Hola. This is Barbara, your curator of cultural news from the Spanish-speaking world. This week, I will deviate slightly from my usual geographical and linguistic focus, but there is a common thread that ties these different places together — the Camino de Santiago.
While the Caminho Português indeed begins at Lisbon Cathedral, I would like to share another aspect of our holiday experience in Portugal. During our summer holiday, we explored the vibrant culinary scene in Portugal's capital, considering our son's vegan diet. We made it a point to select restaurants that offered excellent vegan options, and I'd like to take you on a journey to discover the best vegan restaurants in Lisbon. Our time there was truly enjoyable. I believe the abundance of vegan choices can be attributed to the recent influx of international workers (aka digital nomads) in the city.
Food and the city
Even though Lisbon has a comparably high number of purely vegan restaurants, the absolute number is still tiny, and making a reservation is advisable. Here are my top 3.
The Organi Chiado is located on the steps of Calçada Nova de São Francisco in Chiado. They also have some tables right on the steps, which is very nice. They aim to offer seasonal dishes from around the world, which means that they may change their menu regularly. I especially loved their feijoada with vegan chorizo.
The Orteá Vegan Collective - BOTANISTA is a vegan restaurant at Rua Dom Luis I 19C. It is probably the most creative and original of all vegan restaurants in Lisbon. They don’t recreate standard dishes to adjust them to vegan tastes but create new exquisite and healthy dishes from scratch. It is perhaps also one of the more expensive restaurants that we visited.
They have a great area for outdoor seating, but even inside you have the feeling that you are in a garden. They have plants everywhere.
The Ao26 vegan food project takes the essence of traditional Portuguese cuisine and skillfully transforms it into plant-based variations. You might wonder what's left of Portuguese cuisine when fish and meat are excluded, but the answer is surprisingly a lot. While they keep their secrets closely guarded, they will delight you with dishes like the «sopa rica do mar» (rich seafood soup) and «Tofu à Lagareiro» (a style of cooking that typically features the generous use of Portuguese olive oil).
To truly understand their magic, a visit to the restaurant is a must. However, due to its small size, making a reservation is essential. We made three attempts before securing a table at this hidden gem located at Rua da Horta Seca, 5. In addition to their main courses, we were also impressed by their appetizers and desserts.
It's worth noting, though, that none of the mentioned restaurants offered non-alcoholic cocktails or non-alcoholic beer, which surprised us a bit.
Food during excursions
During our visit to Sintra, we had the pleasure of spending a relaxing afternoon at Raiz Sintra. Nestled in a patio right in the heart of the historic city centre at Volta do Duche 2, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. While they incorporate greens sourced from organic, regional farmers, they also cater to meat eaters. Fortunately, we encountered no difficulties in selecting from their vegan options.
If you find yourself in Belém, I highly recommend taking a stroll away from the tower area or the monastery and treating yourself to a delightful lunch at Sabor Superior. This unassuming family-owned business offers three vegan menu options daily. They captured our hearts right away because they were so friendly and unpretentious. We were particularly impressed by their selection of juices.
Our daily vegan Nata
What is a culinary trip to Lisbon worth without eating the famous Pastéis de Nata, the Portuguese egg custard tart pastries? How would that taste in its vegan variation? I can confirm, they are simply delicious. The people of VeganNata have made a dream come true. They taste and look like the original, if not better. If I remember correctly, we had them every day. Since I tried to bake vegan Pastéis de Nata recently and failed terribly ( apparently, I used a type of oat milk which was not rich enough in proteins so the pudding mass began to turn liquid again when it was cooling down 🙈), I know how challenging it is to prepare vegan pastel de nata.
We bought them at their shop on Rua da Misericórdia 9 in Chiado.
The world of gastronomy is fast-paced. I checked on Happy Cow and all locations are still in business.
Have I made you hungry? Do you know any other vegan places in Lisbon that you would like to recommend? Let me know.