Vegetarian food in the Maldives
- Henna Shah
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Maldives, much like any tropical island, is known for its seafood. However, if you are a vegetarian (or eggetarian) like us, you’d still find plenty of options at a resort like the Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa. Also, eating vegetarian does not mean you have to stick to Indian food, you will be able to find great veg food in the Maldives within your dietary restrictions.
We have covered our trip to the Maldives in 4 Chapters from the lens of travelling from India, experiences to include in your itinerary, adventure activities to include in your travel plan, availability of vegetarian food in the Maldives and a complete tropical holiday packing list for the Indian traveller.
You are reading Chapter 3.
Table of contents
Vegetarian food in the Maldives
Let us be honest, if you have a sweet tooth, then you will have a wider variety at hand if you are open to eating eggs or atleast hidden eggs in desserts. When it comes to savoury food, eggfree options may not be a problem. However, you may want to book your table at any restaurant in your resort atleast a day prior and mention that you are a vegetarian. While this was applicable at the Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa, this was also the case with a few other luxury resorts in the Maldives.
Is Jain food available in the Maldives?
While Jain food is available and since most of the restaurant staff is Indian, there is less of a cultural barrier in explaining the Jain diet to them. However, you may still want to specify the ingredients that are off limits for you to avoid any errors. This may reduce the variety available for you atleast at a resort like Le Meridien Maldives where their primary clientele is from the US.
You may want to consider a Taj resort or any other resort recommended by a travel agent that is frequented by Indian travellers for a wider variety in Jain food.
Indian food in the Maldives
One of the major gaps we face as Indians while travelling abroad is on a breakfast buffet, where there is rarely anything served hot, which is also savoury. If you eat eggs, you may have an omelette or scrambled eggs, but if not, you are left with only baked beans on toast. The pancakes and waffles are also pre-made on a few buffet spreads and not really served hot.
What warmed our hearts was a dedicated Indian counter at breakfast at the Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa. Over the course of the 5 breakfasts we have enjoyed early in the morning, by the beach, we were served - poha, besan chilla, puri bhaji, chhole bhature, upma and a live south indian dosa counter for a few days.
There were also Indian food options for lunch and dinner at the main restaurant of the resort and as part of in-room dining.
Restaurants at Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa
The biggest tip I can give you is, please pre-book your restaurants for dinner a week prior to your arrival at the Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa. Nobody really gets out of the resort and people will eat in one of these restaurants and they tend to get full. For lunch, the only restaurant that will serve Ala Carte food is Vella which should be preferable if you are a vegetarian.
Turquoise
The breakfast spread at Turquoise was great! The highlight for us over and above the Indian counter was a live crepe station along with the standard live pancake and waffle counters. The nutella and strawberry crepe was worth every bit of the calories. Their viennoiseries were also made really well, a tribute to the French heritage of the Le Meridien brand or they just had a great pastry chef. They even had some other Asian items as part of the buffet and from among the American and continental spread, we really enjoyed the Bagels with cream cheese.
If you reach the restaurant before 8 AM, you may find a good table at the beach under the shade to keep the direct sun away.
Riviera Tapas & Bar
Our first dinner was at this Spanish style al fresco restaurant with lively music. A bread plate with olive tapenade was on the house and most restaurants would serve you this bread plate staying true to their French culinary roots as part of the resort. We ordered two drinks a Lychee Spritzer and a Frose (which was almost like slushy full of ice). We ordered a Patatas Bravas to go with our drinks and followed it up with a classic Spanish Paella which was delicious. Since, we were on our anniversary trip, the resort gave us a complementary dessert. We paid around USD 136 for a meal for this meal for two.
Vella
This was our go to restaurant for lunch on a daily basis and also a few dinners owing the Ala Carte option available and the stunning pool and beach views during the day time, being serenaded by the afternoon breeze as we ate lunch. For lunch, we would stick to non-alacoholic coolers like a Ginger & Passionfruit soda or a Mango Iced Tea and have one starter and a main that ranged from vegetarian loaded nachos, their woodfired Peyrnli Pizza that had a spinach and basil sauce base and was topped with mozzarella, pine nuts, olives and bell peppers. We also tried their vegetarian burger and the veg falafel wrap on other days. Our lunch bill would be approximately USD 120 for a meal for two.
This restaurant turns into a steakhouse at night, with a slightly different menu. So, if you still want to have your pizza or request a pasta from the the neighbouring Turquoise, you may want to let the restaurant staff know at lunchtime that they should expect you at dinner and highlight your preferences.
For our dinners at this restaurant, we stuck to a beetroot salad, a veg quesadilla and a spinach risotto. They were gracious enough to give us a cheesecake on the house as part of our anniversary trip. At another time, we had pre-ordered a veg pizza for dinner along with pomodoro spaghetti, however, they mistakenly added mushrooms to our pizza. While we weren’t allergic to mushrooms, we didn’t prefer them and they helped us with a fresh pizza and a Mezze Platter on the house along with a dessert of Choco Lava cake and Raspberry sorbet to make up for the mistake. The staff is indeed very warm and welcoming, and does not miss out on your water refills ensuring that you stay hydrated for the duration of your trip. We ended up paying about USD 80 for this meal as two of the items were on the house.
Tabemasu
This is one of the most renowned dinner restaurants at Le Meridien Resort & Spa and serves Japanese cuisine. They have limited vegetarian options and if your palate has not warmed up to Japanese cuisine, then you may want to skip this one. However, the restaurant’s interior has a great vibe along with an al fresco seating option outside on the deck as this is an overwater restaurant.
Among the vegetarian food available, the wakemake salad was on the house. We then called for some veg sushi which came in a portion size of 8 pieces. We had fried garlic rice for our main course and skipped ordering a curry upon the recommendation of our attendant. However, I think we would have enjoyed the rice better with a curry as it felt dry to us as Indians on its own. We had no space for dessert after a long day but their matcha chocolate dessert was highly recommended. Our total bill here without desserts and drinks was USD90.
Riviera Bar (Poolside)
We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon by the adults only pool at the Riviera Bar sipping on some Pina Colada and a white wine Sangria. This is the best time to unwind with a book, get some unperturbed time with your partner or just people watch as you take small sips of your tipple. Two drinks at this bar would cost you around USD 45.
In-room dining at Le Meridien Maldives Resort & Spa
The in-room dining option comes in handy if you have missed reserving your dinner at any of the restaurants or you’d just like to be dressed in a bathrobe and eat in with your partner.
We dined in only once and called for a Pomodoro Penne Pasta, a root veggie burger and a Tiramisu and loved all three dishes. Our total bill for these three dishes was USD 102
How much does the food cost in Maldives resorts?
The average cost of each meal for two including a starter and a main or two mains, two drinks and a dessert to share is around USD 120. For an Ala carte style order, it also depends on the variety you seek and the amount of alcohol you consume.
As a thumb rule, factor in 26-28%++ as service charge and GST on your total food and drinks bill.
Last word: Should you be carrying any food from home as a vegetarian in the Maldives?
As Indians, we are accustomed to our morning chai, while you do get masala tea at breakfast, we still prefer our Girnar Cardamom pre-mix. You can also carry some dry snacks or the Gujarati staple Theplas for a quick snack break in the room to keep you satiated. However, if you are seeking variety for your meals as a vegetarian, you do have enough options available across restaurants and you need not carry food from home to the Maldives.
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