I recently spent about two weeks in Montpellier as a vegetarian traveler, and when I left the city all I could think was, “I can’t wait to come back and eat some more.” Montpellier has a staggering number of vegetarian restaurants, vegan restaurants, and regular restaurants with fabulous meatless choices on the menu.
In this guide I’ll take you to the Montpellier restaurants that stood out to me as a vegetarian traveler. This will include traditional French restaurants, international cuisine, brunch spots and even some grocery stores where you can find vegetarian and vegan foods to prepare in your accommodation. Read on to see why Montpellier should be at the top of any vegetarian or vegan traveler’s France bucket list.
Note: I have been a vegetarian for twenty-three years and prioritize eating at fully vegetarian and vegan restaurants. However, I don’t completely avoid restaurants that also serve meat, and some of the places on this list are omnivore-friendly too.
Les Vignes Restaurant
I’m listing Les Vignes as my top choice for vegetarians in Montpellier because every day they have a beautiful three-course vegetarian lunch menu based on what is seasonal and local at the time of your visit. I opted for the formule that included three vegetarian amuse-bouches, the vegetarian plate of the day (shown above) and then a trio of miniature desserts. It was a fantastic way to try many different vegetarian dishes in just one lunch.
Reservations are recommended, and I suggest booking a lunch seating before 1:00 so that you have time to savor all of the different dishes (and wines!).
Peacefood Café
If you would prefer a 100% vegan restaurant in Montpellier, I recommend stopping for lunch at Peacefood Café. This tiny restaurant does a bustling take-out business for plant-based workers at local businesses, but they also have a few small tables spreading out on the sidewalk so you can dine onsite as well.
I had their daily menu, which featured a chilled tomato soup and a vegan noodle bowl with veggies and different mock meats. This was reminiscent of the vegan food I ate in Taiwan, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the owners had spent time living and working in East Asia.
KVB Vegan Fast Food
Is anyone else a vegetarian who misses the occasional fast-food meal? There is almost no vegetarian fast food in my hometown in Canada, which is why I was excited to grab a late-night dinner at KVB in Montpellier. This 100% vegan fast food restaurant specializes in plant-based “chicken” nuggets, which they serve in a variety of different ways. I opted to have mine stuffed into a pita with vegetables and sauce, and then served with fries and a Coke. McDonalds could never.
Le Bombay
On my way to KVB I walked past a few different Indian restaurants, and I noticed that one had a vegetarian thali. A thali is a mixed plate of assorted dishes, and it was something I’d previously enjoyed when traveling in India. Towards the end of my time in Montpellier I returned for dinner. I was the only person dining in that evening, but I noticed them doing a steady take-out business.
At Le Bombay, the vegetarian thali includes a pakora and onion bhaji, raiti, plain naan, lentil curry, eggplant curry and rice. I was very hungry that day so I also ordered mine with a mango lassi to drink.
I would say the food was good by French Indian standards but it wasn’t completely, authentically Indian. If I’d told them that I’d spent several months in India and liked real Indian food I think they would have upped the spice and seasoning a bit.
Olya Café
We are now entering the brunch portion of our program. I was blown away by how many amazing brunch restaurants there were in Montpellier, and they all offered mouthwatering vegan and vegetarian options. I was in Montpellier for just over a week, and during that time I went out for brunch in the morning and then cooked something light for lunch and/or dinner in my Montpellier apartment rental.
To get us started on brunch in Montpellier we have this bowl from Olya Cafe. They have two locations in Montpellier, and I had this at their location just around the corner from the Saint-Guilhem – Courreau tram stop.
Since it was so hot when I was in Montpellier, most of my brunches were cool and refreshing. This is Olya Cafe’s “gran’olya bowl”, with fromage blanc (a French dairy product similar to yogurt but higher in protein), homemade granola, fresh fruit, pistachio crumbles, peanut butter and chia seeds. I was tempted by their iced mango matcha but opted for a classic iced latte in the end.
Amazone Coffee
The Amazone Coffee menu on Google Maps showed that the restaurant served an açai bowl, and with a name like that I knew I had to check it out. Unfortunately when I arrived I learned the online menu was outdated, and Brazilian açai was no longer on the menu. Sacré bleu!
Instead of an açai bowl I went for Amazone’s chia pudding breakfast bowl, which featured chia pudding (made with almond milk), tropical fruits, berries, gluten-free granola, mixed nuts and seeds, and grated coconut. Along with an iced matcha it was a refreshing vegan brunch to help beat the summer heat.
Nina Café
At Nina Cafe in Montpellier I finally switched from a cool breakfast bowl to a warm (but still sweet!) brunch plate. Here, I ordered the French toast (or pain perdu, as it’s called in France). It came topped with vanilla mascarpone cream, mixed berries, pecans and maple syrup. You have to admit that French brunch places know how to plate an aesthetic piece of French toast. As I’d already had coffee back at my apartment, I opted for a glass of the cafe’s mint lemonade.
Budget Travel Tip: In most of these photos you’ll see I’m also drinking water from a glass bottle. A few years ago France passed a law requiring all restaurants to serve free tap water to paying customers. If you want to save money and skip the bottled water, you can order, “Une carafe d’eau, s’il vous plait.”
Auden
Another day, another breakfast bowl in Montpellier. This time it’s from Auden, which is a 100% vegetarian café that is open for lunch and brunch. This vegan-friendly restaurant has dishes like the açai bowl shown above, which was made with a base of açai, berries and vegan protein powder. I was a little bit disappointed that the granola on top didn’t look homemade, but on the plus side it was gluten-free.
Auden also serves savory brunch dishes with plant-based proteins, like a brunch bowl with smoked tofu and edamame, or their avocado toast with hummus, feta and vegan mayo. Sometimes it’s hard to find meatless protein sources at French restaurants, so Auden definitely gets two thumbs up for the variety on their menu.
Bonobo Brunch
Last on my list of vegetarian restaurants in Montpellier is Bonobo, which also happened to be the first restaurant where I ate in Montpellier, just half an hour after arriving in the city and checking into my apartment around the corner.
Bonobos themselves don’t follow a plant-based diet, but there were lots of excellent vegetarian and vegan options on the menu here. I opted for the “tropichill” pancakes, which you can see came topped with passionfruit chantilly cream, banana, mango, passionfruit and grated coconut. They also had a cookies and cream version with Oreos and dark chocolate ganache that looked amazing (but I thought the fruit would be healthier!).
Maison Bonnaire Montpellier
I had a really ambitious goal of trying ten different French pastries during my six weeks in France this summer, but I failed miserably because I kept getting distracted by ice cream shops in the summer heat.
However, because my accommodation in Montpellier was on the same block as Maison Bonnaire patisserie and boulangerie, I did take a one-day break from ice cream to try one of their award-winning eclairs. I picked one up at the same time as I bought a loaf of their corn bread (French corn bread is an absolute delight, especially toasted with a generous spread of salted butter), popped it in my fridge, and pulled it out for a mid-day treat later that day. I can definitely see the appeal of these creamy, fluffy eclairs, but wouldn’t detour all the way to Montpellier just to try one.
Vegan and Vegetarian Groceries in Montpellier
The exact apartment that I stayed at in Montpellier isn’t available at the moment (I think the owner’s kids live in it when university is in session), but this apartment is right around the corner and has great reviews, while this apartment is just two minutes away by foot.
Because I had a full kitchen in my Montpellier vacation rental, I was able to do a lot of cooking for myself. This saves money and, to be honest, is a welcome break from restaurant food after two months of traveling in France.
There were two great places to shop for vegetarian and vegan groceries near the apartment where I was staying. Just around the corner there was a Biocoop supermarket, which has a focus on natural and organic foods. This was a great place to shop for dinner-ready vegetarian proteins, like the stuffed tofu cutlet you can see above. This is also a good place to shop for natural beauty products and household products if you’re staying a bit longer in Montpellier.
To supplement my vegetarian groceries from Biocoop I also shopped at the Carrefour City supermarket beside Bonobo cafe. There, I picked up some packaged salads (the high-protein one with quinoa, peas, nuts and herbs was a favorite), fresh pasta, French potato chips and even some plant-based milk to have with my morning coffee.
Looking for more tips on traveling around Montpellier? Read these guides before you go:
A Complete (Vegetarian!) Review of Les Grands Buffets de Narbonne
⛵The Best Things to Do in Sete, France
♥️ The Best Things to Do in Perpignan, France
🏰 10 Things To Know About Visiting the Carcassonne Castle & Ramparts
🏰The Best Hotels Inside the Medieval Walled City of Carcassonne
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