Assamese cooking is built on fish, pork and duck, so vegetarians arriving in Guwahati often expect a difficult week. In practice the city is one of the easier places in the Northeast to eat vegetarian, partly because of a long established Marwari and Bengali business community and partly because South Indian restaurants have taken hold here in a way they have not elsewhere in the region.
Axomor tracks 109 vegetarian tagged places across its restaurant directory, 51 of them in Guwahati. This guide covers the ones worth going out of your way for, with ratings and hours from our data.
The Short List
| Restaurant | Rating | Reviews | Hours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upsouth | 4.9 | 1,636 | 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM | South Indian |
| Uttsah By Sachika | 4.9 | 1,185 | 7:30 AM to 10:30 PM | Vegetarian, Bakery |
| Urban Desi Kitchen | 4.8 | 545 | 12:30 PM to 11:30 PM | Pure veg family |
| Kerala Bhavan | 4.7 | 1,942 | 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM | South Indian |
| 11 July Kitchen Bar & Banquet | 4.6 | 1,611 | 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM | Vegetarian, Indian |
| Lush - The Café | 4.4 | 1,613 | 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM | Café, Vegan |
| Shahi Darbar | 4.4 | 2,527 | 12:00 PM to 10:30 PM | Vegetarian, Bar |
| Khao Gully | 4.3 | 624 | 12:00 PM to 2:00 AM | Vegetarian, Indian |
| Botanee | 4.2 | 1,397 | 11:00 AM to 11:59 PM | Vegetarian, Bar |
The Two Best
Upsouth holds 4.9 from over 1,600 reviews, the joint highest rating in our entire Guwahati directory on a large sample. Open 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM, which is among the longest hours in the city. South Indian, so dosa, idli, vada and filter coffee.
Uttsah By Sachika matches it at 4.9 from nearly 1,200 reviews, tagged vegetarian and bakery, and opens at 7:30 AM, earlier than anything else in the city. If you have an early drive to Kaziranga or Shillong, this is your breakfast.
Between them these two would satisfy most vegetarians for a week without repetition.
Pure Veg Kitchens
Urban Desi Kitchen is tagged vegetarian, Indian and Chinese, rated 4.8 from 545 reviews, open 12:30 PM to 11:30 PM. Family restaurant in the Indian sense, which means large portions and no alcohol.
11 July Kitchen Bar & Banquet at 4.6 from over 1,600 reviews is the largest and most polished of the vegetarian places, open 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
Shahi Darbar carries the biggest review count of any vegetarian restaurant in the city at over 2,500, rated 4.4, and is tagged vegetarian with a bar, which is an unusual combination in this category.
Botanee runs to just before midnight, 4.2 from nearly 1,400 reviews.
South Indian
Kerala Bhavan at 4.7 from nearly 2,000 reviews, open 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM, is the other serious South Indian option alongside Upsouth. Both open early, which is a genuine advantage in a city where most kitchens do not start until 11:00 AM.
Vegan
This is the harder category. Assamese food uses very little dairy, which helps, but explicitly vegan menus are rare.
Lush - The Café is the one place in our Guwahati data tagged vegan as well as vegetarian, rated 4.4 from over 1,600 reviews, open 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
Beyond that, you are ordering carefully rather than choosing from a menu. South Indian is your friend, since most dosa and idli preparations are naturally vegan if you skip the ghee and ask about the chutney. Say clearly that you want no dairy, since “no ghee” and “no butter” land better than the word vegan, which is not widely used here.
Late Night
Khao Gully - The Food Court stays open until 2:00 AM and is tagged vegetarian and Indian, rated 4.3. It is the only vegetarian option in our data serving past midnight.
What to Order
Assamese vegetarian dishes exist and are worth asking for even at non vegetarian restaurants. Khar made with raw papaya rather than fish. Pitika, mashed potato or aubergine with mustard oil and raw onion. Xaak, the local greens, of which Assamese cooks use dozens of varieties. Dal with lemon.
Thali is the efficient order at any of the pure veg places, giving you six or eight small dishes for Rs 200 to Rs 350.
Momos are everywhere in vegetable versions and are excellent throughout the Northeast.
Filter coffee at Upsouth or Kerala Bhavan is the best coffee in the city that does not come from a café.
What It Costs
Everything in this guide sits in the ₹₹ band. A South Indian breakfast is Rs 100 to Rs 200. A vegetarian thali runs Rs 200 to Rs 350. A full meal at one of the larger restaurants is Rs 500 to Rs 800 for two.
Vegetarian eating in Guwahati is noticeably cheaper than the café scene, and the quality at the top places is high.
Practical Notes
Ask about the oil. Mustard oil is the default in Assamese cooking and has a sharp flavour some visitors dislike. South Indian and North Indian places generally use refined oil.
Pure veg means pure veg. Restaurants advertising themselves that way do not serve meat, eggs or alcohol, and often have separate kitchens. If that matters to you, look for the phrase in the name.
Eggs are a grey area. Many Indian vegetarians do not eat eggs. State it explicitly if it matters, since “vegetarian” alone will not always exclude them.
Onion and garlic. Jain and satvik requirements are understood at the larger pure veg restaurants but not everywhere. Ask ahead.
Temple food. Kamakhya Temple has its own food culture on the approach road, and the prasad and simple vegetarian meals there are worth trying.
When to Visit
November to February is the comfortable season in Guwahati, when the humidity drops. The city is on almost every Northeast itinerary and most visitors pass through twice, so you have two chances at this list.
If you are travelling onward into Meghalaya, Nagaland or Sikkim, note that vegetarian eating gets harder in the hills, where the cuisines are heavily meat centred. Gangtok is the exception, with several strong pure veg options, covered in our guide to the best cafés in Gangtok. Stock up on options while you are in the plains.
Browse the Full List
The full directory of restaurants and cafés in Guwahati has all 51 places with ratings, hours, cuisines and price bands, filterable by category. For the wider food scene in the city see our Guwahati street food and Assamese food guide, and for coffee, the best cafés in Guwahati.
Guwahati is an easier city for vegetarians than its reputation suggests. Start at Upsouth, eat breakfast at Uttsah, and ask for pitika wherever you are.
Browse all Assam destinations to plan the rest of the trip.
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