THE BEST (VEGAN) FOOD IN BARCELONA
I've been making a conscious effort to eat more and more vegan recently. I've been pescatarian for over 2 years, and about 4 months ago, I decided to try and cut out dairy. I would say I eat vegan about 80% of the time, but one thing I struggle with is eating out, particularly in Ireland. Dublin has a few great places that have vegan options but it's not a common thing. I find it especially hard when eating out with other people who aren't vegan or even vegetarian. When I went to Barcelona on a solo trip back in November, I decided to do some research to see if there was good vegan food to be had there. And it turns out there are quite a few great options, so I gave a few of them a try and found one of my favourite restaurants I've ever been too! I think people think eating vegan is the hardest thing in the world, and I'll admit it can be tricky sometimes, but often it just requires a quick Google search (or a look on the Happy Cow website) and you might end up finding some pretty amazing food!
La Trocadero
This restaurant has really good reviews and was located in a really convent place, very close to La Sagrada Familia. I really like the decor and vibe of the place, but I wasn't overly impressed with the food. Don't get me wrong, it was good, just not great. I do think the main problem was I ordered badly. There were so many options that sounded good, so I went with the classic. It included vegan bacon, and I'm just not the biggest fan of most fake meat. I also learnt I don't like vegan mayo, just as much as I don't like standard mayo. Which is quite a lot. I mean, I hate it. I really hate it. However, the wedges were good and I would definitely go back and try one of their other burgers. I did also get a vegan cookie and it was INCREDIBLE, so I would go back just for that!
Veggie Garden
I have mixed feelings about this place. They have a HUGE menu, so if you have a big group of people who have different tastes, this would be a good place to go! I got a bit overwhelmed so I went for their menu deal, which limited my options. I went for hummus as a start, their silver tray main course and then chocolate mouse for desert (all vegan). They brought me out a bowl of hummus to begin it. That was it, just hummus. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do with it. I adore hummus but I've never eaten it with a spoon. Is that a thing? Am I missing something? Anyway, moving on, the main course was delicious. I've gotten this India dish before in a restaurant here in Dublin and I like getting some samples of multiple dishes. I think its just a cool idea. Plus they give it to you on a silver tray. The chocolate moose was good, but honestly I was so full from the main course, I couldn't finish!
BarCeloneta Sangria Bar
SPOILER ALERT: THIS WAS SOME OF THE BEST FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD!Honestly, vegan or not, this food was amazing by any standards. I got their vegan "squid" rings, and they so SO good. I think about them all the time and would be back to Barcelona just to eat them again. I also got the garlic mushrooms and bread, and it was all so fresh and delicious. Of course I had to try their sangria, I went with the Monalisa, which has a combination of cava, lime and mint, passion fruit and elderflower. I'm not a big cava person but it was really well presented and tasted so good. I want to go back and sample every one of their sangria's. Finally, I got their raw brownie for desert and it was pretty good. Not the best I've ever had, but considering it was healthy, it was a nice desert.There was one day were I caved and bought a pizza because I was starving but honestly, it wasn't that great so it wasn't worth including besides the fact that it was most definitely not vegan. I thought Barcelona had a lot of great options when it came to vegan food and honestly, if you put in a tiny bit of research, it's not that hard to find copious places you can eat and if all else fails, just eat every meal at BarCeloneta Sangria Bar, because that's what I plan on doing when I go back to Barcelona!If you want to see what I got up to, where I stayed and how I got around in Barcelona, click here!
Love Jane x