Portugal for vegetarians?!
 

We are going to be in Portugal (Sintra and Lisbon) between October 7-17. I am a vegetarian (eat all dairy and eggs but no meat, seafood, poultry). Will I find vegetarian food easily? My DH eats everything so it would be nice to eat at places that serve both the vegetarian and non-veg food. I don't have to have too many choices - I am usually happy with even just 1 veggie item on the menu as long as it is filling. Any suggestions/ideas will be appreciated.

Hi, Aurora,

I have eaten several times at Terra, a vegetarian restaurant in Lisbon that has a couple of things going for it. First, it's in one of my favorite parts of old Lisbon, on a street off of a beautiful old square called Principe Real (there's a cafe/bar there with very nice outdoor seating for a drink before or after). Second, it has an outside garden eating area, which it heats in the wintertime with a lot of portable heaters. Since winters in Lisbon are mild, that makes it almost year round outdoor dining. They serve buffet style, which I am not a huge fan of, but the variety is enormous and the quality is very good. Organic wines, too. You can find the details about this restaurant and other vegetarian restaurants in Lisbon at http://www.lisbon-guide.info/gastronomy/vegetarian

Overall, my impression is that I'd rather be a vegetarian in Portugal than in Spain, where ham seems to make its way into most vegetable dishes. But in terms of vegetarian entrees, I think you are more likely to find them in non-Portuguese restaurants, such as Italian and Indian.

I only went to one Italian restaurant in Portugal, this one in the oh so fancy Hotel Dom Pedro. The restaurant Il Gattopardo has, we thought, good food and reasonable prices. A little pretense in the setting and staff, but the restaurant was just what we needed for our visiting friends whose two kids really wanted some pasta.

An outstanding Indian restaurant is Tamarind, Rua da Gloria 43-45. It's right off of the Avenida Liberdade, coming up the Avenida from Restauradores, the street will be on your left and I think I remember that there's an eyeglass store on the corner with Liberdade. It's really good, and of course has lots of vegetarian options.

Hope this helps a bit, I'm sure others will have lots of suggestions, too.

Thank you - that is very helpful and that was a great link listing vegetarian restaurants. So, is it accurate that I won't be able to just go into any restaurant wherever we may be at lunch time and find something to eat? Especially since we are traveling with a baby, I don't want to have to go looking specially for vegetarian restaurants - would want to eat wherever we are at lunch or dinner time. Not many people are responding to this - I guess it is not such a common issue for people?! What is the word for vegetarian in Portugese if I want to ask in a restaurant?
Thank you.

Hi, Aurora,
To answer your question, I think it depends on what you mean by "finding something to eat." I think it's safe to say that you will always find salads, vegetables, bread, cheeses on the menu in a Portuguese restaurant. You will probably always be able to get some kind of egg dish made for you. But what you are probably going to find less of in Portugal than in the US is meatless entrees on the menu in a "regular" restaurant. And to ask in Portuguese, you would say: Serve refeições vegetarianas? (Do you serve vegetarian meals?) Hope this helps.

P.S. My 23 year old daughter is a vegetarian and never had a problem during the ten days she visited us when we lived in Lisbon a few years ago.

You should check out the very long thread about Lisbon started by Matt from England:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34816717

Even if you don't read it all, if you post a reply to it asking this question, it should catch the attention of Matt, who lives in Lisbon and whose wife, I believe, is vegetarian.

My favorite meal in Portugal was vegetarian: tomatoes with olive oil, Serra cheese, and bread. Heaven.

(Of course, I was staying in an apartment in old town Sintra and ate this on my patio, so that may have added to it...)

We got married in a winery in Portugal and I make the mistake of not advising the caterers that my brother was a vegetarian (vegan, no less). Poor guy, he had a lettuce & onion salad, bread, and olives. And lots of wine...

lol930, I guess he was happy by the end of the day :-)

Sorry for my late reply, yes Lizzy is vegetarian (though if pushed very hard will eat Fish).

Other than a few restaurants mentioned, and Terra is excellent, most places will have omelette as a vege option, of course check for sopa do dia, another option is to ask for plain Açorda with eggs but without the option of gambas.

MOst of the little italian places (and I don't mean Pizza Hut) will offer vege pizzas and the Indian places to offer a wide range of non meat dishes - though I can only recommend 1 place in the whole of greater Lisbon in which I eat.

Most places if you say you are vegetarian they will look to you with pity in their eyes or think you are mad - and that is from almost 10 years of experience.

Matt

Thanks everyone. Matt, would you mind sharing what that one place is in greater Lisbon where you eat?

Yes sure, of course I'm refering to the one Indian place I will eat in having over a number of years visited many which have included such delights as cockroaches inbetween popadoms and food so oily it was not palatable...

And it is "The Taj Palace" in Cruz de Pau, south of the Tagus about 20 mins from where I live. Other Indian restaurants have only disappointed me.

As for my favourite place to eat, well as João knows it is Adega das Gravatas, and there is a little place downtown which is a real locals place with jars of wine and just a few dish of the days. Also a place in Belem is very nice though I forget its name: I had a long lunch there before watching Man Utd beat BEnfica tonight ;-)

Matt

Hi Aurora,

I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian too and spent my honeymoon in Portugal (including Lisbon and Sintra, albeit back in '94). I got lots of those looks that Matt mentioned and did end up eating a lot of eggs and chips or cheese plates (great goat's cheese, btw). Salads were typically lettuce w/shaved carrot and the odd tomato--good but not filling as a meal. We also had terrific pizza but we seem to have a knack for finding that wherever we go.

The Portuguese people are so hospitable and I don't recall a restaurant that didn't accommodate my meatless needs, even when they didn't understand them.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip, enjoy~

I will second the recommendation for Tamarind restaurant made earlier on this thread. The chef's signature curry was one of the best I ever tried, the service was excellent - warm and prompt, and the owner/chef is a dear. It was one of the most favorite food experiences during our travels.