What I ate Vegan in Athens, Greece

On our trip to Athens this summer we enjoyed checking out some of the local vegan offerings.

Vegan Nation

Vegan nation is a casual drop in place offering wraps and sandwiches, salads, desserts and milkshakes.

Starting our holiday as we meant to go on, we started with some naughty milkshakes! I had an Oreo milkshake made with vanilla ice cream, oreos and coconut milk, my friend had a salted caramel milkshake made with vanilla ice cream, 'salty coconut milk caramel', coconut milk and rice milk. Both milkshakes were absolutely delicious!

I had the shawarma wrap for lunch which was really good. It was marinated soy 'chicken', garlic mayonnaise, beetroot and tomatoes on whole wheat arabic wrap bread.

My friend had the kale salad with kale, baby spinach, coconut milk parmesan, balsamic vinaigrette and pistachios.

Mama Tierra

We went to Mama Tierra in the evening and there was lots of choice on the menu including traditional greek dishes.

I opted for traditional meatballs with an aubergine tomato sauce. The dish came with rice and the meatballs were absolutely delicious, I think they were soya.

My friend went for a Thai curry which was also really good.

Avocado

Avocado is a vegetarian, vegan cafe with an extensive menu. We arrived before they opened for lunch but enjoyed browsing the health food shop next door with many vegan bars and snacks on offer.

I decided to have the Koala panini which is a rosemary, potato and mushroom patty, coriander, tomato and a Caesar dressing. It also came with guacamole and tortilla chips. 

My friend went for the 'vegan jasmine' pasta which is spaghetti in bolognese sauce with mashed fried tofu, garlic, onion, pine nuts and walnuts.

We ended up sharing both dishes and they were both really good. Personally I think the panini patty could have had a little more flavour but I loved the tofu in the pasta sauce, it was a nice change to soya mince bolognese.

For dessert I couldn't resist the Avocado's raw chocolate tart. It is made with cocoa powder, avocados, coconut oil and agave syrup. The base was made from crushed almonds and dates. I usually prefer a biscuit base but the chocolate tart filling was really good.

Peas 

Peas is a lovely cafe with a communal table and a vegan menu with lots of raw options.

We started with smoothies, I had an 'energiser' which was almond milk, banana, cocoa and chia seeds. My friend had the 'Pitaya' and I was quickly envious as soon as I saw the colour! It was made with dragon fruit, almond milk and banana. Both smoothies were so good!

My friend went for the seitan wrap with roasted vegetables, tomato and mustard-mayo sauce. She really enjoyed it and I tried it and thought it was really nice too.

I had the seitan club sandwich with avocado, tomato, carrot, cress and a lemon sauce. It was absolutely delicious. 

The staff at Peas were lovely and even recommended some other vegan places in Athens to try. I would definitely recommend Peas.

Lime Bistro

On our final night in Athens we went to Lime Bistro and actually discovered a really nice area of the city with some night rooftop bars for cocktails after.

We decided to share two mains. Firstly, the Mahaloha burger- a gluten free burger bun (which the menu did not say was blue!), a legume patty, vegetables, vegan cheddar, almond mayo, salad and 'mushroom bacon'.

It came with half a sweet potato with the cheddar sauce and coleslaw. As you can imagine the blue burger bun took us by surprise! 

The burger itself was nice although very filling, the cheese sauce was good and the bread had a really nice texture.

It was suggested we try the Gyros as they are the restaurant's specialty. This is made from oyster mushrooms with traditional gyros seasoning. It is served with almond yoghurt sauce, chickpea pita bread and crunchy potatoes.

The texture of the gyros was very good- you would never tell it was mushroom! All the elements of the dish worked very well together and it was nice to be able to try a traditional greek dish made vegan. The only thing I would say is that the mushroom was very salty so you couldn't eat a lot of it. Although I have been told that meat gyros is the same!

I finished off my meal in the most perfect way, with a snickers cheesecake! This is one of the best vegan cheesecakes I have eaten, the crust was made with crunchy peanut butter and cocoa and the crushed praline and peanut butter it came with made the whole thing just incredible. My mouth is watering just remembering it!

Lime bistrot is definitely worth a visit, even if it's just for dessert!

Athens certainly has many vegan options, these are the just the places that we had chance to try.