Manjerica

Thor and I spent a morning in Lisbon before heading to Maria and Mario’s wedding in Badajoz. We stared the day with some wonderful vegan breakfast at Manjerica.

It was a small cozy place close to the main square in Lisbon. The cafe was filled with mostly other tourists but we didn’t have to wait to get in. The street seating was on a slightly-busy street, so, Thor and I sat inside. The staff that showed us the table was friendly. She gave us a little basket (fun!) to put our bags and my big floppy hat in and then proceeded to explain the menu.

The menu featured many local dishes reimagined as vegan options, and we were eager to try them all! The waitress showed us pictures of their dishes on Instagram to answer my questions, which made it easier for me to decide what I wanted for breakfast.

We started with the oat-pumpkin pancake and a vegan pastel de nata (a custard pastry famous in the region). It was one of the best pancakes I've ever eaten! I wanted the recipe! The pancake was fluffy and airy with hints of pumpkin and cinnamon, which I really enjoyed. It was topped with peanut butter and maple syrup that were perfectly runny, complementing the pancake's consistency.

We also ordered their Scrambled Tofu with Tomatada and Breadsticks, and their Feijoada with craft smoked alheira (vegan alheira), roasted pumpkin, and basmati rice.

I often eat scrambled tofu for breakfast, so I was really curious about theirs. The breadsticks were, well, breadsticks—a bit too narrow and crispy to hold the runny tomato tofu scramble. The tofu was a tad too sour and tomato-heavy for my taste, but it was good nonetheless.

The Feijoada had vegan alheira (vegan version of a type of Portugeese sausage) and kidney beans and pumpkins cooked in a portugeese sauce. As someone that has never eaten meat I am rarely excited to try fake meats but Thor is often more curious about them. To me this tasted very much like an Indian Rajma-chawal. It was seasoned well, I barely tasted anything of the alheira and Thor and I were discussing if it was even there in the dish 😆 Nonetheless, as we are used to eating rajma-chawal and the likes quite often, the dish didn’t feel that special but the taste was good.

The portion sizes of all dishes were reasonable. We may have ordered one dish too many, but we were also packing food for the long bus journey to Badajoz, so we took the pastéis de nata with us.

All in all, I would rate Manjerica 4/5. It was fun to try Portuguese-inspired dishes, even though we don't eat fish or meat. The restaurant was centrally located and had quick service. It's definitely one of those places I'll recommend to friends if they travel to Lisboa!