Vegetarian
Vegetarian at a Vietnamese restaurant: what to ask about
Most of what determines whether a Vietnamese dish works for vegetarians is not printed on the menu. Here is what is usually in there, and how to ask about it without an interrogation.
What catches people out
- The dipping sauce
- Nước chấm is fish sauce diluted with lime and sugar, and it arrives beside dishes that are otherwise entirely vegetables.
- Shared broth
- A noodle bowl ordered without meat is frequently still ladled from the bone stock, unless the kitchen keeps a separate pot.
- Dried shrimp in salads
- Gỏi are dressed and garnished at the last moment, so the shrimp and the pork floss are almost never written down.
Usually a good starting point
Chay is Buddhist vegetarian and excludes fish sauce. Dedicated chay restaurants are common, and many ordinary places serve chay food around the first and fifteenth of the lunar month.
Tofu, herbs and noodles in rice paper — with the dip swapped for a soy-based one, which most kitchens will do if you ask.
A household staple rather than a substitution, though the seasoning is the part worth asking about.
What to actually say
One specific question is easier for everyone than three vague ones — for you and for the person answering.
- “Is there fish sauce in this?”
- “Do you have any chay dishes?”
- “Is the broth made with bones?”
- “Could I have soy sauce instead of the dipping sauce?”
What Vietnamese menus don’t print
Nobody is hiding anything. These are foundational ingredients that a Vietnamese kitchen treats the way you treat salt — not an ingredient, a medium. That is exactly why they never appear in a description.
The dipping sauce that comes with almost everything is diluted fish sauce with lime, sugar and chilli. It is also in most marinades and dressings, including on dishes that are otherwise vegetables.
Phở broth is simmered from bones, and so are most other noodle soups. A bowl assembled without meat is frequently still made with the house stock, because there is usually only one pot.
Served alongside bún đậu and chả cá, and stirred into some dressings. Purple-grey, pungent, and rarely translated on an English menu.
Scattered over salads, rice rolls and broken-rice plates at the last moment, which is why they seldom appear in a description.
Spooned over grilled dishes and broken rice. Traditionally made with rendered pork fat rather than vegetable oil.
Recipes vary between restaurants and change without notice, so treat all of this as what to raise with the kitchen rather than a guarantee about any particular dish. The staff always have the final word.
TableSage reads menus using an AI language model, which gets things wrong sometimes.
Know which dishes to ask about.
Photograph the menu and it flags what is worth raising — including the ingredients that are never printed.