Flax&Kale — Restaurant in Barcelona

FLAX AND KALE, 2 breakfast courses, 1 smoothie: AED70, EUR17, GBP16, US$19

I am coming to that stage in life where I refuse to indulge hotels into their morning daylight robbery known as: the breakfast. There was a time when hotels served breakfast included in their rate because it is not too much to ask for a overnight lodger to expect the courtesy of being fed the following morning. I know deep down that this choice affords customers the opportunity of a cheaper night's stay to deduct breakfast from the room rate. Yet when I am told I can 'enjoy' their breakfast options for 'only £30, EUR30, US$30', this is the highest form of spin eloquently veiling what can only be described as a polite mugging.

The other customer choice - which I am beginning to enjoy - is to explore. You get a lot more for 30 (insert preferred hard currency) outside the hotel than in it.

So within stumbling distance of my austere corporate hotel I found FLAX AND KALE: a name that initially suggested vegan forward or perhaps pet friendly. Flax and Kale after all does sound like the name of two fashionable French bulldogs. I would only confirm its purpose by going.

The menu is thick partly due to it being tri-lingual including, gratefully, English language. Predictably, there is a focus here on nutrient dense food yet they meticulously tabulate an impressive list of superfoods, their respective benefits and map them to dishes on offer.

The decor is warm with wooden tables and communal benches laid with floral patterns, giant windows allowing natural lit to shine through. It is cozy and functional; the sort of space where you can come with a group to catch up or on your own to connect to their reliable fast internet which chasing their cold pressed juices (recommended).

I opted to put a foot in two worlds: a crunchy fish taco "de Teresa's Stairway" (EUR4,95) and and the Mediterranean Avo Toast (EUR5,95) washed down with their self-described Vegan Vampire: a melange of pear, beetroot, carrot, orange, pineapple, lemon and ginger. A cornucopia of power foods that at EUR5,95, a glass should encase me as invincible here forward like an X-Men elixir.

The crunchy fish taco is a novel take divorced from the Malibu version: a curved, crispy and blistered corn taco is stuffed generously with raw yellowfin poke tuna diced with a blanket of cabbage, coriander and spring onions enveloped in a spiced chipotle sauce and dusted with toasted sesame seeds. Oh, and because this is breakfast, a sliver of cooling avocado. In Barcelona is where Mexican food meets Hawaiian poke bowls. This tugs at things that I love including fresh seasoned poke tuna, avocado, a snap of texture from the tortilla and the whisper of smokey heat from chipotle. It's a delicious mess as the taco structure collapses with a single snap rendering this a salad instantly.

The Mediterranean Avo Toast is a twist on the ubiquitous dish taking whole meat sliced bread, a homogeneously smooth avocado puree topped with tomatoes, Kalamata olives, green pesto and - wait for it - coconut plant-based mozzarella. Even mozzarella cheese is not safe from the clutches of vegan appropriation. It's a tale of two dishes: classic trio of candy sweet, vine ripe tomatoes with earthy Kalamata olives and a vibrant herbaceous and umami rich pesto is delightful. I wish this was a shower gel it's so good. However, it is brutally ruined by the coconut laced vegan mozzarella which just does not work. I banish the white imitation stuff from the toast instantly as the fatty coconut taste artificial and just does not pair well with the other ingredients. I am left confused as to how this was imagined, executed and left to serve. Something should never see the light of day. The wholemeal toast is the size of a coffin and equally easy to cut. Overall, scrap the coconut and serve the rest on something less like a brick.

Would I come back to FLAX AND KALE? It’s a comfortable place for coffees and group meet ups. I would be more circumspect about some of the novelty...

Vegetarian Restaurants we tried in Barcelona

FLAX & KALE

Score = 1/5

I rarely write negative reviews, but my experience at Flax&Kale was truly shocking and extremely disappointing.

When I was planning my trip to Barcelona and compiling a list of vegetarian restaurants, Flax&Kale immediately caught my attention. The food appeared amazing in the photos, and with over 9000 reviews and a high score on Google Maps, I didn't feel the need to check the negative feedback.

The restaurant’s décor is stylish and the food is visually appealing, perfect for Instagram, but the taste was a letdown. Some dishes were tolerable, but the carrot cake was so unpleasant that we left it uneaten. The only redeeming item we ordered were the kale chips, but even they were not exceptional.

I'm not sure if it was due to the vegan cheese used in the dishes or the fact that we arrived shortly before closing time, resulting in less fresh ingredients. Either way, I would not recommend this place to anyone.

The service was also quite unpleasant. We arrived around 10:30 pm, and even though the restaurant was scheduled to close at midnight, we were hurried into placing our orders. Moreover, when one of the desserts was served, the waiter slammed the plate onto the table so hard that the whipped cream slid off.

In summary, my experience at Flax&Kale was extremely disappointing, and I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. The only positive aspects of the restaurant were its decor and visually-appealing dishes.

Find out more reviews / travel tips & tricks on my IG accounts: @lawyer.traveler.dreamer and...

I'm not vegan, nor vegetarian, nor care for all the other bells & whistles... But I am a foodie & this was delicious food! The jackfruit tacos stole the show, plenty of flavour & little things like the coriander, lime were a nice touch. The mushroom burger - although not as good as the real thing - was really tasty, moist & unique. I wish the sweet potato fries were crunchy but unfortunately whatever technique they used to cook them meant they just tasted fluffy (which is fine as a jacket potato, not as chips). Finally the fake ribs were also tasty & I loved the creativity of using cinnamon sticks to create the illusion of bones. Not sure they've quite nailed the sauce & spices to achieve a typical American style BBQ ribs (needs more smoked paprika or liquid smoke) or whether the mix was more of a Spanish oriented take on BBQ ribs but it was tender nonetheless & the aubergine hidden underneath was also a good touch. The lemonade slushie was unfortunately bitter even though the waitress said it was sweet & even though the waitress told us all the food would come out together, each dish came out at once (with an extra 20 mins wait for the ribs) so the service was unfortunately poor on this occasion & that drops a star. The garden terrace was a lovely touch location wise. I also wanted the Korean BBQ fish tacos but they didn't have it in stock which was disappointing & strange - you're a popular restaurant in the middle of a city like Barcelona & you've ran out of ingredients for a main...