Vegetarian (and vegan) restaurants in Puerto Princesa
Vegetarian (and vegan) restaurants in Puerto Princesa come down to one dedicated kitchen: Ima's Gulay Bar, also listed as Ima's Vegetarian Restaurant, at 46 Fernandez Street off Rizal Avenue. HappyCow lists it as about 95% vegan, with vegan versions of the rest; it rates 4.4/5 on TripAdvisor and its reviews run to June 2026. Food is cooked to order, so it is slow, and its days and times are irregular — check the Google Maps listing before you go. Beyond Ima's, KaLui and Badjao do good coconut-milk vegetable dishes and will cook meat-free if you ask when you book — but chaolong broth is meat-based, which rules out the city's own cheap lunch.
Is there a vegetarian restaurant in Puerto Princesa? One, and it is mostly vegan
Puerto Princesa is a seafood city in a country whose default protein is pork. Vegetarians and vegans eat well here with a little planning, and the planning mostly means one address.
Ima's Gulay Bar — also listed as Ima's Vegetarian Restaurant — is the anchor and effectively the whole dedicated scene. It is a small kitchen run by its owners, Ima and Sam, at 46 Fernandez Street, a short walk off Rizal Avenue. The menu runs from bean burritos, quesadillas, pizza and jambalaya to teriyaki tofu, gado gado, tempeh fries, spring rolls, pasta, noodle dishes, salads, soups, veggie burgers and smoothies. HappyCow lists it as about 95% vegan, with vegan versions of the rest, and it makes its own vegan cream and cheese from tofu and yeast flakes. Reviewers call the prices reasonable to very affordable.
Because everything is cooked to order, service is slow. The most recent HappyCow review we read, from June 2026, is headed Slow food but worth it! — which is the fairest one-line summary of the place.
Outside Ima's, the play is the big seafood restaurants. KaLui lists vegetarian options and does genuinely good eggplant tempura and lato sea grapes; Badjao does eggplant in coconut milk. Ask for a meat-free meal when you book rather than when you sit down. Carinderias almost always have a vegetable pot, though it may have been cooked with pork stock or bagoong, so ask.
The one thing that is closed to you is the city's own cheap lunch. Chaolong broth is meat-based, and asking for different noodles changes the noodles, not the soup.
Ima's Gulay Bar, in practice
Vegetarian restaurants and options in Puerto Princesa, ranked
Sorted by how little explaining you have to do. Everything below the first row involves a conversation with a kitchen.
| Where | What you can actually eat | Price | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ima's Gulay Bar 46 Fernandez Street · about 95% vegan · reviews to June 2026 | The whole menu: burritos, pizza, jambalaya, tofu and tempeh dishes, salads, soups, smoothies | Inexpensive | WORTH IT |
| KaLui 369 Rizal Ave · book ahead | Vegetarian options on the menu: eggplant tempura, lato, vegetables, rice and pickles. Ask for a meat-free meal when you book | ₱500–1,200 | WORTH IT |
| Badjao Seafront Abueg Road · cash only | Eggplant in coconut milk is the best vegetable dish in the building. Everything else on the menu swims | ₱500–900 | DEPENDS |
| Carinderias everywhere in the centre | There is nearly always a vegetable pot. Ask whether it was cooked with pork stock or bagoong before you point at it | ~₱100 | DEPENDS |
| Cafés and brunch rooms Gold Cup, NomNom, Mayad | Reliable for breakfast and snacks rather than a full meal — eggs, toast, cake, coffee | ₱150–300 | DEPENDS |
| Mall food courts Robinsons Place Palawan, SM City | The chains have a vegetable option or two and label them poorly. Air-conditioning and an ATM are the real draw | ₱150–300 | DEPENDS |
| Kinabuchs | Lato at ₱50–100, and very little else with conviction. This is a crocodile-and-tamilok room | ₱350–900 | SKIP |
| Chaolong houses | Not vegetarian. The broth is meat-based, whatever noodles you order | Cheap | SKIP |
| Vegan cooking class with yoga the only cooking class GetYourGuide lists for the city | A 5-hour class, and the one vegan-specific thing you can book in Puerto Princesa | from $179 | DEPENDS |
Ranked by effort rather than by quality. If you are here for two nights, the honest plan is Ima's once and KaLui once, with a meat-free meal arranged when you book.
Four things that catch vegetarians out
None of these is anyone being difficult. They are how Filipino kitchens work, and knowing them in advance saves the conversation.
Ordering different noodles changes the noodles and not the soup. The city's own cheap lunch is simply not available to you.
Fermented shrimp paste and pork broth are common seasonings in carinderia vegetable dishes. Ask may bagoong ba? and may baboy ba? before pointing at the pot — most cooks will tell you straight.
Everything is cooked to order by a small team. Budget an unhurried meal, check the Google Maps listing for current hours, and never squeeze it in before a tour pickup.
Much of the grilled meat and seafood is marinated in soy sauce, which usually contains wheat. Ask for it grilled plain.
Is there halal food in Puerto Princesa? Some, and seafood is the way around it
Puerto Princesa has a Muslim community and a few mosques. It does not have much of a halal restaurant scene, and HalalTrip's own city guide says so.
HalalTrip's phrasing is that finding halal restaurants and halal food here will be somewhat difficult, though plenty of seafood and a range of vegetarian food are available. That is a fair description.
The practical play is that this is a seafood city, and seafood-heavy menus make pescatarian-halal eating straightforward. KaLui, Badjao and the Baywalk paluto stalls are all fish-first, and at a paluto stall you can watch the whole thing being cooked, which resolves most doubts. Ima's, being vegetarian, is the other safe kitchen. Carinderia pork is the thing to route around, and it is usually obvious in the pot.
The one thing to ask about is lard and pork stock in vegetable dishes and soups, which are common and rarely mentioned on a menu.
Gluten-free: easier than you would expect
Nobody here is catering for you, and it barely matters: the default Palawan meal is grilled fish, rice, kinilaw and fruit, and none of those needs wheat.
Paluto is the best system for it in the whole city — you choose the fish, you choose grilled, and you watch it happen for ₱100–150 in cooking fees. Kinilaw at ₱150–350 is raw fish cured in vinegar and calamansi. Lato at ₱50–100 and fresh fruit fill the rest of the plate.
The traps are two: soy-sauce marinades, which usually contain wheat and appear on much of what is grilled, and bread — banh mi and baguettes are wheat. Ask for grilled plain and skip the bread and you have removed most of the risk. There is no dedicated gluten-free restaurant in the city; at Ima's, ask, because the kitchen cooks to order.
The two things worth arranging in advance
Ima's does not take online bookings, but its days and times are irregular enough that checking is worth two minutes. The cooking class is the only vegan product you can book in the city.
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Vegetarian and vegan questions, answered
Are there vegetarian restaurants in Puerto Princesa?
One dedicated one: Ima's Gulay Bar, also listed as Ima's Vegetarian Restaurant, at 46 Fernandez Street off Rizal Avenue. HappyCow lists it as about 95% vegan, it rates 4.4/5 on TripAdvisor, and its reviews run to June 2026. Beyond it, KaLui and Badjao do good vegetable dishes if you ask when you book.
Can vegans eat well in Puerto Princesa?
Yes, at Ima's: about 95% of the menu is vegan, the rest has vegan versions, and it makes its own vegan cream and cheese from tofu and yeast flakes. Beyond Ima's you are asking kitchens to build around coconut-milk vegetables and rice, which KaLui and Badjao both do well.
Is chaolong vegetarian?
No. The broth is meat-based, and ordering different noodles does not change it. That rules out the city's own cheap lunch, and there is no vegetarian version to ask for.
Why is Ima's so slow?
Because everything is cooked to order by a small team — the owners are named in reviews as Ima and Sam. A June 2026 review is headed "Slow food but worth it!". Budget an unhurried meal and check its Google Maps listing for current hours first.
Is there halal food in Puerto Princesa?
Some, and it is difficult. HalalTrip's city guide says finding halal restaurants will be somewhat difficult, though seafood and vegetarian food are easy to find. Seafood-first places such as KaLui, Badjao and the Baywalk paluto stalls, plus vegetarian Ima's, are the practical answer.
Is it easy to eat gluten-free in Puerto Princesa?
Easier than you would expect. Grilled fish, rice, kinilaw at ₱150–350 and fruit are the default local meal and none of them needs wheat. The traps are soy-sauce marinades, which usually contain wheat, and bread. There is no dedicated gluten-free restaurant.
What can vegetarians order at KaLui?
KaLui lists vegetarian options: eggplant tempura, lato sea grapes, vegetables, rice and pickles. Ask for a meat-free meal when you book rather than when you sit down; the kitchen is busy at dinner and does better with notice.
Are there vegan cooking classes in Puerto Princesa?
One, on GetYourGuide: "Puerto Princesa Palawan: Vegan Cooking Class with YOGA", about 5 hours, from $179 when we checked on 5 October 2026. It is the only cooking class in the city's workshops category there.