Vegetarian food, for the non-Vegetarians
Approx. €25 - 35
Nearest Metro: Barceloneta
The Green Spot
Carrer de la Reina Cristina, 12
www.encompaniadelobos.com
+34 938 02 55 65
Go for: The 'activated carbon' black pizza | roasted fennel w. orange & chilli | beautiful, luxurious interior
Good for: something special | super chilled lunch / dinner | relaxing Sundays | date night
Need to Know: Day | Night | Takes Reservations | Sunday Brunch | Family Friendly | Dog Friendly
Haven’t you heard? Vegetarian food is sexy.
With long limbed legumes and rainbow colour palettes, modern veggie dishes seem to have an elegance that meat ones often lack, with an emerging wave of chic, young clientele to match.
This is perfectly exhibited by The Green Spot, which opened its doors less than a year ago, in a puff of perfect lighting and oversized, sinkable furniture. Ceilings are domed, walls are whitewashed, and a leafy glass atrium sits as the centrepiece.
Seemingly gone are the ramshackle veggie 'caffs' of the 1980s, back when hippies and wholefoods went hand in hand - this is vegetarianism for the millennials: beautiful, yes, yet weirdly impersonal at the same time.
It’s Sunday evening, and as we walk in I suddenly panic that I may have misjudged the situation and chosen somewhere too formal...until I see a giant fluffy dog strut past the bar, and somehow don’t think the place can take itself too seriously.
We side step the cocktails (‘A Quinoa Temptation’ sounds just too hilariously incongruous) for some good red wine - (there’s also a selection of natural wines if you’re that way inclined) - and peruse the menu.
Everything is weird and wonderful sounding, including an array of pizzas, pastas and salads as well as classics from Mexico, Japan and South East Asia, all given the veggie-luxe spin.
The service is sadly more on the weird side, staff appearing slightly confused at our attempts to order, with one waiter coming all the way to our table, specifically to tell us that we were ‘not in his zone,’ before leaving again. I just have to assume that he must have an off-beat sense of humour. Or is wrongly trying to quote lyrics from a Kanye / Jay Z tune. I digress...
The food arrives, nothing too small and fiddly-looking and the kind of dishes that have you itching to Instagram.
Lemon and pistachio pesto pasta (€14.50 - fresh, fabulous), aubergine and courgette tacos (€13 - yum, no meat needed) and roasted fennel with orange and chilli (€11.50 - soft, zingy, salty).
But it’s the ‘activated carbon’ black pizza with caramelised onion, goats cheese, pumpkin and pistachios (€15) that vies hardest for the limelight, virtuous sounding yes, but indulgent enough to still be a proper pizza.
Green Spot describes their food as ‘vegetarian for the non-vegetarian’ - and in my opinion, they definitely deliver. There’s no element of ‘naughty food done nicely’ which I find a little frustrating - there's just an upfront focus on great fresh produce and classic dishes, that just happen to not include any meat.
And a mood I originally feared a little stuffy, is actually just lovely and relaxed.
It's definitely not a place for a buzzing uplift, instead an oasis of calm tucked away from the manic crowds of Barceloneta. If that sounds good to you, then try it.
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