A Minha Avó - Vegan Portuguese Food — Restaurant in Lisbon

2.5/5⭐️

Visited: October 21st 2025 (~14:10h)

Order:

Iced tea (1,95€), Peixinhos da horta (4,90€), Francesinha (14,90€), Bife da avó with cream and mushroom sauce (13,90€)

Food: iced tea was just chilled, no sweetness or acidity, still nice and refreshing bean tempura should not be allowed to be called tempura: the batter gave more of a fish&chips impression. Much fried batter with one or two sad little beans inside. Came with a garlic mayonnaise that was tasty, and with not too much of a garlic taste. Also way to much pieces, considering the mains are also huge portions Francescinha: I never had the meat version, so no comparison possible sauce tastes like a cream of tomato soup, too much acidity not enough richness and sweetness the sandwich itself was very hard to eat and the taste was all over the place, savory, umami, smokey but also very very salty and a little bit too much of everything fries were a joke, no seasoning and fried to death, texture was way closer to chips than fries Steak: texture was more like meatballs than steak came with rice AND fries, the rice was actually good though, simple but executed well mushroom sauce was very nice, creamy, sweet, savory and with some white wine acidity

Service/Atmosphere: staff was friendly but their English was not the best and it was hard to order and ask questions

Verdict: It was... a lot. Flavor and portionsize wise. The concept of the restaurant is a very meat substitute based approach on vegan food and portuguese cuisine. I appreciate the effort of making traditional food available for non-omnivores (I actually came here because I wanted to try Francescinha once), but this was not executed that well. Also crazy waste of sides, we couldn't finish any of them and we saw other guests taking leftovers home. Maybe the dishes that are more vegetable/mushroom based are better. If you are hungry and vegan this still might be the right place for you.

Rating system: 0⭐️terrible, nobody should eat this 1⭐️ disappointing but edible 2⭐️ fine, nothing special, works if there are no other options 3⭐️quite tasty, might visit again 4⭐️ delicious, visit was worth it 5⭐️ amazing, will/would eat...

First of all, the food was good. It's amazing how they recreate original Portuguese dishes in a vegan way. However, the service was another story—just unprofessional chaos. Here are some highlights:

We ordered a big bottle of water with ice and three glasses. Instead, we received one glass of tap water without ice. When we asked again, we got a jar of tap water (still without ice). After asking once more, we finally got some ice, but it was still tap water. Meanwhile, the waitress told me to be happy because at least we had some water. 🤣

Then the food arrived, and as I mentioned, it was really good. We had beer and a bottle of wine. Once the wine was finished, no one came by, so we had no chance to order more drinks until it was time to order dessert. So, I ordered another beer and a variety of desserts with three spoons, one for each of us. What came was a beer bottle, not a fresh beer, and I was supposed to use the old glass I had. And the dessert arrived with only two spoons, so we had to ask again for a third spoon. 😁 Still, the dessert was super good.

When we asked for the bill, the waitress acknowledged this and said she would be back shortly. Then the employees started having a nice conversation at the entrance. In the end, we had to ask three times for the bill, including leaving the table to go straight to the waitress.

So, if you want to enjoy nice vegan food and experience very chaotic service, give...

A fantastic vegan experience!! (From a non-vegan point of view) 10/10 restaurant

Food we ordered:

Croquetes de "Carne" - 9.5/10 Very flavourful, reminded my girlfriend of true meat croquettes. They were amazing, a true knockout.

Bitoque com "Ovo" - 10/10 Amazing what they could do without any meat or eggs! It tastes just like the real thing and better than many "real" bitoques I've eaten before.

Carne de "Porco" à Portuguesa - 9.5/10 Delicious dish, looks just like the original and it felt like I was eating it straight from a traditional Portuguese restaurant. The only reason it's not a 10/10 is that the seitan texture is so different from meat that it took me out of my nostalgia at times. Overall an amazing dish.

Doce da Casa - A light and tasty take on the traditional "Doce da Casa". Tasted like something new while at the same time staying close enough to the original taste to give you the feeling you're eating a "Doce da Casa".

For drinks we ordered the Limonada de Morango e Gengibre and the Ice Tea of the day and both were super refreshing and pleasant. If you enjoy sugary drinks, these may be too sugar free for you.

Overall, I definitely recommend trying this restaurant at least once. Remember to reserve a table though, as it is difficult to get a table on the weekends if you just walk in.

Thank you to the staff who were amazing with us...