It's the Basque for 'plants'
Pros Excellently priced, novel dishes
Cons Finding out what's on offer is hard work, variable desserts.
Practical
Home delivery or takeout only. Most dishes can be microwaved, but "meat" courses need conventional heating. Cutlery, serviettes not provided, but we didn't ask if they're available.
Find
Website Not as informative as it might be. Best to visit or phone.
Access Two steps down from door to counter.
In Short
Hopes? A new plant-friendly experience.
Reality? Worth the try.
First Impressions? A very smart shop-counter area.
A USP? Vegan meat dishes. Yes, you read that right.
The food, in three words? Divided the crowd.
Can they get the staff? One chap behind the counter and on the phone.
Service with a smile? Very helpful server, chef-owner appeared to give advice too.
Friend friendly? I'd recommend anyone to try it.
Rating for dating? You need a dining room and a kitchen.
Tip? No.
Change one thing? Lemon mousse wasn't for us.
Going back? We're honestly not sure.
Compare & Contrast
Plant-based dining at Pizzi and Dixie.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Can this work out? A take-out (not a takeaway) in mid-Malasaña, whose chef is focused entirely on "vegetable-ecological" food. And he isn't sticking to lentil stews or deep bowls of quinoa. The aim is traditional, three course menus, with dishes that, theoretically, you can't have if you're not a meat eater.
The set menu is €12.50. A starter. main, dessert and drink are included. Although there are ciders and beers in-store, the deal is soft drinks only. On this Spring Saturday, the set menu was Vegetable Soup, Veal Stew and Lemon mousse. For more coverage, we made up a second of our own; Ceviche, Spring Stew and apple pie. Interspersed with some conventional vegetable choices, how would our first vegan meat and fish dishes shape up?
Madrid Vegano have a photo of the ceviche here. The key thing is it didn't taste like ceviche, not due to a shortage of fishiness, but a lack of lime. I wanted refreshing zing and acidy oomph. It was missing. There was plenty of taste of the sea, largely down to that rarest of things in Spain...samphire. So fishy was this in fact, that it was too much for a seafood sensitive member of our group. The use of artichoke heart and tomato just about works, but without that citric component it's seaplant salad.
Soups come in a decent portion size - think a large coffee mug, ready to be microwaved. Our vegetable version held few surprises, but was densely root-vegetabled, with pearl barley adding texture. We think there were (another Madrid rarity) parsnips in there. The broth had a decent depth of taste. Hearty.
And so to the mains. The talking point of course is Vegan veal. How on Earth would this go? Answer...oddly.
It's a weird one. Veal substitute might have some thinking Japo-scandinavian soya bean and essence of cow, but the ethics aren't fawlty for a moment - this is purely plant-based. Meat eaters will find it different as much in texture as flavour - slightly chewy but fibre-free. Vegetarian eaters...well I don't know. Is there a market that wants to eat acceptable ethically unacceptable dishes? Tweet us and tell us.
Still, the sauce had a excellent depth, with texture and flavour between Malaysian potato curry and a stroganoff. Those potatoes did a good job of showing off the sauce's excellent savoury flavour. The no-veal (it's what the menu calls it) went down fine with me, but less so with some who didn't take to the unusual texture. It's a partial success, but with the novelty done, would we repeat it? Honestly, as a meat eater I have to doubt it. But there's not much point visiting a vegan takeout without a vegan viewpoint, so here's HW;
A vegan very happy with the non-meat meat meeting a suitable standard. Good to know. And that Spring stew was certainly good stuff, albeit a side dish to meat eaters, so it felt like it needed to be part of a bigger dish to me. Plenty of tomato, a pleasing bit of spice helped things along.
Desserts...well swings and roundabouts. Apple pie is not hard to take the dairy out of and was excellent. I confess it was even better with a splodge of Ikea Vanilla sauce on the side. Lemon mousse was a misfire for all of us. The flavour was OK, but an odd, grainy texture didn't appeal at all and we didn't finish it.
So can this work out? Are there enough Vegan-vegetarian eaters to pay the bills? There's loads of V-friendly in Malasaña. Two restaurants within 100m of this place, and ecological supermarkets springing up like mushrooms on every street.
Perhaps there's enough of a market. But Landareak need to sort out their information channels. If you stick to the net, it looks like there's not much beyond the daily menu. But we reckon, from popping in, there are 20-odd dishes on offer, with an impressive window of desserts as well as biscuits, bread and a chiller cabinet with plenty to offer.
When you're relying on home delivery for your business you need to tell everyone out there what's on offer. And they're not doing that well enough.
Bottom line: we recommend trying the food, as we believe in discovery. That said (and we admit this is a confusing message), we're not sure how much you're going to like it.
Dish of the day: Veal in red wine sauce
Pros Excellently priced, novel dishes
Cons Finding out what's on offer is hard work, variable desserts.
Practical
Home delivery or takeout only. Most dishes can be microwaved, but "meat" courses need conventional heating. Cutlery, serviettes not provided, but we didn't ask if they're available.
Find
Website Not as informative as it might be. Best to visit or phone.
Access Two steps down from door to counter.
In Short
Hopes? A new plant-friendly experience.
Reality? Worth the try.
First Impressions? A very smart shop-counter area.
A USP? Vegan meat dishes. Yes, you read that right.
The food, in three words? Divided the crowd.
Can they get the staff? One chap behind the counter and on the phone.
Service with a smile? Very helpful server, chef-owner appeared to give advice too.
Friend friendly? I'd recommend anyone to try it.
Rating for dating? You need a dining room and a kitchen.
Tip? No.
Change one thing? Lemon mousse wasn't for us.
Going back? We're honestly not sure.
Compare & Contrast
Plant-based dining at Pizzi and Dixie.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Can this work out? A take-out (not a takeaway) in mid-Malasaña, whose chef is focused entirely on "vegetable-ecological" food. And he isn't sticking to lentil stews or deep bowls of quinoa. The aim is traditional, three course menus, with dishes that, theoretically, you can't have if you're not a meat eater.
The set menu is €12.50. A starter. main, dessert and drink are included. Although there are ciders and beers in-store, the deal is soft drinks only. On this Spring Saturday, the set menu was Vegetable Soup, Veal Stew and Lemon mousse. For more coverage, we made up a second of our own; Ceviche, Spring Stew and apple pie. Interspersed with some conventional vegetable choices, how would our first vegan meat and fish dishes shape up?
Madrid Vegano have a photo of the ceviche here. The key thing is it didn't taste like ceviche, not due to a shortage of fishiness, but a lack of lime. I wanted refreshing zing and acidy oomph. It was missing. There was plenty of taste of the sea, largely down to that rarest of things in Spain...samphire. So fishy was this in fact, that it was too much for a seafood sensitive member of our group. The use of artichoke heart and tomato just about works, but without that citric component it's seaplant salad.
Soups come in a decent portion size - think a large coffee mug, ready to be microwaved. Our vegetable version held few surprises, but was densely root-vegetabled, with pearl barley adding texture. We think there were (another Madrid rarity) parsnips in there. The broth had a decent depth of taste. Hearty.
And so to the mains. The talking point of course is Vegan veal. How on Earth would this go? Answer...oddly.
It's a weird one. Veal substitute might have some thinking Japo-scandinavian soya bean and essence of cow, but the ethics aren't fawlty for a moment - this is purely plant-based. Meat eaters will find it different as much in texture as flavour - slightly chewy but fibre-free. Vegetarian eaters...well I don't know. Is there a market that wants to eat acceptable ethically unacceptable dishes? Tweet us and tell us.
@honestlymadrid
Still, the sauce had a excellent depth, with texture and flavour between Malaysian potato curry and a stroganoff. Those potatoes did a good job of showing off the sauce's excellent savoury flavour. The no-veal (it's what the menu calls it) went down fine with me, but less so with some who didn't take to the unusual texture. It's a partial success, but with the novelty done, would we repeat it? Honestly, as a meat eater I have to doubt it. But there's not much point visiting a vegan takeout without a vegan viewpoint, so here's HW;
Spring stew thing was unexpectedly delicious. Fantastic flavour in there, good use of spices and herbs.
The 'beef' dish was lovely. Not too meaty to be off putting to those who don't actually like meat but very well cooked, like it had been in a slow cooker for hours and again delicious flavours.
The ceviche was interesting and I'm glad I tried it, but too 'sea' tasting for me personally. Am sure it'll hit the spot for anyone that might miss that flavour.
A vegan very happy with the non-meat meat meeting a suitable standard. Good to know. And that Spring stew was certainly good stuff, albeit a side dish to meat eaters, so it felt like it needed to be part of a bigger dish to me. Plenty of tomato, a pleasing bit of spice helped things along.
Desserts...well swings and roundabouts. Apple pie is not hard to take the dairy out of and was excellent. I confess it was even better with a splodge of Ikea Vanilla sauce on the side. Lemon mousse was a misfire for all of us. The flavour was OK, but an odd, grainy texture didn't appeal at all and we didn't finish it.
So can this work out? Are there enough Vegan-vegetarian eaters to pay the bills? There's loads of V-friendly in Malasaña. Two restaurants within 100m of this place, and ecological supermarkets springing up like mushrooms on every street.
Perhaps there's enough of a market. But Landareak need to sort out their information channels. If you stick to the net, it looks like there's not much beyond the daily menu. But we reckon, from popping in, there are 20-odd dishes on offer, with an impressive window of desserts as well as biscuits, bread and a chiller cabinet with plenty to offer.
When you're relying on home delivery for your business you need to tell everyone out there what's on offer. And they're not doing that well enough.
Bottom line: we recommend trying the food, as we believe in discovery. That said (and we admit this is a confusing message), we're not sure how much you're going to like it.
Dish of the day: Veal in red wine sauce
