The best Portuguese vegan food and wine in Lisbon
Traditional Portuguese cuisine is notoriously not the most accessible option for those who choose to eat a plant based diet. But at least in Lisbon, just like in most major cities around the world, the number of vegan restaurants offering vegetable based dishes has been increasing in recent years.
Whether it’s done for the environment, for animal’s rights or for personal health, there is no doubt that veganism is here to stay. Not only you will see dishes free of animal products being offered in mainstream restaurants, Portugal is in fact the first country in the world to make it illegal to not offer a 100% vegetarian option in public establishments such as schools, hospitals and prisons.
Vegan restaurants abound in Lisbon, covering a wide range of cuisines or, more often than not, serving fusion dishes. But what if you’re visiting Portugal and would still like to indulge in typical flavors without consuming animal products? There are a few options from our repertoire of traditional cuisine that are by default vegan, like vegetable soups and the rare eggless pastry baked using margarine rather than butter, but these aren’t such a wide representation of how vast and rich Portuguese gastronomy is. Luckily, there are some chefs and businesses that have been developing vegan recipes that manage to capture the essence of Portuguese cuisine.
If you are a vegan food lover exploring Lisbon and its flavors, we invite you to discover these places where to eat and drink vegan food and wines:
Vegan restaurants and must-try foods
Ao26 Vegan Food Project
This is arguably one of the best places in Lisbon to try vegan versions of quintessential Portuguese dishes. From the typical starters of bread, olive oil for dipping and olives, to several main dishes inspired by traditional Portuguese food, all the way to desserts, Ao26 is one of the most solid restaurants in Lisbon’s vegan food scene. Here you can try a sharing platter of vegetable creations that will reminisce of the flavors of Portuguese petiscos such as fried cuttlefish, octopus salad, or alheira sausage. Alongside burgers that could please any meat lover, Ao26’s main foods’ menu includes seitan and tofu versions of popular meat and seafood dishes, with particular highlight to be given to their tofu à lagareiro, a plant-based alternative to the popular salt cod dish.Apart from their permanent listing, their menu includes daily specials that keep rotating. During Lisbon’s summer festival, expect to find dishes that evoke grilled sardines, a smell you won’t be able to ignore if you visit our city during June. Not only does Ao26 have an attractive food menu filled with bonafide local flavors, their wine list with several options of Portuguese organic and certified vegan wines will make a visit to this restaurant even more appealing!
📍Rua Vítor Cordon 26, 1200-484 Lisbon
🌐 https://ao26vegan.eatbu.com/?lang=en
🍴 Must-try: bifana (seitan sandwich in traditional bolo do caco flat bread from Madeira)
Kong – Food Made With Compassion
You will find several typical options in this vegan restaurant with Brazilian and Portuguese background, but their offerings aren’t limited to national dishes. They also have plenty of great food, like fish and chips or burgers. But besides it all you will come across some very portuguese dishes that will make your visit to Kong worthwhile if you’re on the hunt for local flavors: you can start with the alheira fritters, move on to a naughty rice made with mushroom “happy octopus”, satisfy your meaty cravings with a bitoque, or, indulge in one of the dishes that attracts many regular to Kong, that is Francesinha.
Francesinha is a typical sandwich from the northern city of Porto is customarily loaded with several kinds of meat tucked between two slices of bread, and drenched in a tomatoey beer sauce. In Kong’s vegan version, you will be able to enjoy Francesinha stuffed with seitan and tofu, as well as veggies and plant based cheese. Vegan or not, Francesinha is a heavy dish that we wouldn’t suggest ordering if you’re planning to keep active afterwards – you have been deliciously warned!
📍Rua do Crucifixo 30, 1100-183 Lisbon
🌐 https://www.kongveganfood.com/menu
🍴 Must-try: Francesinha sandwich
A Minha Avó
The name of this restaurant translates as “my grandmother” and it anticipates the types of dishes which are served around here: we’re talking about the very best of typical Portuguese food, cooked homestyle but, in this case, completely plant based. A Minha Avó started as a delivery only operation but it soon captivated many locals and created a legion of loyal customers which, over time, “demanded” a physical location where they could head to dine in.
Today, you can visit Grandma’s home to indulge in nostalgia packed flavors such as those from dishes like bacalhau com natas (usually salt cod au gratin in the oven with potatoes and cream), oven baked duck rice, Alentejo style paprika marinated pork, bitoque steak with a surprisingly realistic vegan fried “egg”, and more. Desserts are also one one of the highlights, featuring things like bolo de bolacha, a layered cake of coffee dunk biscuits in between buttercream, or the one sweet dishes omnivores can easily take for granted, doce da casa, which would very rarely be seen in the vegan world. Now, Lisboners don’t have to miss the flavor of their childhoods any more, and visitors to Lisbon can truly taste what Portuguese food is all about, without having animal products on their plate. We love A Minha Avó and, while tasting “her” food, we can feel she loves us back!
📍Av. António Augusto de Aguiar 74B, 1050-016 Lisbon
🌐 www.instagram.com/a.minha.avo.restaurante
🍴 Must-try: bitoque, a seitan steak with a fried “egg”
VeganNata
Traveling to Lisbon and not trying a pastel de nata is like going to Italy and not sampling pasta or pizza. Portuguese custard tarts are, by definition, the antithesis of vegan food. The custard is made with milk and eggs, while the puff pastry that surrounds it could be made with margarine like in the vast majority of cases but sometimes also involves dairy butter or even lard. There are several establishments in town that offer plant based pastel de nata these days, usually made with a filling of vegetable milk like those derived from coconut or oats, dismissing the eggs and going for the margarine to achieve the desired flakiness of the dough. If you’re only going to try one vegan pastel de nata in Lisbon, head straight to VeganNata which specializes in this one treat only. If you’re into comparing and contrasting, we suggest you also check out other bakeries such as Zarzuela.
📍Rua 4 de Infantaria loja 29 B, 1350-268 Lisbon
🍴 Must-try: pastel de nata, of course!
Portuguese cheese and charcuterie
If you thought being vegan would mean you’d miss out on Portugal’s habit of sampling cheese and charcuterie with robust local bread while sipping a glass of wine, think again! Now-a-days you can find several local brands of vegan cheese and charcuterie such as the typical alheira and farinheira traditionally made with pork. These items aren’t always easy to come across in sit-down restaurants, but are widely available in specialized stores, both online and in central Lisbon.
If you’re curious to try some locally produced artisanal 100% plant-based cheeses, we recommend looking out for brands such as Maturo, Frenchie’Z (pictured above), Muka, Benjas, Acayu, Cura, to highlight just a few. If meaty flavors are what you’re craving to complete your grazing board, check out Fumeiro Vegano, Agramonte or Cem Porcento.
Some of the stores we recommend visiting to purchase vegan cheese and plant-based alternatives to charcuterie in Lisbon, include:
Bago Mercearia
📍Rua Tristão Vaz 5 B, 1400-350 Lisbon
Consi.go
📍Calçada da Estrela 79, 1200-661 Lisbon
Loja São
📍Rua de São Bento 106 B, 1200-820 Lisbon
🌐 www.instagram.com/lojasao_lisboa
Lisbon Vegan Market, usually held once a month in Fábrica Braço de Prata, is also an excellent place to come across other brands of independent food producers including, but not limited to, those making vegan cheeses.
Portuguese vegan wine
There are several vegan friendly brands of wine in Portugal, but not all are vegan certified. As such, here we highlight those that we know and trust are 100% free of ingredients of animal origin. While most wines use animal origin gelatins to speed up the clarification process, wines such as these make use of potatoes and peas instead for this purpose. At Lidl you will be able to find Indelével, a Portuguese red vegan wine from the Alentejo region, exclusively for sale at this supermarket chain. In other specialized stores such as Celeiro (several locations in Lisbon), Green Beans (Rua Chagas 31) or Casca Wines online store, you can purchase several other local brands of certified vegan wines.
To sit down for a vegan glass of wine at a restaurant or bar, we suggest visiting Ao26 (Rua Horta Seca 5), Senhor Uva (Rua de Santo Amaro 66A) or O Botanista (Rua Dom Luís I 19). Be happy to note that the popular sour cherry liqueur ginjinha that Lisbon visitors often seek is usually vegan.Yet for fully certified vegan brands check out Licor de Ginja MSR or Vila das Rainhas Ginja D’Óbidos.
🌐 Visit Barnivore to explore an extensive list of vegan friendly wines from Portugal.
Are you a vegan traveler planning to visit Lisbon? Hit us up with your questions or comments on Facebook and Instagram! We’ll love to see your photo shoots, to know about your insights, suggestions and wishes on your vegan food & culture experiences in Lisbon and Portugal. Please share with us, by Kindly tag @tasteoflisboa or #tasteoflisboa.
Feed your curiosity on Portuguese food culture:
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