Vegan Food in Rio
Traveling and being vegan in a different country can be quite tricky sometimes, although Brazil is the largest tropical country and has the greatest biodiversity in the world, with an endless variety of delicious fresh fruits and vegetables which makes it into an ideal vegan destination. But the truth is, that during the past years the vegan options in the restaurants has luckily increased, but are still quite limited. As a vegan
- and continuing our previous post 9 Vegan Restaurants in Rio you must give it a try I selected a couple of options in Rio of cozy cafés, snack bars, quick lunch places and good places when you’re on the go and want to have a quick stop to please your hunger.
Vero Gelato Pizza e Café:
A real Italian café offering one of the things they know how to do the best: A good pizza and ice creams! Starting by the ice creams, they have a good selection of local fruit gelatos respecting the season of the many tasty Brazilian fruits like mangos, jabuticaba, jambo, cashew fruit and more! Every week there are different flavors. For the chocolate lover, there’s fantastic no dairy and no sugar added chocolate ice-cream which is worth tasting!
The best still in my opinion is the crunchy and delicious Pizza Vegana al Taglio, with a delicious home-made vegan pesto, cherry tomatoes, aubergine, zucchini and Paris Mushroom.
Adress: Rua Visconde de Pirajá 229 – Ipanema
Opening hours: Daily 10:00-00:30
Hortifruti supermarket:
Local chain of supermarkets that has a closer look to a healthier lifestyle. It has the largest offer of organic products among the supermarkets in Rio and offers a good choice of freshly made juices, vegetables and fruit salads Grab and Go style with
vegan options. So perfect when you just want to get something quick and bring with you when sightseeing.
One of it’s largest unit is in Leblon, with branches in Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo and other districts.
Adress: Rua Adalberto Ferreira 18 Leblon
Opening hours: Daily 07:30-21:00
Mega Matte:
Mate iced tea is popular in Rio, you see very often on the beach sellers with an orange uniform (of one of the most popular brands Leão) carrying a huge can with mate and lemon juice around.
Mega Matte is a chain, present almost everywhere in Rio! They sell of course the popular Mate Iced Tea, but also açaí bowls and tasty savory snacks (pastel de forno) in two different vegan options: aubergine (berinjela) and palm heart with mushrooms (palmito com champignon), both are very good but my favorite is de palm heart one.
Opening hours at most branches: 07:00-22:00
Al Liban:
Brazil had a large Lebanese immigration in the beginning of the twentieth century and still has a deep influence in the culinary of the country and its dishes are very popular among the locals.
Al Liban is a small friendly restaurant/ snack bar offering all the typical middle-eastern dishes with some vegan options: They can prepare a vegan falafel sandwich (have to ask for “sanduiche de falafel vegano”), a delicious vegan chickpea pie that you can combine with tabule salad, rice with lentils and have a full meal or have as a quick snack a Sfiha ( Esfiha in Brazil) made of chard (acelga in portuguese).
Adress: Rua Visconde de Pirajá 303 Loja A
Opening hours: 11:00-21:00
Roll Ipanema:
Small japanese restaurant in Ipanema that has some vegan options. One great is what they call Roll Vegano, which is basically a Uramaki with fresh shitake and pepper spicy jelly. Very tasty and worth trying.
Adress: Rua Visconde de Pirajá 605 Ipanema
Opening hours: 12:00-22:00
Okanossa:
When you want to have that cappuccino with plant-based milk and you don’t know where to go and wants to avoid the Starbucks coffee with soy milk ( In Brazil is the only plant-based milk they offer). Okanossa is the place! Cool little café in the heart of Leblon, besides having a good coffee with home-made plant-based milk they offer delicious vegan bruschetta’s: One with zucchini and hummus and the other with freshly made guacamole on top.
The place also has vegan options for lunch on their daily menu. Worth cheking out.
Adress: Rua Cupertino Durão 79 Leblon
Opening Hours: 09:00-20:30
La Fruteria:
Big and upscale healthy grocery store of Rio. Market itself as Boutique de Frutas (Fruit Boutique), has many vegan products such as plant-based milk and cheese, among broad assortment of other items. Inside at the back of the shop there’s space where they offer smoothies with fresh fruits mixed with plant-based protein and milk. They also have a small café that offers snacks, cakes and vegan cappuccino.
Adress: Rua Visconde de Pirajá 559 Ipanema
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 07:30-20:30. Saturdays 09:00-18:00 Sundays: Closed.
Hareburguer:
Hareburger started with a beach vendor selling his own creation of veggie burgers, his tasty burgers quickly caught the attention of many people and investors. After some years the burgers skyrocketed and became a local chain of vegetarian/vegan fast food. The store has a large variety of vegan snacks, shakes, and most of the burgers can be served vegan by changing the cheese into a vegan one.
Hareburger are in 6 different locations in Rio.
Here’s the newest one in Ipanema:
Adress: Rua Visconde de Pirajá 152 Ipanema
Opening Hours: 11:30-22:00
Azteka:
This real mexican food (No Tex-Mex) little restaurant has a small but great menu. For us vegans the options are tasty nachos with black beans, tamatoes, japapeños and guacamole and the burrito veracruz with grilled vegetables is a must!
Burrito and the taco are vegetarian, so you need to ask at vegan without the sour cream and cheese.
Adress: Rua Visconde de Pirajá 156 Ipanema
Opening hours: Daily 12:00-23:30
Vida Bistrô:
The only 100% vegan bistro of Rio has recently opened its doors on March 2018. Small and cozy in a busy street of Leblon district, this place has a great menu with options varying from tapiocas (gluten-free crepe-like made of manioc flour), sandwiches, bruschetta’s, vegan pão de queijo (Brazilian specialty cheese bread), burgers, rostie potato, pasta, delicious bread, fresh juices, salads, you name it, they have it!
They also have a daily lunch menu, if you happen to be on the beach and want a break to satiate your hunger. Recommended!
Adress: Avenida Ataufo de Paiva 320 Leblon
Opening hours: Mon-Sat
Wakame Sushi:
Japanese restaurant that with the assistance of the Brazilian Vegetarian Society, implemented a full vegan menu of the japanese classics.
Worth a try!
Adress: Rua Djalma Ulrich 50, Copacabana
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 19:00-00:00 Sat-Sun 12:00-00:00
Green Deli:
If you happen to be shopping at this upscale Shopping Leblon and wants a pause to sit and grab something to eat, Green Deli is a good option.
Opened recently (April 2018) and offers many vegan options, such as pastas, snacks, and a daily lunch menu with vegan options.
Adress: Avenida Afranio de Melo Franco 290
Shopping Leblon 2nd floor right in front of Travessa bookshop.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-22:00 Sun 15:00-21:00
On our previous post we gave
Bravietour Incoming believes that a true sustainable travel, what you eat during this travel also has an impact on the local environment. That's why and among many other reasons we designed a round trip for vegans and lovers of the nature in Rio de Janeiro. Get to know more accessing Sustainable Vegan Food Trip
