If a barbecue or grilled fish is what you’re looking for on your summer holidays, you have plenty of options in the Algarve. However, if you are vegan or vegetarian, the options get a bit shyer. But don’t worry, they do exist! Most of them change their menu every day, which is good when you want to try different flavors until the end of summer. Let’s meet some of them!
Veganices, Tavira
In addition to the grocery store and coffee shop, workshops and lectures are also held at Veganices. The person managing this project is probably the oldest vegan in the Algarve. For over 20 years, Fátima Lourenço, 63, has dedicated herself to a life without cruelty and, whenever possible, also without plastic. That’s why at Veganices — the grocery store and café she opened in Tavira last year — she brings together all her passions. The bulk grocery store sells seeds, flour, nuts, and detergents, promoting the use of reusable bags and jars brought from home by customers. They only serve vegan snacks.
Café Goldig, Lagos
Here you will find several breakfast menus available. With an esplanade that catches the sun most of the day, this vegetarian café in Lagos asks you to be seated, whether for breakfast, lunch, or a snack. For breakfast, you will find six menus, with options such as homemade bread with jams and fruit, toast or granola with yogurt. There is always a dish of the day available, and they change it daily: you can find chili with smoked tofu, roasted vegetable salad with bulgur, lasagna, or beetroot and carrot curry.
Another Side, Faro
Octopus salad, without octopus. O Outro Lado serves Algarve snacks, with a cruelty-free twist. Rúben Jara and Daniela Lopo created a restaurant that won’t disappoint you if you’re craving for traditional restaurants. The dinner menu includes octopus salad (made with palm heart) or clams à “bulhão pato” (with mushrooms as the main character). There is even a bitoque, in which the steak is actually seitan and the egg is made with a mixture of coconut milk, pumpkin, and rice flour. “It really looks like a fried egg” — assures one of the owners. At lunch, there are always three options available (one gluten-free).
Vegan Joe’s, Loulé
A 100% vegan restaurant, that’s what you’ll find at Vegan Joe’s, in Loulé. Vegetable lasagna, vegetable crepes, quinoa burgers, bean burgers, veggie bacon, mushroom pasta, falafel salad, and we could go on. The restaurant usually participates in some gastronomic events in the region.
Alfarroba, Albufeira
Macrobiotic, vegan and organic. This is how you define Alfarroba, a very healthy coffee in Albufeira. It has been open since 2016 and every day has a different menu, with soup, tea, and main course. Dessert is not included, but it’s designed to fit the main menu.
Naturalmente, Loulé
Every day, the Naturalmente buffet in Loulé is filled with vegetarian and vegan dishes. For €8, you have the right to do the round twice, so choose carefully what you have on your plate. As suggestions are always changing, it’s best to check the Facebook page to see what’s available on the day. Seitan Stroganoff, seitan curry with mushrooms, and oven-baked seitan with sweet potatoes are some of their most popular meals.
The Woods, Faro
It is the healthiest bar in Faro, full of salads, natural juices, and sandwiches where anyone who is vegan will find an option to eat well. Salad with roasted beetroot, soy sprouts, and orange is one of the suggestions. It has several healthy juices to drink overlooking the marina if you go up to the terrace of The Woods.
Veggie Café, Albufeira
Daniel Santos and António Gomes left their jobs at a five-star hotel in the area to open the new vegan café in Albufeira. António was the pastry chef at EPIC SANA and invited Daniel, head chef at one of the hotel’s restaurants, as a partner in this project. Every day there is a different soup and dish to order from a menu that costs €9 — and also includes coffee and cold tea. On the menu, you will find many natural juices and, of course, António’s desserts, that always invent something new and delicious. The cafe has a small patio outside with a capacity for 48 people.
Zest, Albufeira
It opened in 2016 when Pine Cliffs was renovated. The Albufeira resort has 10 restaurants and this is the healthiest of them all. It has a salad bar so you can create your own dish, but there are also ready-made meals if you are not in the mood for big choices. Grilled tofu with eggplant, tomato, and cucumber paste in a quinoa wrap, or grilled mushrooms with roasted carrots, pesto, and roasted tomato are some of the vegan suggestions on the menu.