THE BEST PLANT-BASED FOOD IN THE COSTA-DEL-SOL

When I first moved to Spain finding plant-based options in restaurants was almost impossible. Actually, there is one typical spanish dish which is naturally plant-based which was always our go to when we ate out and that was a vegetable paella. Still delicious! But, now there are so many places and options popping up everywhere by the coast and I love it! I have been using my trusty Happy Cow app which helps me find all the eateries in the area that serve plant-based food. Here are 3 of my favourites which I think have the best plant-based food in the Costa-del-Sol…

WILD CAFE & RESTAURANTE – ESTEPONA

Wild is a flexitarian restaurant which means most of their menu is vegan or vegetarian but they do have a few meat options too. They have a gorgeous outdoor terrace dining area with lots of lucious plants and herb gardens. It is also dog-friendly which we love to see!

They do a brunch menu until 1pm, it had been aaages since I had gone for brunch! I used to be the biggest lover of Eggs Benedict, so when I saw a plant-based alternative on their menu I was so excited to try it! I was not disapointed, it was really delicious. It was actually more like an Eggs Florentine but with tofu instead of a poached egg. I don’t know how they made the Hollandaise Sauce but it was buttery and so scrumptious.

G had the Wilderness Waffle which was sooooo good too. Its a kimchi waffle with avocado and sprouts served with homemade vegan mayo and pear sweet chilli sauce.

Another thing on the menu did catch my eye though so after we finished our brunches we put an order in for the A-maize-ing Ribs, I was so intrigued to see how this would be. It says on the menu ‘sweet corn spare ribs with homemade chipotle barbeque sauce and coconut raita’, I was imagining pieces sweetcorn formed into a rib-like shape or something like that but I was so impressed when it came out.

The way they had cut the cobb of corn lengthways and into quarters made it feel very much like eating a rib, chewing off all the yummy barbequed sweetcorn and discarding the ‘bone’. I think I will be getting this again next time we go! I also want to try their black bean & shiitaki tacos… mmmm I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

GIOIA PLANT-BASED CUISINE – MARBELLA

Gioia’s menu is 100% plant-based food, most of it is raw. We have been trying to incorporate more raw food into our diets recently which led us to finding this place. The restaurant is quite small but has a cute little terrace out the front. We already knew what we wanted to order before we sat down as I had been studying their menu online the night before and looking at the photos of the beautiful dishes on their Instagram page.

First we shared the Zucchini Avocado Tartar which was so delicious and fresh and tasting with cashew lemon sauce and pomegranate.

The for one of the mains we went for the Ravioli which is filled with Brazil but & cashew ricotta topped with black garlic sauce. The flavours in this dish… oh my god. Incredible! I have never tasted anything like this before it was sooo good! I’m not sure exactly what the raviolis themselves are made from but it seemed to be a very thinly sliced, dehydrated vegetable, possibly butternut squash or something like that.

We also ordered the Lasagne and as you can see, it is so beautiful! The colours! The yellow zucchini is thinly sliced to be the the lasagne sheets which hold together the delicious filling of spicy marinara, cashew ricotta and Brazil nut pesto. Obsessed! I really want to re-create this at home for my next dinner party, it is so impressive!

I highly recommend a visit to this place, it really is food that makes you go, wowwww!

LA LIBELULA VEGAN CAFE – FUENGIROLA

This place we have actually been to a couple of times and the food is always really good and 100% plant-based. The interior has such cute decor, vey boho natural vibes. They do a ‘menu del dia’ which is only around 11 euros for 3 courses. You can choose from a salad or soup to start, we ordered one of each so we could share, as usual. Both were super delicious, but the butternut squash salad was especially good.

For main course I had the mousakka, Lebanese style. It had layers of aubergine with textured soy, tomato sauce with black olives and vegan cheese. G had the Kebab which was a oat and whole-grain spelt wrap stuffed with lightly spiced seitan, leafy greens, tomato, poached onion and tartare sauce. We do try not to eat too much processed meat and cheese alternatives but sometimes we’re just in the mood for that kind of thing and these dishes definitely satisfied those crazings!

For the desert you have the choice of either a piece of one of their delicious cakes or a coffee or tea. So we ordered one piece of the carrot cake and one coffee to share. Their cakes are amazing! They always have a number of them to choose from like the Nutella cake, Banoffee pie, cheesecake and Oreo cream pie! I love cake so much!

Are you a real foodie like me? Which one of these restaurants do you think you would like to try first? Let me know in the comments below x