Porto - another very veg friendly city

We've just spent the last week in the city of Porto, on the Douro River which opens to the ocean. Since it was a repeat of a visit in 2016 we already had some favorite places to visit and to eat. I was happy to note that there were a few new additions for this visit to go along with the repeats.

We had our first meal out at DaTerra, Baixa (https://www.daterra.pt/) which has an amazing vegetarian buffet for lunch and dinner everyday. There are different items at each meal and each day and often some changes during the hour we were there. It is best to go hungry as it is an all you can eat buffet and hard not to sample everything. Most everything is vegan and many items were also gluten free. There is another sister site in the beach town of Matosinhos which has similar fare. We walked the 10K to see the beach and have a meal there.

Vegan salad for 2 at Vegana

A new find this year was Vegana on Rua Famosa which was very near to where we lived. It is run by one woman who serves and makes each meal carefully (and slowly). We had a large salad for two that was filled with all kinds of veggies (lettuce, tofu, seeds, vegan cheese, tomatoes, orange, onions, cucumber, mushrooms and grated beets and carrots.)

Pad Thai Salad at Epoca

Epoca (http://epocaporto.com) was another good option run by a couple. We had fun talking to them and returned for a second visit.  First I had a pad thai salad with grated red cabbage. Richard had a chickpea hot dish. The second time they ran out of food as we got there late in the afternoon but they made us a delicious salad with what was available in their kitchen - kale, spiced chickpeas, nuts, mushrooms,cucumber, cauliflower dressed with fresh Portuguese olive oil.

Portobello burger at Bugo Art Burgers

While trying to visit a restaurant that was closed every time we attempted to go, we came upon a review of  Bugo Art Burgers on Rua de Camoes 131. I read that they would make whatever one asked for so we decided to try it and see. I asked about vegan options and they were happy to make something special  - a portobello burger for me with mango sauce topped with roasted red peppers and onion with a side of roasted rosemary potatoes.

Our experience, wherever we went was that folks were not put off at all by the word vegan and were kind and considerate to offer options. (Of course we were not going to the traditional Portuguese meat based restaurants).

Now we are off to our Camino to Santiago from Porto to Santiago, Spain and I will surely write about what offerings we find on that route.