venn — Restaurant in Porto

A MUST when visiting porto as a vegan, but also for anyone else.

A changing menu, of 8 savory dishes and 2 sweet dishes (at least that's how it was when we were). You have the option to either pick dishes for each person or have a testing menu of either 3 or 4 plates per person, we chose the 4 plates and picked only the savory, since the two sweet dishes weren't something we were interested in, and I think we made the right choice.

First of all the place is pretty small and has an intimate feeling, the service is very personal but not formal. it did get a bit cold at some point, but I think they have some sort of heater that they can turn on if it get's really cold.

the food was AMAZING, I really enjoyed each and every dish, there were of course better and worse ones but in general it was an amazing experience, each dish was beautiful, but not to complicated, felt fresh and original.

I don't think there is a reason to mention the specific dishes since they change, and I am not sure if they will return, but our favorite/s were the beet carpaccio and the zucchini ribbons, both were so good it was amazing. it's also the only place so far that served "flowers" on dishes that actually made since to eat and not just to decorate but provide no flavour.

My three tiny points for the restaurant improvement would be: don't rush with moving with the dishes, in most "small plates" places I've been they take time from one dish to the other, when we were there it went by too fast that we got to enjoyed it a bit less most of the dishes when we were there included some form of oil, in the end it felt a bit overwhelming one dish after the other. make sure to either mention when ordering or just put on in the menu that some dishes are spicy / hot, it's important since not everyones tolerance...

Venn is a lovely completely vegan restaurant that also focuses on sustainability (as you can tell by their menu and the books they have on display in the space). They have both an a la carte and as prix fixe seasonal menu, as well as a wine and NA drinks list. We opted for NA drinks at dinner, and also weren't super hungry the day we visited so just shared a few dishes and got dessert. Their NA drinks are actually really good, not an afterthought at all like they tend to be at most restaurants. I can recommend their sparkling lemonade, which is actually tart and gently fizzy, as well as the ginger ferment which has lots of ginger flavor but isn't actually too spicy. We had the gnocchi, the mustard green salad, the roasted carrots, and the balsamic onions. For dessert, we had the poppyseed brioche and the ice cream. Our favorites were absolutely the balsamic onions and the roasted carrots. The onions were so intensely flavored with the richest balsamic, and combined with the pear butter, which was almost miso-like in texture and flavor, it was heaven. The roasted carrots similarly played a symphony in the mouth of perfectly cooked vegetable, juicy fruit segments, rich tahini sauce, and just the right amount of heat from the chili oil. The desserts were spectacular as well, highlights being the plum jam with the brioche and the tart and smooth ice cream--some of the best plant based ice cream I've had.

They're very welcoming and unpretentious, even though it is the kind of place with the noma guide to fermentation on display. Don't be intimidated and definitely...

My wife (the GrubChick) and I would like to give a shout out to Venn Foods for their vegan meal kits!

We very recently moved to Porto and the GrubChick and I have made 16 of these meal kits and have loved 14 and liked 2. Normally, I am a meatatarian, but decided to give these meals a shot because the GrubChick is vegetarian/vegan. The recipe cards are easy to follow, the packaging is paper and not plastic (as you know plastic sits in the landfills for thousands of years). The ingredients are very fresh every time, and the dishes turn out delicious!

Have you ever wanted to try to eat vegan because it is healthier, but didn’t know how to cook at home? Have you ever wished someone would pre-measure and package all the spices you need so that you don’t have to buy a bunch of spices that sit getting stale in your cupboard? How about getting all of the ingredients delivered to you in the perfect measured amounts to make delicious vegan meals?

Anyway, check them out at https://www.vennfoods.com/en/meal-kits-2/#mealkit-selector. If you have any questions, shoot them an email, they are very customer service oriented.

HOT TIP: If you’re a slow chopper, do what we do, chop everything...