Lisbon is a surprisingly vegan-friendly city. Beforehand, we expected it would be difficult to find good vegan dishes because the city is known for its many seafood dishes, just like the rest of Portugal. This is especially evident in the small, traditional restaurants where little to no vegan dishes can be found. Fortunately, there are also many tasty vegan options available. Highlighted below are the tastiest dishes and restaurants in Lisbon.
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Tip: also read the 10 best activities in Lisbon for travel inspiration for your Lisbon city break.
Time out market
The Time Out Market, or as the locals call it Mercado da Ribeira, is Lisbon’s largest and most famous food hall. Locals and tourists gather here every day and evening to enjoy the various dishes offered here by the different tents. Unfortunately, there are not that many vegan options here yet but the two exceptions are Asian Lab and Confraria Sushi do Mercado.
At Asian Lab, you can eat delicious green Thai curries and pad thai. For a moment, you imagine yourself in busy, chaotic Thailand. In addition to these typical dishes, they also serve a good red miso soup with special mushrooms and tofu.
Next door to Asian Lab is Confraria Sushi do Mercado, the name says it all: you can order good sushi here. In addition to sushi, they also serve poké bowls and gyoza.
Marlene Vieira is a traditional Portuguese chef. She herself established a food court in the Time Out Market. In addition to traditional dishes, she also has a delicious, well-rounded tomato soup (note: order without cream) and grilled vegetables on the menu.
Pastel de nata
You cannot have visited Lisbon without eating at least one pastel de nata. It is the most famous pastry from Portuguese cuisine. Wherever you go in Lisbon, they have this delicious sweet pastry everywhere. The traditional recipe is not vegan, but at Zarzuela bakery they have made the pastel de nata vegan as well as gluten-free. Put a little sugar and cinnamon on top and enjoy!
The green affair
The Green Affair is an all vegan restaurant in the middle of the city. Inside, the restaurant looks fairly chic with many shades of gold. Prices are fortunately similar to all other prices in Lisbon: around 5 euros for a starter and main courses between 8 and 14 euros. Main courses include a variety of burgers, poké, buddha and falafel bowls, seitan steak, curries, risotto and more. In addition to these delicious main courses, there are also very delicious desserts to order that will make for a wonderful evening of dining.
Leve
Leve is a breakfast/lunch spot which is next to Rossio train station (from where you can take the train to Sintra). At first glance, this is not a special breakfast spot but I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the menu: lots of vegan options in a place where you don’t expect it at first.
I myself took the vegan burger with mustard and pineapple. This was surprisingly quite delicious. It was something new for me, pineapple on a burger, but as with pizza (sorry to the hawaii haters) I really like this combination. The vegan pancakes in addition were also definitely worth repeating. The vegan porridge and veggie wrap both looked very good as well. The only thing to watch out for when ordering a smoothie is to ask if they can make it without milk. Apparently, I got some kind of glorified milkshake with lots of milk in it without my knowledge.
Mister tapas
As in Spain, you will see tapas restaurants and dishes all over Lisbon. In my opinion, one of the most enjoyable forms of eating because sharing = caring. In Belém, you will find “Mister Tapas” on the waterfront. It consists of a food truck and a patio, but you sit here by the water watching people. Surprisingly, there are also many vegan options to be found, including these delicious baguettes with sun-dried tomatoes, grilled peppers and guacamole with pickled onion. Order a cocktail and enjoy the view.
Cocktails
Everywhere in Lisbon you see stalls with pineapples on them. The pulp is removed from the pineapple and this is thrown into a blender along with your favorite cocktail flavor. After this, you can enjoy a delicious fresh cocktail with a real fruit flavor. It is recommended to share one when there are two of you: in fact, the first one costs 15 euros, a refill after that costs only 5 euros. Just be careful with the piña colada, some add milk to it, so always ask about this.
