Vegetarian restaurants in Europe
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Vegi Rant
A well-established restaurant with a strong nutritional bent, Vegi Rant has daily menus for hungry souls wishing to avoid meat. The food is imaginative, light and tasty; as the menu changes on a weekly basis (but always consists of a soup, main and dessert), expect anything from Linsengulasch (lentil goulash) to Topfenlaibchen (tofu loaf). While you're there, stock up on natural remedies and all sorts of healthy goodies at the health food store next door.
reviewed
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Loving Hut
Part of a citywide chain of nonsmoking, no-alcohol vegan/vegetarian restaurants. The menu includes items such as curry soup, vegetarian sushi, and other Asian-inspired vegetarian dishes. There's a great-value self-service buffet weekdays from 11am to 4pm.
reviewed
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Mono
Combining vegetarian food with music, Mono is one of Glasgow's best vegetarian and vegan eateries. Monorail is in the same premises, which means you can browse through an indie record shop while waiting for your food to be prepared. The all-day bar menu serves classics such as a breakfast fry-up, while the main menu has a touch of flair and a Mediterranean influence. The lasagne is well worth ploughing through. Mono also makes a relaxing place for a coffee or a beer.
reviewed
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Le Potager du Marais
A very welcome addition to the Marais dining scene is this organic vegetarian restaurant within easy reach of the Centre Pompidou. The décor is rustic, with lots of lush plants inside, and there’s a full page of options for vegans. We especially enjoyed the onion soup. The ‘Marais Vegetable Garden’ is not cheap, but it makes for a refreshing change from the usual run-of-the-mill veggie eateries that feel more like canteens or at best cafeterias.
reviewed
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St Josef
You’ll find lots of places with vegetarian offerings in this neighbourhood, but St Josef is a canteenlike vegetarian place that cooks to a theme each day (Indian, for instance) and gives you the choice of a small or large plate filled with the various delights. It has a sparse, industrial character, which is part of its charm, and super-friendly staff who will point you in the right direction if you don’t quite know where to start.
reviewed
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Margutta Ristorante
Vegetarian restaurants in Rome are rarer than parking spaces, and this airy art gallery–restaurant is an unusually chic way to eat your greens. Most dishes are excellent, with offerings such as artichoke hearts with potato cubes and smoked provolone cheese. There’s an impressive wine list and staff are friendly and bilingual. Best value is the Saturday/Sunday buffet brunch (€15/25). It also offers a four-course vegan menu (€32).
reviewed
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Joia
Known for seasonal produce and light, clean flavours, the menu at Joia is also imbued with drama and poetry (a winter dish of globe and Jerusalem artichokes, sweet black salsify and pomegranate is entitled ‘Beneath a snowy white carpet’). There’s the odd overwrought clanger but after one too many servings of leaden cotoletta, chef Pietro Leeman’s green realm is nothing short of delightful. The €40 lunch deal is great value.
reviewed
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Soya Cantine BIO
A real favourite for its hip location in an old industrial atelier (think bare cement, metal columns and big windows), Soya is a full-on vegetarian eatery in what was once a staunchly working-class district. Dishes, many tofu-based, are 95% organic and the weekend brunch buffet (€23.50) is a deliciously lazed, languid and organic affair. A glass floor floods the basement area with light.
reviewed
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La Victoire Suprême du Cœur
This Indian-inspired vegan restaurant is a welcome addition to the hubbub of the Marais. Food is actually quite good; avoid the mock-meat dishes like the devilish-sounding seitan (wheat gluten) ‘steak’ and go for a thalli, a sampling tray of Indian goodies for €15. For drinks try the mango lassi or spiced tea. Weekend brunch is €21. No meat, no alcohol, no guilt.
reviewed
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Eat & Two Veg
One of the best vegetarian experiences in London, Eat & Two Veg is bright and breezy with charming, friendly staff and a smart 21st-century American-diner look. The menu is international eclectic – Thai green curry, Lankawi hotpot – and the mock meat dishes (‘sausage’ and mash, cheeseburger and fries) would fool even carnivores. There’s plenty on offer for vegans, too.
reviewed
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Restaurante Vega Viana
Chueca is surprisingly lacking in vegetarian restaurants and even this one does a small sideline in chicken dishes (albeit of the free-range variety); not surprisingly, vegans need not apply. Dishes like zucchini burritos with Manchego cheese and carrot croquettes with sultanas and yoghurt cream should nonetheless keep most vegetarians happy. It has an English-language menu. Smoking is not permitted.
reviewed
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Saf' Organic Bistro
Supremely stylish Saf's menu is creative and delicious in equal parts, with dishes such as mushroom ravioli with marinated beetroot, wild mushrooms, porcini cream and a balsamic fig compote featuring. There are five- and three-course tasting menus that match each course with a glass of organic wine, as well as a fabulous array of cocktails. All ingredients are organic and vegans are catered for.
reviewed
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Vegedrom
Most eating places (including pizzerias) in Ljubljana have at least a couple of veggie dishes on the menu, but the only specialist vegetarian restaurant in town is this appealing if somewhat pricey vegan place at the northeastern edge of Park Tivoli. The platters for two are good value at around €19 to €21, and there's a salad bar and some Indian-inspired dishes around €4.
reviewed
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L'Atzavara
A limited and varying menú del día (daily set menu; €9.90) is offered in this proper little place, and while servings are hardly gargantuan, the grub is tasty. The menu changes regularly but you might encounter a scrumptious paella d'arròs integral amb verdures (whole-rice vegetable paella) or an oven-baked pastís camperol (vegetable pie).
reviewed
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Biocenter
Head past the coffee bar and the dining area, with its warm exposed brickwork and dark wooden tables, to the kitchen at the back to order your menú del día (€9.75 plus drink). A huge plat combinat (single dish with several portions) costs €7.95. Top up with as much salad as you can handle. This is one of several options on what has become a bit of a vegetarian street.
reviewed
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Priroda
Give this restaurant owner a medal for battling against adversity. Why? Priroda perseveres as a superb vegetarian restaurant in a land of carnivores. Discover the delicate flavours, oozing from vegetables and pulses, that are absent in traditional Serbian cuisine. Try the Vivaldi Plate for its smoked tofu, sea vegetables and cereals, and finish with the macrobiotic cake - a stunner.
reviewed
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Third Eye
It's not just vegetarians who flock to the Third Eye, just inland from Pahia Ammos. Crete's only vegetarian restaurant has an eclectic menu of curries, salads, pastas and Greek and Asian dishes, much of it made from the family farm's organic produce. There is often live music on Saturdays. They also have good budget rooms and apartments upstairs with air-con, fridge and balconies.
reviewed
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Akropolis Café-Restaurant
A Žižkov institution, this eccentric cafe features quirky light fittings and the work of local artist František Skála. The menu has a good selection of vegetarian dishes, from nachos to gnocchi, plus great garlic soup, searingly hot buffalo wings and steak tartare. Kids are welcome - you'll find toys and colouring books (though it can get a bit smoky).
reviewed
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Sedano Allegro
Clearly not that many vegans are circulating in Florence, as this vegetarian hangout has found it necessary to add a fish and seafood menu to its vegetarian specials (many of which don't meet vegan needs either). If you don't want fish you could try a filetto di formaggio al whisky (cheese 'fillet' done in whisky). There is a pleasant, shady courtyard out the back.
reviewed
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Golden Temple
Golden Temple’s quietly upmarket setting means that you don’t have to feel like you’re back in school just because you’re eating vegetarian food. Its international menu of Indian thali, Italian pizzas and Middle Eastern and Mexican platters is good and inexpensive. The Temple also offers yoga classes on its 2nd floor; call for the schedule.
reviewed
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Troitsky Most
The Zagorodny pr branch is by far the nicest in this chain of vegetarian cafés, with the Indian spiritual-style Trang Café attached and overlooking a small park. The Petrograd Side branch on Kamennoostrovsky pr, facing the bridge after which it is named, is the original; see the website for three other branches around the city. The mushroom lasagne is legendary.
reviewed
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Avocado
Avocado has a diverse menu, drawing on dishes from cuisines from around the world. Meatless versions of soups and salads, pasta and pelmeni are all featured (although there is no English-language menu, so bring your phrasebook). Grab a seat near the window to watch the passers-by on the boulevard, because the place is otherwise rather austere.
reviewed
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Serendib
Maybe it's fate, but you can call it serendibity to find this first-rate Sri Lankan restaurant just when you were in the mood for something hot and cheap that hasn't served time as a spokesmodel on Italian TV. Vegetarians rejoice at the hearty lentil and stewed vegetable options, while kukulmas (marinated chicken)is crowd-pleasing poultry.
reviewed
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Napfényes Ízek
‘Sunny Tastes’ is a bit out of the way (though not if you’re staying on or near Andrássy út), but the wholesome foods and the speciality cakes are worth the trip. There is an organic shop where you can stock up on both packaged and baked goods, including excellent cakes. Set lunches are a bargain at 600Ft to 1100Ft.
reviewed
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Hiller
Germany’s oldest vegetarian restaurant is a tad hushed and old fashioned but the interior, with colourful draped cloth on the walls, is cheery. Food is well prepared and excellent value.
reviewed