Brazil is one of the most difficult countries to find a proper vegetarian restaurant. Most Brazilians love a diet rich with meat and cheese; only a very small percentage are vegetarians. Given these circumstances, it came as somewhat of a surprise that while I was in Salvador, the populous capital city of Bahia in Northeastern Brazil, that I stumbled onto Ramma , a delightful natural foods restaurant.

Located in the fashionable beachside suburb of Barra, Ramma is open for lunch only every day of the week excluding Saturday. All the food is offered buffet style with costing done a per kilo basis, a popular format in many Brazilian Restaurants. You can eat as much as you want - your bill will be based on how much food you put on your plate(s). The cost per kilo is R$33,90 in the week, and R$35,90 on Sundays.

According to the owner, the average customer spends about R$17,00 – 18,00 (roughly $10USD) on a meal

For a buffet, the food is absolutely delicious and healthfully prepared with a staggering variety of dishes to choose from including fresh salads, grilled veggies, tofu entrees, quiches, homemade breads and pastries. In addition to the vegetarian dishes, there is at least one chicken and fish entree to choose from as well.

I went there on a busy Sunday afternoon in early June and the place was filled to capacity – most of the clientele were locals from Salvador in addition to a smattering of Brazilian and oversea tourists.

Ramma reflects the personality and philosophy of the owner, Ms. Marinna Neves, a middle aged Brazilian lady who was born in the state of Bahia. As a teenager in 1970, she moved with her family to Salvador where she worked as a civil engineer for 18 years before becoming a restaurateur with the opening of Ramma in January 1994.

Admittedly she has always been a food lover – even as a child - and cooking has always been a passion for her. Over the years, she has becoming increasingly health conscious, moving towards a more vegetarian life style. Getting into the restaurant business was a natural for her.

Ms. Neves describes herself as 90% vegetarian as she eats some chicken and fish occasionally. Over the last couple of years, Marina’s diet has continued to evolve with an increasing emphasis of raw foods – you’ll even find some tasty raw food selections at Ramma.

Note: A second RAMMA restaurant opened up in August 2008 in Pelurinho, the historical quarter of Salvador

As a vegetarian, Ramma has to rank as “the best” restaurant for vegetarian food that I have ever been to. I could eat there every day if I had to – the food is that delicious and is healthfully prepared as well.

I am a confirmed vegetarian (90% vegan) and health nut. I occasionally eat dark chocolate (70% or more cacao), eat egg whites and once every two months, I have a veggie cheese pizza; that puts me in the category of being a quasi vegan.

As I travel overseas a lot, I usually do some research to scope out some dedicated vegetarian/vegan or vegetarian friendly restaurants in the area. Most of the time, I am usually have some modicum of success by searching online or asking the concierge or somebody at the hotel front desk. Some destinations are definitely not very vegetarian friendly as I found out on my recent trip to Brazil and Bolivia in South America (Brazil is not the most veggie friendly place) – but I usually am able to find at least a couple of suitable places.

When I was in La Paz, Bolivia’s capital city I came across a wonderful Vegetarian restaurant & Art gallery called Namaste. A family owned business, Namaste is relatively new, having opened up only 2 ½ years ago. The menu features a variety of vegetarians entrees and like many restaurants in la Paz, Namaste’s specialty is a set lunch or “plato del dia” (plate of the day). The lunch fare is very cheap, serving sizes are ample and the food is very tasty.

I had the opportunity to have dinner there one night – the food was outstanding (muy sabroso) and very affordable. I had quinoa soup as well as two other plates. The bill amounted to about $6.00USD or so including hot tea.

Scattered around the restaurant, there are some very beautiful and eclectic paintings on display as well as alfresco murals and other artwork. Gonz, the very affable co-owner of Namaste, is an accomplished sculpturer and painter in his own right in addition to being a restaurateur.

I had an opportunity to sit down and interview Gonz about the history of Namaste and how he morphed into Vegetarian Restaurateur after working for many years in mid-level mangement in Corperate America. See video below….

The island of Penang in Malaysia has the reputation of having some of the best restaurants in Southeast Asia. In fact “dining” is one of the primary reasons why tourists go there. As a vegan, I cannot really vouch for the reputed excellence of Penang’s restaurants but during my limited time there (4 days/3nights), I had the opportunity to sample three very proper vegetarian restaurants. Admittedly the title of this post “A Vegetarian’s Dining Guide to Penang” is somewhat of a misnomer because of my limited dining experience.

Night One - Woodlands
Upon recommendation of the concierge at Traders Hotel, I went to Woodlands, a vegetarian Indian Restaurant located in nearby Little India. He reassured me that Woodlands was a very proper restaurant, popular with the upper class ethnic Indians who lived in Penang as well as tourists from Kuala Lumpur.

Well, needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. The décor was understated but very pleasant and looking around, most of the clientele were very well dressed locals. I ordered two dishes– Aloo Gobi , Garam Masala in addition to some Garlic rice and Garlic Naan(my favorite). While the service was very good, the food was outstanding, better than 95% of the Indian restaurants that I have been to in my life. The bill came to all of 14.30RM including a 5% service charge. Converting to USD that is $4.00USD - now that is cheap! Keep in mind, if you go to a local cafeteria style Indian restaurant, a whole dinner can be had for as little as $1.25USD!

Night Two - Sri Anana Bahwan
I returned to Little India about 9:00PM. Since Woodlands was closed, I went across the street to Sri Anana Bahwan, another Vegetarian Indian restaurant that I spotted the night before(and they were open till 10:00PM). The ambiance wasn’t quite as nice as Woodlands – a little bit too art deco for my tastes with black ‘n’ white tiled floor and huge whirring ceiling fans going full blast. Overall the food was good (better than average) and the service while friendly was at best mediocre. The bill came out to 17.50RM (approximately 5.00USD), still very affordable for a western tourist.

Night Three - Luk Yea Yan
On my third and final night, I consulted with my taxi driver, a Chinese fellow in his early 70’s, and I asked him to take me to the best Vegetarian Chinese restaurant in the area. He told me he knew of several places. We ended up at Luk Yea Yan, only a 7-minute drive from Traders Hotel. Not a very flashy or gaudy place, Luk Yea Yan was a very proper restaurant with a rather simple decor. Looking around the restaurant, there was a smattering of tourists but most of the clientele were natives of Penang.

After viewing their rather extensive menu, I ordered three dishes – a lotus flower rice dish, stir fried spicy greens and a vegetable satay plus some green tea.

The verdict – the food was very good (not quite as good as Su Hean in Taiping) but the service was just average. Total bill came to 23.60RM (6.60USD)

This Vegan’s overall verdict for PENANG, thumbs up!