lettuce
Specialty: Pub food
In the mood for something trendy ? Consider Slug and Lettuce.
It’s a pub and restaurant chain, with plenty of vegan options on the menu. You’ll find meals such as:
- Quinoa chilli.
- Falafel wraps.
- Sloppy Joe tostada.
- Vegan nachos.
- Beetroot tart.
- Smokin’ BBQ soya.
- Vegan mac ‘n’ cheese.
And there’s much more than that on the mixed menu. All vegan options are marked with a (VG.) Vegetarian options have a (V) marker.
It’s very much all pub food, perfect for a casual night out with friends and drinks accompanying your meal.
So if that’s your scene, consider this a viable restaurant to visit during your stay in Bournemouth.
You can check the menu by clicking here.
#8. The Neptune
Specialty: Grill food
Being a coastal town, one would assume there’d be a nice little coastal restaurant to visit?
There is. It’s called The Neptune!
It’s a sweet spot to stop off in if you’ve taken your family to the nearby Coaster Activity Park or the Boscombe Chine Gardens.
Families and friends, meat-eaters and vegans alike can all avail of a pleasant meal at The Neptune—aptly named for the king of the sea.
There’s a menu for everything at The Neptune. If you show up on a holiday, there are festive dishes to explore.
The rest of the time there’s a huge array of adult and kids’ meals, including an expansive vegetarian and vegan selection.
Your options include:
- Vegan breakfast with all the trimmings, including vegan sausages.
- Nachos, vegan style.
- Chilli non carne.
- Thai green curry.
- Vegan chocolate orange slice.
Sadly there are more vegetarian options than vegan—but still plenty of choice for the hungry vegan tourist. Look out for options marked (VE) on the menu.
#9. The Real Greek
Specialty: Greek cuisine
Interested in Greek and Eastern Mediterranean cuisine? The Real Greek has got just that for you.
The Real Greek is one of the more authentic places out there for ethnic food. Vegan options are marked with a VG, and vegetarian with a V.
Each section of the menu is packed with options, such as:
- Greek flatbread.
- Santorini faa.
- Dolmades.
- Soutzoukakia, vegan meatballs.
- Jackfruit gyros and vegan aioli wrap.
- Feta-free Greek salad.
- Luxury sorbet, which is the only vegan dessert available.
So order what you like and go sit in at The Real Greek, or get on UberEats and Deliveroo. It’s a well-connected restaurant that knows its stuff about food and the people who eat it. Check their menu here.
#10. Turtle Bay
Specialty: Caribbean cuisine
Turtle Bay is another more ethnic selection, this time focusing on Caribbean food. Turtle Bay takes its inspiration from Caribbean street vendors and beach shacks.
When you think of Caribbean food, you probably think of classics like curry goat and jerk chicken.
Luckily, this particular Carribbean-inspired spot has you in mind, too.
Items marked (Ve) on the menu are perfectly safe for you to devour. Consider:
- Big vegan grill down.
- Avocado smash.
- Trini doubles.
- Organic tofu Buddha bowl.
- Coconut rice and peas.
- Curry aubergine.
- No moo burger.
- Roti sweetcorn wrap.
- Vegan chilli chocolate brownie.
- Mango chilli tofu.
- An array of vegan cocktails—careful, they’re not all vegan!
For a restaurant with a menu based on such a meat-loving location, this place does really well when catering to those with different diets.
It’s a busy place, though, so you’ll want to book your table in advance. Find out about the menu on this page.
#11. Urban Beach Hotel
Specialty: European food
If you need a place to stay as well as eat, the Urban Beach Hotel caters to both.
It’s a five-minute walk from the beach, quaint with only twelve rooms, and everything about it is geared towards making guests comfortable.
You can dine in the lounge or al fresco on the heated seats of the terrace. On the menu, you’ll find a selection of vegetarian (V) and vegan (PP, plant-powered) items.
Consider:
- Plant powered burger.
- Orange and miso 8 tofu.
- Beer battered onion rings with chips.
- Vegetable massaman curry.
- Espresso creme 6.5 caramel.
Conclusion
There’s a ton of variety within the vegan restaurants Bournemouth has on offer.
Whether you like fast food, organic delicacies, casual, or chic, you’ll find it in the cute resort town.
Some of the best vegan restaurants Dorset has overall are in Bournemouth. It’d be a shame to miss them on your visit!