Ask most Indian restaurants for their vegan menu and you’ll get a shrug — maybe two curries, minus the butter, if the kitchen remembers to ask. Royal Kitchen in East Oakland runs it differently: an All Vegan section with more than 30 dishes, built without dairy from the ground up, sitting alongside a full vegetarian section for guests who eat paneer and dairy but no meat. Both are prepared in the same 100% halal-certified kitchen as every chicken, lamb, and seafood dish on the menu.
The Vegan Section: Built Wide, Not Trimmed Down
Royal Kitchen’s All Vegan menu covers nearly every category a meat-eating guest would expect, just without dairy anywhere in the dish. On the curry side: Tofu Saag, Tofu Curry, Tofu Chana, Tofu Mattar, Tofu Aloo, Tofu Aloo Mattar, Tofu Mixed Vegetables, Channa Masala (Vegan), Dal Tadka (Vegan), Palak Saag (Vegan), Chana Saag (Vegan), Aloo Saag (Vegan), Aloo Mattar (Vegan), Mixed Vegetable (Vegan), Aloo Gobi (Vegan), and Bhindi Masla (Vegan) — a genuine range from mild to spiced, not one or two token dishes.
For rice and mains, there’s Veggie Biryani (Vegan), still built on the same slow “dum” method as the meat biryanis, plus plain Rice (Vegan). On the tandoor and starter side, Royal Kitchen offers Tandoori Soya Chaap (Vegan), Chilli Tofu (Vegan), Gobi Manchurian (Vegan), Vegetable Samosa (Vegan), Vegetable Pakoda (Vegan), Aloo Tikki (Vegan), Vegan Pani Puri (Golgappa), Samosa Chaat (Vegan), and Aloo Tikki Chaat (Vegan). For bread, Vegan Tandoori Roti keeps the meal fully dairy-free without needing to ask whether the naan has butter brushed on it. There’s even a Vegan Tofu Wrap for a portable, handheld option, and a Vegan Combo box that packages a full plant-based meal for one.
The Vegetarian Section: Dairy Allowed, Meat Never
For guests who eat dairy but not meat, Royal Kitchen’s Vegetarian Dishes section is its own deep list, headlined by paneer-based curries like Shahi Paneer, Malai Kofta, Mughlai Kadhai Paneer, Paneer Tikka Masala, Mattar Paneer, Saag Paneer, and Paneer Bhurji, alongside vegetable-forward options like Channa Masala, Dal Tadka, Palak Saag, Aloo Gobi, Baingan Bartha, Mushroom Mattar, and Veggie Navratan Korma. A Paneer and Veggie Combo box also exists for a single-portion vegetarian meal, and Paneer Wrap (Veggie) covers the lunchbox-portable version of the same idea.
Why Two Separate Sections Matters for a Mixed Order
Because Royal Kitchen keeps a vegan section genuinely separate from a vegetarian one — rather than folding “vegan-friendly” into a general vegetarian list — a mixed group can order precisely: a vegan guest gets Tofu Saag and Veggie Biryani (Vegan) with no dairy anywhere near the dish, while a vegetarian guest at the same table orders Shahi Paneer without anyone needing to double-check ingredients. And because the entire kitchen is halal-certified regardless of which section an order comes from, that same table can add a halal-observant meat-eater’s Lamb Biryani or a traveler’s Butter Chicken without splitting the order across two different trust standards.
Ordering It
All of these dishes are available through Royal Kitchen’s direct online ordering page, which also carries the current $5-off-$30 promo (code ROYAL5) — not available through third-party delivery apps. For a group order that mixes vegan, vegetarian, and meat dishes, ordering direct keeps the whole ticket moving through the kitchen together rather than getting split across separate app queues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does Royal Kitchen have a real vegan menu, or just a few substitutions?
A: A real one — the All Vegan section has more than 30 dishes built without dairy from the start, separate from the vegetarian section.
Q: Is Royal Kitchen’s vegan and vegetarian food also halal?
A: Yes, the entire kitchen is 100% halal certified, so vegan and vegetarian dishes come from the same certified kitchen as every meat dish.
Q: What vegan dishes does Royal Kitchen offer?
A: Over 30, including Tofu Saag, Tofu Curry, Veggie Biryani (Vegan), Chilli Tofu (Vegan), Tandoori Soya Chaap (Vegan), Channa Masala (Vegan), and Dal Tadka (Vegan).
Q: Can a vegetarian order paneer dishes at Royal Kitchen?
A: Yes — Shahi Paneer, Malai Kofta, Mughlai Kadhai Paneer, and Paneer Tikka Masala are all in the Vegetarian Dishes section.
Q: Is there a portable vegan option for lunch?
A: Yes, the Vegan Tofu Wrap is built as a handheld, lunch-portable format.
Q: Can I order vegan and meat dishes together in one order?
A: Yes — since the whole kitchen is halal-certified, a single order can mix Tofu Saag, Shahi Paneer, and a meat dish like Lamb Biryani without any cross-standard concerns.
