Vegan Restaurants in Aberdeen: Where to Eat Plant-Based

What vegan eating in Aberdeen actually looks like

The city's plant-based options cluster around a dedicated café and a coffee house that also serves as a bar, with pubs and taprooms filling in the evening. That means the useful question is not 'where is the vegan restaurant' but 'which kitchen suits the moment' — a quick lunch, a sit-down dinner or a pint with something substantial.

Aberdeen itself is compact enough to cross on foot or by a short bus ride, with most of the centre's eating and drinking set between Union Street and the streets running off it. VisitScotland's city guide is a sound orientation for how the centre, the beach and Old Aberdeen relate to each other, which matters when you are planning meals around a day out.

Budget-wise, expect café prices for daytime plates and pub prices in the evening; since none of the venues below publishes a vegan menu with prices in a form worth quoting, check the current menu on the venue's own site or by phone before you travel. The same call is the moment to ask whether the kitchen uses separate fryers and whether dishes contain dairy or egg in the bread or the batter.

Fully plant-based or vegan-led kitchens

Bonobo Cafe is the clearest vegan-led address in the city and the obvious first stop if you want a menu where you are not filtering out half the dishes. It appears in AberdeenLive's round-up of plant-based eating in the north-east and is the one place in the city named as a plant-based café rather than a pub or bar with vegan options on the side.

Common Sense Coffee House & Bar is a café by day and a bar later, and it is listed as a vegan option in the AB24 area — the part of the city north of the centre around the university. That makes it the practical choice if you are staying or working north of the centre and want plant-based food without a trip into town.

Treat both as daytime-first places: a coffee house and café format means you should check the kitchen's last food orders rather than assume an evening menu. Ring ahead if you are bringing a group, and ask what the day's plant-based plate is rather than relying on a menu posted months ago.

Pubs and bars with proper vegan menus

The Stag appears in CAMRA's Aberdeen pub listings and in a local nightlife round-up among the city centre bars, so it is a fair stop for a beer-led evening. It is a bar rather than a confirmed plant-based kitchen: check the current menu or ask staff about vegan food before you build a meal around it, and do not assume a dedicated vegan dish is on.

Ninety-Nine Bar and Kitchen on Back Wynd is described as serving a mixed menu with vegan options, from lighter dishes such as soup to loaded fries and a burger, which makes it a solid evening fallback when you want a proper plate rather than a snack. It sits on Back Wynd in the city centre, a short walk from Union Street.

BrewDog Aberdeen and Fierce Beer Aberdeen both appear in the same round-up of city bars, so they are useful for a beer-led evening with food rather than a dedicated vegan dinner. Do not assume a set vegan dish at either: look at the current menu and ask which items can be made plant-based before you commit to a table.

Booking pressure in Aberdeen is less about queues than timing: bar kitchens fill on weekend evenings and around big events, so reserve if you are a group and eating after seven. For a shorter, cheaper daytime plan instead, our guide to cheap places to eat in Aberdeen covers the lower-spend options across the centre.

Delivery and further-out fallbacks

If you are based in AB24 or further from the centre, delivery is a reasonable fallback — Common Sense Coffee House & Bar appears on Just Eat's vegan listing for that postcode area, which tells you it delivers as well as serves in. Check the delivery radius and the vegan filter on the app before ordering, since not every dish in a mixed kitchen qualifies.

When you are reading any Aberdeen menu for vegan suitability, ask three things: whether the fryer is shared with battered fish or chicken, whether the bread and buns are dairy-free, and whether the soup or special is made with stock or butter. Those three questions catch most of the traps in pub kitchens, where a dish can look plant-based and fail on one ingredient.

Indian kitchens are often the most reliable bet for a plant-based dinner in a British city, and Aberdeen is no exception; our Indian restaurant Aberdeen guide is the place to start if you want a spiced, vegetable-led meal rather than a pub plate.

Drinking with a vegan meal

Cask beer is a natural partner for plant-based food: it is lower in alcohol than many cocktails, and a bitter or a pale ale cuts through fried and spiced dishes without overwhelming them. CAMRA's Aberdeen listings include OGV Taproom and the Globe Inn among the city's pubs, both of which suit a pint alongside a bar meal rather than a formal dinner.

For a beer-focused evening, plan the food question first and the beer second: taprooms often have limited or changing food, so ring or check the menu before travelling across the city. If you want a gentle introduction to Scottish brewing rather than a long session, choose a half of something local and ask staff which beers are vegan-friendly, as finings vary between casks.

Practical points before you go

Kitchen closing times matter more than opening times here: cafés such as Bonobo and Common Sense are daytime-led, while the pub kitchens run later, so build your day around that split. Sunday lunch is a pub tradition, but vegan versions vary week to week, so it is worth checking when you book whether a nut roast is on that week's menu.

Book ahead for Friday and Saturday evenings and for any group larger than four, and keep the phone call short: confirm the vegan dish, the fryer situation and the last food order time. For the special-occasion end of the scale, our Michelin star restaurants Aberdeen guide shows what the city's fine-dining kitchens are doing, though plant-based tasting menus are not guaranteed.

Which Aberdeen vegan stop fits your day

Choose Bonobo Cafe or Common Sense Coffee House & Bar for a daytime plant-based plate, The Stag or Ninety-Nine Bar and Kitchen for an evening meal with a mixed group, and the taprooms and bars when the beer is the point. If you are staying in AB24, delivery from a vegan-listed kitchen is the least fuss.

Whatever you pick, confirm the current menu and kitchen hours directly with the venue, and use the city's wider eating guides only to shortlist rather than to decide. That way a vegan weekend in Aberdeen is a matter of two phone calls, not a gamble.