Do you feel a bit tired of cooking homemade food? Seriously, I’m prepping food day and night, and it’s tiring. Ever since I got my independence and started cooking for myself, I began to value my mom even more.
Sometimes I get a kick out of cooking, but it’s also tough to keep up the rhythm every day. When that happens, I just go out and eat some delicious vegan food with my wife.
However, we don’t always have the best experience, and I sense that vegan gastronomy is still trying to catch up here in Portugal. There are more options, but nothing that would blow you away.
Honestly, you’re probably gonna miss more than you hit, but there are ways to drastically increase your chances of finding the right restaurant/bar/establishment, instead of constantly shooting yourself in the foot.
Anyway, here are my tips for eating out as a vegan:
#1 – Use Happy Cow To Find & Learn About Restaurants.
If you’re in a new city (or country) and don’t know where to eat, you must get Happy Cow on your phone. If you can’t install the app, you can always visit their website.
How does Happy Cow work?
Well, Happy Cow makes vegan, vegetarian and vegan-friendly establishments easy to find. You can use it to find restaurants, bars, cafes, as well as health shops and dessert parlors.
Whether you’re in Europe, Asia or America, this app gives the exact location of those establishments, along with specific information to help you choose (or not) the right establishment.
The app gives you an interactive map, as well as the ability to set filters based on preferences. You can get directions, reviews, and even price and website information about the food establishment. The community within Happy Cow is quite active, and so you will probably find pictures and detailed reviews to help you come to a decision.
Here’s what you can do within the app:
- Get directions, phone numbers, reviews and website information
- Detailed experiences as well as photos
- Sort filters by distance, type of food, rating or type of store
- Has an interactive map
- You can leave your own reviews.
The app itself is also very easy to use, but remember that it might not be as useful in certain locations. For instance, if you got countries like Thailand, Kenya, Mozambique (developing countries, you may not find it to work as well, or contain as much info.
#2 – Connect With Local Vegans
Don’t know what restaurant to go to? Try connecting with local vegans through the Meetup app, or join facebook groups about veganism, and ask within the group if someone is willing to show you around in a specific city.
What you’ll find is that locals usually know the best spots, so you’re more likely to find a good vegan or vegan-friendly restaurant if you leave it to someone more familiar with the place.
Most vegans are sweethearts, and they’re willing to give you some pointers, or even go out with you to show you their favorite spots in the town they live in. Plus, the added bonus is that by bonding with other people, you create the best memories.
This might actually be a better idea than using Happy Cow, since you’ll be relying on a person with actual experience.
#3 – Plan Ahead by Checking The Menu
After you round up a couple of interesting food establishments, you need to go one step further and research the actual restaurant. How are the reviews like? Is the restaurant vegan? Or is it a restaurant with some vegan-friendly options?
Don’t forget to check their menu and understand what they can offer.
For instance, I love vegan restaurants with fewer options. Having just a handful of options helps the restaurant preserve the quality of their dishes. I’ve had several experiences where restaurants have huge menus, but a lot of times the food is lacking.
This can happen in vegan restaurants and regular restaurants with vegan-friendly options.
Furthermore, you will find that the vegan-friendly options in most restaurants are not there to captivate and usually suck. And you’ll also find that in vegan restaurants with 101 options you can’t simply choose anything.
In my town, I usually visit ONE place every time. This particular place has one different vegan dish per day, and several amazing vegan desserts. In other words, they put their focus on one dish, and the result is incredible.
Furthermore, they don’t advertise themselves as a vegan joint, but the emphasis they put on that one dish makes it delicious.
#4 – Call The Restaurant Beforehand
Every month, my wife must reunite with her boss and work colleagues in a restaurant to discuss job-related questions.
However, she’s the only vegan person in the group. As you imagine, it’s not comfortable for her, and I imagine it’s also not fun for her colleagues to eat at a vegan restaurant. Of course, my wife would never force her ideals upon others, and as a result, she just goes with whatever her colleagues choose.
In order to be able to eat with her colleagues, she often calls the restaurant and asks whether they can accommodate a vegan.
Sadly, she often finds that chefs will chop up a few leaves, raw vegetables, and give you this bland, cheap-looking dish for the same prices as a specialty. They’re not a vegan restaurant, so you can’t really blame their standards.
Still, there’s a way to avoid such unpleasant meals.
And that is by calling the restaurant beforehand and being specific with your request. You must not be afraid to ask, because most restaurants are willing to accept your request, as long as you pay for it.
Sure, not everyone is willing to go through that trouble, but if you want to guarantee a pleasant experience in a non-vegan restaurant, you must set the standards yourself. Try suggesting a specific recipe to the restaurant, and get the waiter or chef to cooperate with you, by being as polite and as appreciative as possible.
If they go the extra mile for you, leave them a tip. If you can’t leave them a tip, give them a thoughtful souvenir, which will help you bond and create relationships that might help you in similar situations.
#5 – Don’t Get Your Expectations High
Alright, regardless of the food establishment you’re visiting, please don’t get your expectations high. If I can speak from experience, I’d say that my bad experiences outnumber the good ones. Especially in restaurants with vegan options.
I’ve eaten dozen of veggie burgers in vegan-friendly restaurants, and I can’t really name one that impressed me.
Sure, it’s