Upmarket award-winning Italian restaurant, not affiliated with Hare Krishna. Offers a menu of pasta, pizza, salads, and western dishes. Has vegan cheese and vegan sauces. No egg used. Directions: take Skytrain to Phrompong station at the Emporium and Sukhumvit 24, walk 200 meters to Soi 22, enter a courtyard on right 30 meters in. Subway: Exit Sukhumvit station, take exit 2, bear left to Sukhumvit Rd, go left and walk to the pedestrian bridge about 100 meters, cross to other side of Sukhumvit, and proceed to Soi 22 per above. Est. 1997. Open Mon-Sun 12:00pm-10:00pm.
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6/5-6 Sukhumvit Soi 22, Sukhumvit Rd, Klongtoey, Bangkok, Thailand, 10110
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Last update on 21 Jul 2024 by RajanKerai
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54 Reviews
First Review by veg_in_bkk
FredBran
Points +298
Terrible Italian Food - Edit
I see a lot of hype around this place but I went there two times, and I was very disappointed.
Read moreOnce I had pizza with a crust more similar to a cracker than a proper pizza.
The second time I had some ravioli and the sauce was watered down, salty and lacking any other flavor.
Not recommended
Pros: Large Menu
Cons: Bad Food
Guest
xJasperx
Points +96
Food good, service could improve a bit. - Edit
Ate here once with a friend, and ordered some takeout another time.
Read moreThe garlic bread was very nice, but it took a while to get it because the waitress said we had not ordered it. My friend was Thai and ordered in Thai so it was definitely no "lost in translation". Overall it was good though so this was not a reason not to return here.
Pros: Nice food, plenty of vegan options
Cons: Staff a little unprofessional
Guest
BBandT
Points +93
OK - Edit
Always reassuring to dine at a place that knows vegan. That's the good part. Govinda isn't bad. The pizza was boring, with a limp thin crust. Mediocre service. Absolutely nothing exciting about the dining experience. I'll go back if I'm really hungry.
Read morePros: Many vegan options.
Cons: Italian isn't supposed to be this bland.
Guest
sanluvegan
Points +200
Hoped for more - Edit
We really had high hopes for this place as we had cravings for italian food. Were a bit disappointed by the pizzas unfortunately. They were okay, but not good enough for us to want to come back. The vegan cheese cost extra and wasn't that great, even though they make it themselves. The prices are already quite high so...
Read morePros: Italian place with vegan choices
Cons: Vegan cheese cost extra, Expensive, Just okay food
Guest
veganairman
Points +309
Save up and go! - Edit
Had a bit of a feast here and was super impressed with everything except for the price. Right off the bat, the complimentary bread was really good, warm and fresh. We asked what could be made vegan and it was pretty much everything except for a few items, which was awesome.
Read moreWe ordered the Lasagna and a Capriccosa pizza, both of which were amazing and highly recommended. We also splurged and got a 1/2 carafe of the house white wine which was really good as well. Unfortunately, for dessert the only vegan option was a few flavours of vegan ice cream.
However, being budget conscience would couldn't help but notice our bill came to a whopping 1500 baht! Oh well, once in a blue moon this food cannot be missed.
Pros: Delicious food and wine, Good service, Nice atmosphere
Cons: Expensive, No complimentary bread top up, Limited vegan desserts
Guest
ellehir
Points +554
Tasty and good service - Edit
The service was great and the staff are helpful in showing what vegan options are available. The ingredients were fresh and the food came out quickly. The bruschetta was light and satisfying. The pizza base was thin and the pizza was not overly oily. Overall great if you are craving some Italian. Also quite easy to find and a short walk from the station!
Read moreGuest
yumchadong
Points +5539
Below average pizza - Edit
Not really sure why this place has quite good reviews. Ordered delivery, was quite grossed out by the pizza.
Read moreGuest
Saja1982
Points +44
If you love italian food, come here!!!! - Edit
Perfect place to eat vegan/vegetarien in Bangkok! We had the vegan calzone and it was delicious! They have vegan cheese!! ❤ the staff is so friendly and welcoming, we would definitely come back!! It wasn't so hard to find, just a five Minute walk from Train Station Phrom Phong, into the street where its located. Just look for the sign showed in the pictures and go right. :) really worth a visit!
Read morePros: Good food , many vegan options, nice atmosphere
Guest
RunEatWorld
Points +3613
Vegan cheese pizza! - Edit
One of the only places I've found in Bangkok that make their own cheese for their pizza. It comes out as little fluffy pillows of creamy goodness on top of the well-cooked veg pizzas. Big menu, free bread, friendly staff - what more could you want?
Read morePros: Vegan cheese, Big menu, Great taste
Cons: Little expensive
Guest
LilacHippy
Points +12780
Great Place! - Edit
When I looked at the menu here I was not impressed as it doesn't look anything special - but when you go in you'll find it is. I don't know why they don't say in their menu that they have VEGAN cheese which makes a real difference to a pizza for us vegans. The pizzas are pretty good and have options like vegan soy sausage topping. They also have sorbet and an orange cake vegan dessert. It's a nice setting with a courtyard and an upstairs, like a real Italian style place. Best Italian I've found in Thailand so far.
Read morePros: Have vegan cheese, Central location, Nice atmosphere and friendly service
Cons: Not vegan, they have dairy too
Guest
SusanRoberts
Points +992
Loved this place!!! - Edit
When we arrived, after a rain shower, we saw one of the restaurant workers drying an old dog. We ate with a view of kitties eating outside the window--these people are real animal lovers, which made me super happy to support the place! And, the food was amazing!!! Vegan calzone was perfect! Friendly staff! Definitely will be back.
Read moreGuest
Sham K
Points +21
Amazing place - Edit
Great food, amazing cheese, in short... I totally loved it! Their pasta is also really delicious. The location is a bit deep and dark but the food makes it wort it!
Read moreWill be back.
Pros: Great food, Cheese
Cons: location
Guest
AmeliaGreville
Points +39
VEGAN CHEEZE!!! - Edit
Amazing. Can't believe I've been living here for so long without checking this place out. It's a little pricier than your average Thai restaurant - but completely average price for Italian in Bangkok.
Read moreI had the calzone. It was bigger than my head. Larger than a new born baby. Basically, it was fecking massive! Ask them for vegan cheese, it's actually yummy vegan cheese too. Got a mozzarella texture.
I doubled up my toppings. It's allll about the toppings. Finished up with the vegan orange cake and vegan ice cream. Also really really yummy and the cake had a great texture. If you're a vegan in Bangkok you gotta go here, it's now my joint favourite with May veggie home and veganerie!
Pros: pizza, vegan cheese, lovely service
Cons: nothing except cost if you're a cheap skate
Guest
Ryan WHY
Points +22
Delicious - Edit
To find this place, I needed to call them and have them direct my taxi driver. This place is well worth the trouble of finding it. I ordered their Spaghetti Bolognese and a Pizza, both vegan. The Bolognese was aroi (delicious), the pizza was pretty good. I'm still getting used to vegan cheese.
Read morePros: Friendly staff and aroi food
Cons: Difficult to find.
Guest
walkingvegan
Points +206
Nice place with a boring vegan pizza - Edit
It's a nice place, good atmosphere. I've been there only once, in a sunday night and, despite several free tables downstairs, staff seemed too busy. It was annoying when they finally came to our table in a hurried way and tried to run away after answer one question. And I had more then one question because I'd like to know about the vegan options.
Read moreAnyway... we finally order a funghi salad and a pizza. The salad was great, delicious! Not a big portion for 235 baht, but ok... good ingredients.
But the pizza was too simple, so boring, lack of topping... too expensive for that quality in my opinion. (290 baht).
The pizzas I tried: Govinda and Vienesse. For 2 people, with one drink, we spent 770 baht.
Pros: Vegan-friendly, extensive and varied menu, atmosphere
Cons: Expensive, Boring vegan pizza, Staff didn't seem to bother with us
Guest
ElenaKorovina
Points +23
Great place for dinner - Edit
Had a dinner in this place. Nice italian food. Pizza and lasagna were very tasty. Juices are very good and Panna Cota is wonderful. Good staff. Everything liked. Thank you!
Read morePros: excellent food, friendly staff, good portions
Guest
m@earthville
Points +9618
A fine dining splurge - Edit
Govinda is a classy, Italian-run bistro in the heart of the Sukhumvit. Having shared a dozen or so meals with friends here, we've managed to sample a good portion of the extensive menu, and everything we've tried ranges from good to great - not a bad bite in the batch.
Read moreEspecially recommended:
- Funghi soup: one of the tastiest mushroom soups i've ever had.
- Verdure alla Griglia: a generous plate of exquisitely grilled fresh veggies.
- Quattro stagioni pizza (ordered cheeseless)
- Gnocchi spinaci
- Gamberi fritti (fried breaded 'shrimp')
- Funghi salad
- Lime sorbet
They say the bread they serve for the table is vegan (but we weren't sure about the breadsticks). Their pasta (at least their own homemade pasta) is eggless. They also offer both gluten-free and whole wheat pasta.
Govinda is very vegan-friendly. It's pricey for Bangkok but well worth the splurge for a fine meal and good service with pleasant ambience.
They offer fresh juices, including carrot, which is a plus.
Our only complaint is admittedly a petty one: They don't serve free filtered tap water as most restaurants do; it's bottled water or no water.
Enjoy!
Updated from previous review on Saturday February 19, 2011
Pros: Excellent authentic Italian cuisine, Extensive and varied menu, Very vegan friendly
Cons: Expensive
Guest
Pawness
Points +83
Good food, crazy expensive - Edit
We have ordered delivery from Govinda a few times. Good food, no question, but the portions are small and the price is just too jigh for what you get. Really, the gnocchi portion was just laughable. It's just potato dumplings - at least cover the bottom of the container. So - if you don't mind paying too much, go for it.
Read moreWe gave up on over priced Govinda and now go to the funky L'Opera on Soi 39 - amazing high-quality vegetarian dishes, is very careful about steering veg dinners in the right direction on their long menu, and has a lunch set menu that includes an antipasto buffet that is Amazing for 350baht.
Pros: Good food, Good menu
Cons: Small portions, Overpriced
Guest
dan&mia
Points +759
Excellent Food - Edit
The food was terrific and a nice change from all the Thai food we'd been eating during our trip. The prices were quite a bit higher than other places, but the restaurant was also quite a bit nicer.
Read moreGuest
Peridot_Garnet
Points +53
Nice veg italian restaurant! - Edit
Located in downtown area.
Read moreNice food and tons of dishes to serve as your choice!
Varieties of mock meat. I really wonder when I first visit with the dish, Cappaccio.
Better to go by public transport due to the small area of parking.
I love it!
Pros: nice food, nice place, so italian!
Cons: parking
Guest
JezzingtonBear
Points +47
Good vegetarian Italian?? I can hardly believe it! - Edit
Lovely little restaurant with a comfy, friendly atmosphere and pleasant jazz playing in the background. Opens at 6pm for dinner.
Read moreThey have a great selection of pizzas, pastas and even 'meat' courses.
I ordered the salad padano and a spaghetti bolognese. The salad was nice enough but was a little heavily dressed and therefore oily. It had bits of faux bacon in it which added a nice extra flavour but were a bit too tough. The spaghetti was cooked to perfection. The bolognese sauce was made from what seemed to be soya mince and was delicious. The portion was a lot smaller than expected. I didn't have a huge appetite at the time so that was fine but, if I'd been hungry, I would have been left unfilled. Washed the whole lot down with an imported Erdinger Weissbrau. It WAS a little expensive by Thai standards but still pretty reasonable compared with Western prices.
I'll go back.
Pros: Very pleasant atmosphere., Good menu., Tasty, comforting food.
Cons: A little pricey (for Thailand)., Smallish portion.
Guest
enRoute
Points +1413
great creative food, some quirks - Edit
Ahhh, Govinda. I debated for a while how many stars I was going to shell out here because this place is a mixed bag of sorts.
Read moreProblems started when I believed this place might be open till midnight (as optimistically stated here on HC)... so I made the trip out there around 10:15 one night. The sign on the door said 11:15, but they were closed. "Kitchen closes at 10:30" said the waiter outside... although that was 15 minutes away.
Came back a few days later and managed to get there on time, and the food WAS super. Had a great fagioli, nice pasta with soy bacon... when I mentioned I didn't want cheese, they offered soy cheese that really hit the spot. On another trip I had the "soymeat platter," which were shishkebabs mixed with all kinds of great and creative bits. The gnocchi was only so so for me, but nice to know they try it.
There are some other quirky things about the place... the staff are majorly into the "stare" thing, which I can get a bit creepy and a sort of annoying. Literally the second you scrape the last bit off a plate they will almost run over to replace it. I guess it's because I was one of the only people there each time I went, (which is also the probably reason why the place had been closing early... and this was all during the Red Shirt Period).
That said, they were nice as can be and it's really a special restaurant for Bangkok so I've got to give the place 5 stars. Seek it out and decide for yourself!
Pros: great Italian/Thai fusion, creative mockmeats, cool place
Cons: closes early sometimes, the staff stares too much... awkward, a touch price-ay
Guest
beerzuki
Points +416
Not difficult to find, well worth finding! - Edit
If you come from Sukhumvit down Soi 22, after about 30 metres you will see a large blue 'optical' sign and Larry's grill. Between these two is the laneway which the restaurant is down. I had just the Cesare salad (pictured) and was very happy with it and its accompaniments. Outdoor seating and friendly staff are a bonus. People from all different cultures were eating there which was nice. Also you can get beer/wine. I think the prices were totally reasonable and look forward to going back soon!
Read morePros: cosy atmosphere, friendly, nice presentation
Guest
killianH
Points +122
great food NOT too expensive - Edit
i think as vegans/vegetarians we expect every main meal in bangkok to be 50 baht or under, and judging from other reviews i thought this restaurant was going to be really expensive. its not. its good italian food, great desserts and authentic coffee, at a price should should expect buying farang food. a pizza will set you back from 180-300 which is actually cheaper than all the other pizza restaurants in town. its owners are italian and very friendly.
Read moreGuest
Kunzang
Points +34
expensive - Edit
This restaurant has a good decoration, the music they play is interesting, the food is ok (but not much in the plate on some recipe and a LOT of oil with the 8!?!!? pasta i got)...the salads are good but almost 500 baht for a salad???
Read moreSo a lone person cant eat for less than 1000 baht???
This restaurant is far too expensive and i wont be back...
govinda
We would like to thank you very much for coming in Govinda.
Read moreWe really apologize if you found to much oil in your pasta and we will do our best to avoid it happens again. Please note that we have two kind of salad whose price is from 500 to 600 baht, but it regards a salad Large size and it is suitable for groups of people (minimum 6 people) and it is for share of course. If you look the menu you can find normal salad with price from 130 B to 275 - 300 Baht: of course the price depends from the ingredients, because we use a lot of imported products as cheese, olives, spinach etc.
The average price for person that we calculated in the last 5 years of our business is about 350 Baht. Thanks
Guest
giorgio
Points +41
a note of appreciation - Edit
I've been several times in Bangkok and during my staying there almost every day used to go to govinda for lunch...I appreciated all preparation very much and was surprised to get recipes that u don't even get in italy my home country...owners really have genius...they offer different recipes which even attract non-veg people...excellent are scaloppine alla pizzaiola, pollo alla valdostana all strictly vegetarian and delicious...no duodts any time in bangkok I'll be at Govinda restaurant!!!
Read moreGuest
veg_in_bkk
Points +13
We love it! - Edit
My husband and I have eaten there a lot for the last 4 years...Anyhow, I noticed that some people have not been able to find it so I wanted to give a description of how to get there: Govinda's is not far down soi 22 at all. As you come from Sukhumvit onto soi 22, you will see a "Top Charoen Optical" sign in blue up on the right side. Shortly after that there is a flower stall, on the right, and there is an entrance to a small plaza. Right after the entrance to the plaza is the restaurant "Larry's Dive" - so don't pass "Larry's". Turn right into the plaza and go to the back left of it, and Govinda's is there.
Read moreGuest
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