My Lisbon vegan experience

Let me share with you my vegan experience in Lisbon my friends! It's going to be a long reading but I hope it will help you if you would ever visit this beautiful city.

Before I came to Lisbon I did some research about vegan places to make sure I wouldn't miss any delicious meals in the city! I didn't want to go to well known restaurants only but I also wanted to try something new and small that hasn't been reviewed many times yet. As I was staying only 3 days I didn't manage to visit all places but I would like to share with you my impressions of the ones that I have visited.

Overall it is very easy to find vegan food in Lisbon. You can also order some salad or potatoes at any restaurant but I prefer to go to vegan or vegetarian (if vegan is not possible) places to avoid cross contamination as I have some food intolerances.

Are you ready? Let's start our food tour!

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Dona Flor Cafe is a cozy little cafe with a shop offering organic food and various eco clothes, shoes and cosmetic items.

You can find this charming cafe on Rua Das Chagas 31-33. I went there every day for breakfast not only because I loved their food but also because of the guys working there. They like to travel too so we had a few things in common besides veganism. If I would ever come back to Lisbon I would go there again. This is definitely my favorite place.

They serve different kinds of toast, sandwiches, salads, pizzas, sweets, smoothies and homemade ice teas. I tried their toasted rye bread with hummus, sun dried tomatoes and arugula (4 EUR) and it was my favorite!

If you have a sweet tooth you have to try their coconut mousse (2 EUR). It was nicely sweet with sour red berries sauce on top. The hibiscus and berries ice tea (2 EUR) was very refreshing and not sweet at all. You can also choose from different milks for your cappuccino (1.80 EUR). They have oat, soy and almond milk.

It's not a fancy place but a nice location with great food, excellent service and cozy atmosphere to hang out and enjoy your time.

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I have read very good reviews about Eight Lounge so I couldn't miss it! This restaurant is located on Praça da Figueira 12A, very close to famous Rossio square. There is a small shop on the ground floor with some organic items and the tables are located on the first floor. You have to order and pay downstairs. You get your number on a paper that you place on your table so that the waitress can find you once the food is ready and bring it to you.

Their menu consists of so many deliciously looking meals and you will definitely find it very difficult to choose. At the end I decided to go for Cheese toast (4.90 EUR), Crispy croutons salad (6.90 EUR) and Beet the orange juice (4.70 EUR).

The juice was very good. I have just missed a bit of a kick that I expect from beetroot. The cashew cheese on top of the toast was perfect. It was mixed with fresh dill and lemon juice with crunchy cucumber pieces and herbs on top. The salad was made with lettuce, red cabbage, lots of quinoa, micro greens, cucumbers and delicious lemony dressing. I would just prefer if the dressing would be served separately because it was a bit too much for me but this is just my personal preference.

There are a few pages on the menu that are dedicated to the owners and their beliefs.

It is an interesting reading so I recommend to spend some time and learn about their philosophy. They build their way of life around eight principles: good nutrition, regular exercise, lots of water, sunshine, self-control, fresh air, plenty of rest and trust in God. This is how they created Eight lounge. Their goal is to help people re-imagine healthy living. Through delicious food and lifestyle inspiration, they want everyone to taste how easy the healthy lifestyle can be. They believe that we don't need more things to create a beautiful life - just a handful of the right things. Approximately eight of them.

I have enjoyed the atmosphere in the restaurant. The design is very trendy but also cozy at the same time. If you're lucky and you get a table at the window you can enjoy the nice view of the square. The service is very fast and their food is delicious. I would not have to think twice to visit them again.

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The third on my list is AO26 Vegan food project (R. Vítor Cordon 26). I was so excited to get the confirmation of my reservation as I read only positive reviews. The restaurant is very modern and you can watch chefs cooking the meals in front of you. I really liked the set up of the place.

In Switzerland you automatically get some bread for free to start your dinner. It is mainly served with olive oil and vinegar but at some places you could also get a delicious spread instead.

In Portugal you can choose from bread, olive oil, some spread and olives. But you will have to pay for each part of couvert separately. I have ordered all of them and it was 2.50 EUR.

The portion was very big. There were 3 sorts of bread. I love bread and ate it all! I have never had lupin beans (tremocos) before but you can get them almost everywhere in Lisbon. They were delicious! I also enjoyed the vegan pesto spread. It was so good!

I was already full but there were two more meals to come. I have sensed that I might have ordered a bit too much 😊

My starter was tempura (5 EUR) from eggplant, red bell pepper, onion ring, pumpkin, zucchini and pineapple. All of them very good but a bit too oily for my liking. I didn't try pineapple as I'm allergic but I'm sure it was as good as the rest. It was served with vegan mayo and soy sauce.

I was so looking forward to my 'meaty' lentils burger (11 EUR) and well, I was disappointed at the end. The burger was cold, very soft and not meaty at all. Don't get me wrong. I don't normally look for the meaty taste but as it was written like this on the menu I was expecting it. Also the mayo didn't have much taste. I give them credit for making their own one but it was not perfect. The only part of the main dish that I really enjoyed was sweet potato fries. They were perfectly cut and crispy.

They also offer seitan steak and Thai curry so if you would ever go there and try one of these dishes let me know how you liked it.

The food is still very cheap but a bit more expensive than in the other restaurants that I have visited.

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Princesa da Castelo is located nearby the castle (Rua do Salvador 64A), only 5 minutes walk.

It is a place with just about 5 tables and it feels quite small and crowded when there are many people inside. I must say it was also very dark inside so this might have contributed to the feeling of being in a small place.

They serve 1 soup (2 EUR), 3 starters (3.90 EUR - 4.90 EUR) and 2 mains (10 EUR) which they vary every day. They also offer fresh juices (3.50 EUR) and smoothies (4 EUR).

The combinations on the menu are very interesting and you would never think of combining such meals together such as nachos, udon noodles and Moroccan spiced lentils.

For the starter I ordered nachos (5.90 EUR) because the only other choice was mushrooms ceviche and I'm not that fond of cold mushrooms. The portion was very big and it was served with salsa and marinated olives.

Salsa was made of tomatoes, cucumbers, green chili and herbs. It was very tasty and quite spicy.

However I couldn't enjoy all of it as the service was too fast and they brought my udon noodles after 10 minutes so I was not even half way through my nachos.

The noodles dish (10.50 EUR) was really tasty. It was loaded with vegetables. There were pieces of pak choi, carrots, beetroot, bell pepper, red cabbage, zucchini and lots of coriander. It was very good. Veggies were delicious and crunchy, perfectly cooked.

Tofu teryaki vegan balls on the other hand were not that delicious. The taste was good but they were burned at the bottom and so hard that I couldn't chew on them so I didn't finish.

I also ordered veganized Pastel de nata (2.50 EUR). It was a dough with vanilla custard sprinkled with cinnamon. I have never tried the traditional version but this one didn't impress me much. I think it wasn't that fresh.

The location of the restaurant is perfect but I would appreciate different options on the menu and some finishing touches that would transform basic dishes into something special.

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I wanted to go to Food Temple as I heard many positive reviews. The restaurant is located on Beco do Jasmim 18 that can't be reached by a taxi so bear this in mind. Make sure you input the address in GPS and not the restaurant name. It will bring you 0.5 km far from the restaurant if you try the name - own experience plus I heard other people talking about it at the table next to me.

The restaurant is very small. I think they only have 2 big tables and a couple of small tables. They have a small daily changing menu offering 3 sorts of tapas, 1 soup and 2 mains. They say that all tapas together equal the size of a main dish so you better choose one or the other. I went for tapas as I wanted to try different things.

Tapas consisted of quinoa salad with smoked tofu (3.80 EUR), quesadillas (3.90 EUR) and green beans with some yogurt sauce (3.70 EUR).

I really liked the quinoa salad. Tofu pieces were crunchy and there were also some pieces of steamed broccoli. It was very tasty. My favorite were quesadillas. These were the best quesadillas that I have ever had, not that I had that many in my life! I was not so happy with the yogurt sauce on the beans but I don't like yogurt in general so this could be the case.

I don't have pictures from this restaurant as they seated a guy next to me who was also traveling alone and we spent all evening chatting.

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There are still a few places that I would like to visit next time when I'm in Lisbon and I hope that the vegan scene will grow there by then. As I said at the beginning it is very easy to find vegan food but there is a big potential to grow as the restaurants were always full and you had to make reservations in advance.

And you know what? I had the best local rose wine ever and I can't find the note with the name! If you know Portuguese wines a little and you have one that you really like, let me know the name as it might be the one I'm looking for!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my vegan experience in Lisbon!

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Cheers,
Martina