Ee Beng Vegetarian Food Center

I liked this place a lot. Kale, eggplant, cauliflower, cabbage, etc. Come here if you need greens. I went for lunch and the only downside was that some of the dishes were a little bit cold.

I used to visit Penang especially for Ee Beng, but this place has gone downhill big time. No more Asam laksa; the restaurant next door has closed; and they seem to charge arbitrarily based on whatever they feel like charging you on the day. Not the place I remember.

Updated from previous review on 2017-02-09

It is busy during peak hours. If one goes outside breakfast and lunch times, there is more place. They sell many Chinese vegan meat sauces/dishes in addition to vegetable dishes. And just plain meat analogues (such as "fish" inside seaweed). One can choose between rice and noodle varieties and add the veggies or meats on top. You will be charged based on the number of items. Also sweet and salty steamed buns are offered. The only place I did not manage to go back there was that it closed before I was ready to have dinner. Very tasty.

You can select an array of dishes here and combine interestingly-looking ingredients in your plate as you like. Almost all of them taste great and a few of them are extremely nicely done. Try it for a fast and simple meal, it's basically like street food for vegans/vegetarians/admirers of healthy stuff.

It's one of those super simple, canteen style places. You come and choose the items you like. Some of the ones I've tried (been there twice) were very good to me and some were just not for my taste. Those wheat meats are not my cup of tea. The potatoes were amazing though! And noodles were meh the first time but second time were ok, enjoyable. So I can't make up my mind but not a fan of this place I guess. But my boyfriend adores it.

Lots of delicious veggies and mock meats. Price was 9 RM both days for my full plate of 4 or 5 generous scoops (skipped the rice).

yooo they have soooo much ricee!! :D it's amazing! I wasn't very impressed with their food mostly because it was all mock meat, salty, and oily, even the veggies were very oily. however of that is your thing come check it out tons of options! and you can never go wrong with plain steamed rice :)

Buffet has a HUGE variety of foods, all vegan. Help yourself, have plate examined, and never pay more than 10RM.

This restaurant offers a extensive buffet with only vegan food starting from different versions of mock meat to many varieties of vegetable dishes. They also offer different chinese dumplings which is amazing. It is easy affordable and a perfect spot to have a quick and filling bite. The only downside is that they don´t have a clear system on how to price each plate. They just eyeball each plate and also make it up on the fact if you are a foreigner or not.

You can choose from a buffet with many different food and taste everything you want. It's really cool, the also have boxes for take away. Every plate full of food we took only costs between 6 and 6.50RM. :)

I really enjoyed coming here.
Food is good, people nice, Breakfast as lunch : my best place in Georgetown.

If you're not a local, expect the price to double or triple. I had less food than the dude before me, his meal was MYR 3 and mine was MYR 9? Pretended to walk out and she bumped it down to 4 lol. It's still relatively cheap though and definitely not too shabby, wouldn't go back just cos there is much cheaper in Penang but still a good feed.

It was very cheap but the price did vary from 4rm up to 9rm for the same amount of food? but you did get a lot for your money so it was okay. I found most items on the buffet delicious. We came back here many times. The mushroom burgers with hash brown for 5rm to take away is a must too!

On a second visit, plate of food costs twice what I paid 2 days prior. Mentioned that it was more, and was told "because our money is so small" aka you are a westerner so you pay. Watched Asian customers pay far less for more food. Original price was decent for what this food is.. mediocre and generally overcooked Chinese that is heavy on the soy protein mockmeat. Not worth being charged double.

The buffet has a huge selection of dishes, the biggest issue is choosing which ones to try. I sampled about 8 different dishes and all were really tasty. A few were mock meat, which can be a bit hit and miss back home but it was all delicious. My plate was piled high and it came to less than $3 which is insanely cheap. I will definitely be back before I leave town!!

Even though they list it as vegetarian, All the food is vegan. No eggs and no dairy. The only reason I won't give it five star is because it is a buffet. The lady working the register spoke good English and the food was very tasty with lots of options. I will go back again tomorrow since I am only here for three days.

I have been here twice now. There is a huge selection at the buffet, 37 items at 8:30am this morning. Everything that I had there was quite tasty and not too oily or salty. If I lived in the area I would probably go there daily.

Ee Beng has many recommendations in internet and also staff of our hostel recommended it warmly. However, even if there are good things like you can spoon the things yourselves to your plate from buffet, everything we tried was quite salty and oily in taste.

I was there today with my family and some friends and the range of buffet was really impressive. Considering it wasn't the 1st or 15th of the lunar calendar, it was really popular with the locals as it was very busy the entire time I was there.

There was a separate stall which sells local Street food which were all vegetarian such as the wantan Mee, hokkien mee, fish head beehoon and etc.

I was actually looking forward to eat at the restaurant section which previous reviews mentioned (beside the buffet serving one). However,it's such a shame that the owners decided to close the business as staff were quite hard to hire and they decided to take a break.

To order the drink, someone will be there at your table to ask what do you want to drink. You can get all the coffee shop drinks here or just look at some pictures or advertisement on the wall. Pay when the drink is served. For food, you could go for the buffet style, take the food you want and pay at the counter. Else, order the local favourite noodle fair at the stall (they are pictures to see) and pay when the food is served to you at your table. Price is pretty much local affortable rate and the ambience is local coffee shop style. Food is ok, but is a place to experience the real local food in vegetarian style and a real place a local would eat. No highchair for children. i stacked up 2 chairs for my 2 years old. It was good enough. The restaurant is right in front of the police headquarter, which is a big blue and white building.

I was here 2 times, one I ate at the selfservice part, wich was nice food, not expensive, and the woman at the counter took her time to explain me what certain dishes were.
as it is a selfservice, everything is clear, you take, you pay, you eat and the food is good
on the other hand, the sit-down restaurant part, the food there was great, yes, but I found the service pretty bad.
got ignored sitting there untill I decided to go and order at the counter, after a while some chinese customers came in and were served right away, found it kind a strange...
also I ordered a juice, expecting a freshly made juice as it said on the menu but got a watery drink full, really full of sugar
when I complained, they said something as “it’s a sirup, we can’t control it” and just walked away, not offering something else or whatever
to finish up the bad impression about the service, when I go to the toilet, a waiter comes out and walks straight into the kitchen without washing his hands…
I heard nothing but good things about this place, but left very disapointed from the restaurant (not because of the food…)
hard to rate, got out very happy first time at the selfservice part, kind of angry from the restaurant, it's a shame...
Updated from previous review on Saturday January 25, 2014

After reading all the good reviews I was really looking forward to this place. I normally visit Luk Yea Yan which is a similar style place in Penang (but oddly has worse reviews than this place).

The food was nice enough for economy rice but the place didn't seem overly clean. Yes it's cheap but it's the same price as Luk Yea Yan just without the aircon/nice building/cleanliness.

Very good range of very cheap food in this restaurant. Personally, I would rather have flavoursome veggies, than mock meat, but my partners had a 'lamb' curry with noodles and loved it. You can have bento boxes, meal combos and even Western style meals.

There is a buffet and a restaurant and both are self-service. In the restaurant you order by completing a form, then are meant to collect your cutlery and condiments yourself.

There are two areas, a self serve buffet type area where you pay for what you eat, and a sit down restaurant with a set menu. We ate in the restaurant this evening and plan to go back for the self serve buffet tomorrow! I had 'chicken Maryland' which was breaded faux chicken, a breaded sausage, a breaded pineapple ring, mashed potato and gravy and salad. It was very good! My partner had a 'fish' and rice set meal which included tofu salad and a soup. Our meal with drinks was 23MYR, a very reasonable price for a lot of food! The restaurant itself is modern and very clean. Loves this place!
Updated from previous review on Friday December 06, 2013

An excellent option for vegans who love variety and fresh daily vegetables and mock meats. There's a lot to choose from , with many soy products, soup, noodles, vegetables and even the delicious stuffed Chinese steamed bread!

A very cheap and central option! For more info and photos: http://www.heartofavagabond.com/2013/10/chinatowns-vegan-food-in-penang.html

the food here was too oily but they had a lot of mock meat options. probably helped that i visited during the Nine Emperor Gods festival- when locals eating only vegetarian for 9 days.

There is a wide range of dishes available, called economic rice, you put the rice on your plate then you add a spoon of whatever dishes you want including various greens dishes, tofu dishes, and textured wheat dishes. Also friendly staff ... a quick and easy meal.

First time cost 8RM not including drinks second time just a small serve of rice and a medium spoon of 3 dishes cost 4.50RM.


Rating is for what the restaurant is in terms of style, range and price, and is not a comparison with a better quality vegetarian restaurant.

Updated from previous review on Friday April 19, 2013

Updated from previous review on Monday April 22, 2013

Fantastic buffet restaurant with over 40 different, vegan, choices.
You can scoop your plate full for about €1!

For the open buffet, staff are very friendly, food options are all delicious. Not that it is RM 2.60 for 3 choices+rice no matter how much you get, + 60sen for each additional option.

Since I was a teenager, this has been my favourite place for vegetarian meal. We tried out their next door as well, love the chicken chops, satays.

try the black pepper udon noodles, they are good
skip the rojak and french fries

It's probably best to head here if you're a fan of mock meats and over cooked veg, or don't mind a break from the health regime. At first glance on arrival (midweek) the buffet looked great, but after choosing a seat and returning to closer inspect/dribble over/pile up on a selection of the 15 or so dishes, I was a little disappointed. There were only four dishes that were solely veg based, the rest were greasy mock meat curries. Of the four veggie dishes, the sliced spuds in a thin brown sauce looked unappetising, the two sweet potato dishes, (one plain, one with a spicy crust) were overcooked, but the stir fried greens, I'll give them credit, were freshly prepped and enjoyable. I did try a mock meat option and the sauce tasted good, so if you like that sort of thing, you won't be disappointed.
That's not to say this wasn't a meal to sniff at completely, we're all allowed a bit o' grease every now and then, but it would be nicer to have more veg based options on the table.

If you look for good vegetarian food more western like - away from noodles and very spicy indian cuicine - you have found it her.

This place is awesome. Penang is famous for its food, which is quite heavy on meat and seafood, so I was worried that I would miss out on the local flavors. But Ee Beng saved the day. With their fresh and highly-diverse buffet selection, I was able to get a taste (or two or three) of the local cuisine, vegan style! The self-service buffet is especially great for someone like me, who likes to try everything, especially if it looks unfamiliar.

Ate here a few times this autumn while staying in Georgetown. Good selection of western and Asian vegetarian food. Heavy on the soy protein/mock meats, but oh so tasty! Quick service and nice juices.

Confused, in that when we ate there - several times in late October 2011 - it bore no resemblance to the place described by other reviews here... Happy, in that we (my wife and I, on an eight-month RTW honeymoon) absolutely adored it. Small, friendly, great service, and comfort food to cross oceans for. Bear in mind we're not nutrition snobs or whiney purists - if it ain't dead, we'll probably eat it - but oh my, I can still recall the satisfaction several weeks later. Also, the prices are fantastic (especially by Malaysian standards). Wish it was in London....

We went here almost everyday for a week for lunch. I have no idea what's up with dinner because it sounds like people don't like it, but lunch is great. They have a huge buffet with all different types of greens and curries, and mock meat dishes. If you don't like mock meat, don't worry-there is plenty of stuff without faux meat that is delicious. The only complaint is that the food is a tad oily. It;s hard to find anyplace that doesn't oil up their veggies around here. All in all though, the amount of oil was acceptable-but definitely more than I would use for home cooking.

We came here with high hopes, as it is the top ranked restaurant on HC so we assumed it would be a treat. The exterior looks nice - different from the typical run down hole-in-the-wall veg place often found around Asia. Upon sitting down on one of the very small stools provided and checking out the menu though, it soon became apparent that it was going to be a struggle to get a good meal.

Firstly, most of the dishes are only available on certain days of the week, so the choices are very limited. We were unfortunate in that neither of the 2 choices for that day were what we felt like eating. That meant we were left to choose from the everyday menu but upon enquiring which they could make without MSG, we were left with some green leaves and nothing much else. Even if you are willing to swallow a gutful of chemicals with your food, the nutritional value of the choices on offer were decidedly poor.

So we left and went for some Indian, never to be back. Why this place is rated above Lily's we cannot fathom - there must be a lot of junk food vegetarians in this town.

What a great place! After a couple of attempted visits over the past year, both of which found the place closed despite being during their opening hours, we lucked out on our third attempt and finally got to sample their buffet lunch - and we were definitely not disappointed. There is a *massive* variety of dishes to choose from, mostly mock meat based, but there were also quite a few tofu dishes, veggie curries, and sauteed greens on offer on the day we visited.

There's a price list for drinks and, from memory, a couple of desserts on the wall, but there's no formal pricing for the buffet. The staff will just base the price on the type and quantity of food on your plate. Not that that's any reason to hold back. We had two absolutely huge plates of food (more than either of us could eat, but we had to sample as many of the goods as possible), and the total came to RM15.

Though I didn't have room to test it, there's also a steam bun display out the front of the restaurant, with various flavours ranging from lotus bean paste to char siew.

As noted by others, the food is kept reasonably warm on the buffet, though not piping hot. If you're keen on a veg buffet with a lot of options, I highly recommend this place for a cheap lunch. Just don't expect fine dining.

The veg. laksa (available everyday) here is good. So is the veg. kuay chiap (vegetarian version of duck intestines!) which is available only on Thursdays. Prices are reasonable, portions are small to medium.

We went to EE Beng for lunch, and it was excellent. A huge buffet with at least 30 options, we did not taste anything we didn't like. Lots of mock meat, noodles, vegetable dishes and many things we can't even describe, this was quite the treat. Friendly staff as well. It was also exceptionally cheap, at about 6RM a plate (a huge plate). Well worth the trip. We arrived late for lunch, which made us worried, about 3 pm, but everything was still reasonably warm and in good condition.

Was there a few years ago. Stay in Penang for 6 days and everyday I partronise only this outlet. Why? Firstly nearest to my hotel along Upper Penang Road and secondly wide variety of dishes to choose from at reasonable prices.
Early in the morning there is a stall outside the restaurant selling 2 types of noodles dishes. Although the portion is small it is only RM$1.50! Suggest you order 2 portions instead.
Opposite the Police Headquarter. Very friendly boss and staff.