Eating in Ubud often comes with something extra. A restaurant might have its own permaculture garden, double as a community space or turn dinner into an evening of music and events. Plant-based cooking is particularly strong here, but what stayed with us most was the creativity behind it. These are the restaurants, cafés and food experiences that shaped our time in Ubud.
Best Restaurants in Ubud
Room4Dessert
Room4Dessert is one of the most memorable dining experiences we’ve had in Bali. Created by pastry chef Will Goldfarb, the evening moves between savoury courses, desserts and smaller sweets, with ingredients from the restaurant’s own garden playing an important role. What we loved most was that the experience never felt stiff or overly formal — you move through different spaces and the whole evening unfolds almost like a story.
Zest
Zest is much more than a plant-based restaurant. Set high above Ubud in a beautiful open space, it combines colourful vegan food with cocktails, music, gatherings and a strong sense of community. The menu reimagines familiar dishes through local ingredients and plenty of creativity. We particularly enjoyed the free-spirited atmosphere — there always seemed to be something happening without the restaurant losing its focus on food.
Moksa
Moksa brings farm-to-table cooking into a setting that feels completely at home in Ubud. The fully plant-based restaurant is surrounded by its own permaculture garden, which supplies part of the produce used in the kitchen. There is also a strong educational side to the concept, with garden tours, markets and cooking experiences. We loved how naturally sustainability, food and the surroundings all came together here.
Akasha
Akasha is one of those restaurants where the architecture alone makes you stop for a moment. Part of NewEarth Haven just outside central Ubud, the dramatic bamboo structure hosts food, music, events and a wonderfully eclectic crowd. The menu caters particularly well to plant-based diners while also offering other choices. We remember the freedom of the place most — people eating, talking, dancing and simply spending time together.
The Elephant
The Elephant is located above the Campuhan Valley and has one of the loveliest green views among the restaurants we visited in Ubud. The kitchen is vegetarian with plenty of vegan choices, bringing together Balinese flavours and more international comfort food. Sustainability is an important part of the philosophy, but the experience itself remains warm and uncomplicated. We particularly remember the friendly team and how easy it was to settle in here.
Usada
Usada brings food together with Balinese culture and traditional knowledge in a way that feels very specific to Ubud. The restaurant serves a contemporary interpretation of Indonesian and Balinese cooking, while the wider space hosts workshops, talks and other cultural events. We also joined a jamu workshop during our visit, which made the experience feel much more personal than simply coming here for dinner.
Casa Curandera
Casa Curandera is worth seeking out for its peaceful setting alone. Hidden away from central Ubud, the restaurant sits among greenery and takes inspiration from both Colombian and Italian cooking. The menu now includes vegan, vegetarian and omnivore options, but the creative plant-based dishes were what originally brought us here. It feels intimate, personal and refreshingly removed from Ubud’s busier café scene.
Breakfast, Lunch & Coffee in Ubud
Mudra
Mudra is not the place for a completely standard brunch. The kitchen takes familiar breakfast and lunch ideas and gives them a colourful, often unexpected twist, with plenty of Asian influences and plant-based choices. We particularly liked that both the food and drinks felt genuinely creative rather than simply designed to look good. A strong daytime option when you want something a little different.
Alchemy
Alchemy has been part of Bali’s plant-based food scene for years and combines a restaurant, wellness shop and community-focused atmosphere under one roof. The menu is entirely plant-based, with plenty of raw and fresh options alongside more substantial dishes. We first became familiar with the concept elsewhere in Bali, but the Ubud location feels especially natural given the town’s strong wellness and community culture.
Pison
Pison is one of Ubud’s more polished all-day cafés, combining specialty coffee with a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. The rice-field setting gives the café a sense of space despite being close to central Ubud. We originally came for the coffee and liked that the menu went well beyond the usual café basics. A good choice when not everyone in the group wants the same thing.
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Suka Espresso
Suka Espresso brings an Australian-style café approach to Ubud, with specialty coffee, generous brunch dishes and a lively atmosphere throughout the day. It has become a popular name in Bali, but the focus on coffee remains strong. We especially liked it for iced coffee in the heat — an easy, reliable stop when you want good coffee alongside a proper breakfast or lunch.
Juice Ja
Juice Ja is one of those Ubud addresses that feels closely connected to the ingredients around it. Fresh juices are the obvious starting point, but the café also has a deli stocked with locally produced pantry products and other things to take home. We ended up leaving with far more than just a drink. It is a nice example of Ubud’s overlap between café culture, wellness and local food production.
Food Experiences & Local Finds in Ubud
Tresna Bali Cooking School
Tresna was one of the experiences we enjoyed most in Ubud. Classes are deliberately kept small, and much of the produce is picked from the organic riverside garden before you start cooking. Their dedicated plant-based class makes it particularly interesting if you want to explore Balinese cooking without meat or fish. More than the recipes themselves, we remember the warmth of the owners and the personal way they shared their story and knowledge.
TreeNut Cheezery
TreeNut Cheezery produces handcrafted plant-based cheeses from cashews, experimenting with styles inspired by everything from soft-ripened cheese to firmer aged varieties. We loved discovering products like this in Ubud because they show how far the plant-based food scene here goes beyond restaurants. We picked some up locally and were genuinely impressed by how much complexity they managed to create without dairy.
Tukies Coconut Shop
Tukies is a celebration of one ingredient Bali has no shortage of: coconut. Almost everything revolves around it, from ice cream and cakes to coconut butter and other sweet treats. It is simple, fun and very local in spirit. We first stopped for something cold and sweet, but it is the kind of place where you inevitably end up trying several different coconut creations.
