Vegan restaurants in Madrid? Could it be?

If you know anything about traditional Spanish tapas, you can’t blame me for assuming I’d have to be a little lenient with my mostly vegan diet during my trip to Madrid.

But, after connecting with @vegansbaby about where to get good vegan food while I was in Vegas prior to my trip to Spain, she also informed me that there are plenty of great vegan restaurants in Madrid!

Needless to say, I was pumped and wasted no time making a list of vegan restaurants in Madrid to try during my trip. Vogue has a decent list, but I also visited some spots based on recommendations I got while in Madrid, and based on good ‘ol Google maps telling me what was within walking distance.

P.S. I’m sorry in advance for the photo quality, I took these all with my iPhone 6 and didn’t really plan on writing a blog post about this until I realized I needed to share these gems with the world.

Here Are My Favorite Vegan Restaurants in Madrid…

1. Viva Burger

While looking up this place beforehand during my research on vegan restaurants in Madrid, I couldn’t find the menu because I didn’t realize that it was under the portion of their translated website titled, “letter.” I ended up going anyways on my last night in Madrid, and I’m so glad I did. The burgers I had (my friend and I got two burgers and split them), were definitely in the top 2 of vegan burgers I’ve ever had.

I asked the waiter for his recommendations for pretty much everything (in my high school Spanish), and we ended up getting the “Pincho de queso curado” (essentially a vegan baked brie), the BLU Burger, and the Ahumada Burger. We also got the giant chocolate chip cookie before dessert, because if you know me you know I can never resist a chocolate chip cookie.

The pincho de queso was probably some of the best vegan cheese I’d ever had, it tasted just like baked brie. I wish I’d asked what it was made with. And, as I mentioned before, the burgers were so unreal (and the fries were good too). I would go there a zillion times just to try all of them, because I feel like they’re all equally amazing.

The cookie is where it fell a bit short, it was one of those vegan dessert items that you could tell was vegan, if you know what I mean. And it was hard and crunchy, not soft and gooey.

My recommendation is to stuff yourself on burgers and skip dessert, but to definitely check out this spot!

Pincho de queso curado, tomate asada, cebolla caramelizada y canónigos, 4.95€

The BLU burger and the Ahumada burger, 13.90€ each

The Ahumada Burger, 13.90€

Cookie gigantesca de avena y chocolate, 3.60€

WHAT TO ORDER: The BLU Burger, 13.90€

2. Urban Orchard

One awesome thing about this place? It was literally a ten minute walk from my Airbnb (maybe less). Another awesome thing about this place? The owner, Elliot, handmade my food right in front of me and provided awesome conversation during my entire meal. I didn’t even have to divert to my phone like I normally do when I’m eating alone!

I got the zucchini ravioli (as recommended in the Vogue article), and I was not disappointed. I’m going to borrow the description of the dish from Vogue here, because I was busy eating and not taking notes, oops:

“The ‘dough’ is made up of thinly sliced green zucchinis, then they’re stuffed with a homemade kale pesto made from sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds), kale, lemon, pink Himalayan salt, and garlic. It’s topped with dried Inca berries and pomegranate seeds.”

For dessert, I chose one of the chocolate brownie-cakes sitting in the window, and it was ridiculously rich, but not too rich. I ate the whole thing.

WHAT TO ORDER: Zucchini Ravioli

3. Delish Vegan Donuts

Regardless of them being vegan, these were the best donuts I’ve ever had in my life.

Also, probably some of the richest donuts I’ve ever had in my life. I got two (plus a matcha latte — horrible idea because I was sweating when I arrived) because I wanted to try more than one flavor, but I could hardly get halfway through the second after eating the first. Definitely get the speculoos cookie donut — it’s legit the perfect donut, topped with an Oreo and stuffed with cookie butter. I’m glad I chose to eat this one first because the cookie dough one was also good, but not as good. Honestly writing about them right now is making me miss them.

WHAT TO ORDER: Cookie Butter Donut

4. Tiyoweh

While vegan food almost always makes me feel better than non-vegan food, it’s still eating out and can make you feel super full or sluggish, especially because I was eating two or three course meals at some places since I wanted to try everything (not to mention the donuts). Tiyoweh, which was recommended to me by Elliot, the owner of Urban Orchard, is perfect for the person looking for vegan food that is closer to a home-cooked meal.

The way they set up their dinner menu is that they have a “Plato Tiyoweh” every evening, which is essentially a big plate of various side dishes that they curate every night (Tiyoweh Salad + Cream or Soup of the day + Carbohydrates + Vegetable Protein). You don’t know what you’re getting, although I’m sure you could probably ask — I just didn’t because I’m not picky.

Again, I was busy eating instead of asking the waitress what exactly I was eating (worst food blogger ever), but here’s my best description of what was on the Plato Tiyoweh for the evening: avocado mash, sesame crusted mushroom, whole wheat bread, some type of soup, a summer salad topped with sprouts, some sweet potato, and a scoop of some quinoa/onion dish. Everything was really tasty and I cleared my plate. Because there weren’t any small tables available, I ended up sitting at the community table, but nobody joined me so I essentially had a giant table to myself.

For dessert, I was eyeing the Lemon Ginger cake. Unfortunately they were out of it, so I tried the carrot, orange, and raisin cake which was actually really good and not too sweet.

WHAT TO ORDER: Plato Tiyoweh, 10€

5. Zoco Comidero

When I transferred from my Airbnb to a less centrally located hotel, my options of vegan restaurants in Madrid within walking distance was extremely limited. I used my limited Spanish to ask for a vegetable toast at one place (which was surprisingly delicious), and then Google helped me find this place for an afternoon snack.

They were about to close, but they were able to whip up this vegan toast for me super quickly and I legit inhaled it. It was so good and exactly what I was looking for. The roasted tomatoes were heavenly and the seats at the window made for good people watching!

WHAT TO ORDER: Vegan Toast: queso crema de anacardo, tomates asados y pesto de chorella

6. Bunny’s Deli

This was actually the first place I ate after arriving in Spain at 7 AM because most other vegan spots are not open for breakfast on the weekdays. They open at 10, and I was the first one in there with my giant suitcase, ready to feast on some vegan toast.

WHAT TO ORDER: Sourdough Toast Cashew & Tomato Cream with Fresh Cucumber, 6.5€

I hope you’ve found some awesome vegan restaurants in Madrid that you want to try when you visit! If you have other recommendations I didn’t get to…feel free to comment! I have a feeling I’m going to want to head back there soon…