Padoca Vegan Restaurant — Restaurant in Vila Nova de Gaia

I love my carnivore diet through and through and it was only because my wife had some leverage on me and forced me to eat vegan for once, why we have visited "Padoca" in Porto with quite some bad mood and scepticism (me not her!). The waiter received us very kindly, welcoming and nice and gave us a quiet and cosy place to sit... which was confusing and extremely suspicious. Everybody knows about the unpredictable temper and mood of vegans, however not today! I still kept my guard up just to be sure! So I asked our nice vegan fella to give us a recommendation to avoid studying lists of nuts and dried lentils and beans etc and he recommended a mozzarella starter and a Burger and some Ice Tea. I accepted the challenge and ordered the recommended dished, as did my wife. Just a few moments later our starters arrived and though I have accepted something like chicken pox on a plate, our starter looked better then most dishes I have seen elsewhere. Still sceptical, I took a bite and ... a firework of wonderful and well balanced flavoures started to expand to my brains. So the starter was gone in no time, making it 1:0 for the vegan kitchen. However, the Burger was still to come and since I have eaten Beyond Meat stuff and alike earlier and which was not at all convincing and a disappointment every single time to me, I was certain, that they couldn't win this one. So the Burger arrived hot and juicy and I took a first bite and looked up to my wive! "No way!". "What?" she replied. I was 100% sure, that this couldn't be vegan! The patty had roast flavoures like a kebab right of the charcoal grill. The bun was toasted and nicely warm, sauces where obviously self-made. All in all delicious and far away from any vegan fabricated product from the super marked. That was a hell of a next level vegan Burger. After the dessert (Tiramisu) I was aligned with the universe. Thanks and compliments to Padoca's excellent service and kitchen. We will...

Probably the best service I've ever gotten in any restaurant.

We went there twice. The first time we had sausage, cheese and bread as a starter, my girlfriend had a burger as her main and I tried a chicken Francesinha. The taste was exceptional. The waiters were all really friendly, I was regularly asked if I wanted more sauce. Afterwards we took some pastries to go, those being one Pizza pastry, one filled with seitan, a KitKat doughnut and a pistachio croissant. All of them were amazing as well, and we even got a free Pastel de Nata because I tipped 6€ (which is pretty standard on a bill of 54€!). The food for that price is unbelievably good, mains are 13 - 15€, a doughnut is 2.80€. Similarly sized and decorated doughnuts are usually twice that in price in Germany.

The second time we went there was our 7 year anniversary. We had the same starter but different main dishes. My girlfriend had what was basically a baguette bun filled with sausage, topped with cheese in a Francesinha sauce, and I had Patatas Rotas, which consists of seitan strips, sausage, potatoes and cheese in a Francesinha sauce. For dessert I had the cheesecake and my girlfriend the semifreddo. Like before, food and service was absolutely amazing. The waiter even took our picture after I asked him to because of our anniversary. Because of that we got a free snickers doughnut to take home!

I would eat here everyday if I could. Definitely the best vegan...

What. A. Find!

Padoca is an awesome spot for vegan breakfast, brunch, lunch, lanche, or dinner (early dinner some nights). Not only are the people working there sweet but the food is great too.

We stopped in for a weekday brunch and were googley-eyed over the pasty case full of vegan pasteis de nata, croissants, donuts, and other delectable pastries. They have a full menu of torradas, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, franceschina, and more, as well as a build-your-own waffle and crepe station. All plant-based! They also of course have coffee, beer and drinks.

We tried a fried mushroom wrap (best dish on the table!!), a seitan and vegan cheese torrada (toasted sandwich), and a seitan and green chili pastry. All were super delicious. But the wrap really blew us away. Crispy fried mushrooms, greens, carrots, fried onions, and mayo inside a soft (crepe? Tortilla?) that was grilled. Served with herbed potato chips. We both had that eyes-rolling-back-in-our-heads expression while chowing down on it. Strong recommend on this dish.

Some items aren’t available until late morning or noon, like burgers and sandwiches.

Yay for super delicious vegan...