Hello and happy Wednesday!
This past weekend I was in Turin for the first time, pre-celebrating my 4-year anniversary with my boyfriend, while enjoying both the cultural & culinary offerings of this beautiful northern Italian city.
Confession: The culinary aspect definitely weighed into my vote for this destination. My boyfriend was quite surprised when, a few days after he had suggested Turin and received a noncommittal response from me, I sent him an excited message that I’d love Turin, along with my hotel suggestions. He was (rightly) suspicious about this sudden excitement, and only when I later told him that Turin is one of Italy’s most veggie-friendly cities did he understand. (He just laughed and told me not to focus my Turin research on just restaurants 😀 )
We had an absolutely wonderful weekend and perfectly combined exploring the city (a really great free walking tour the first morning provided us with an overview of the sights as well as interesting insights into the history and culture) with fueling our explorations while trying some of the amazing vegan options.
Here are my recommendations for vegan food in Turin:
This place is not to be missed. It offers true Italian fine dining in a really stylish, but also homey atmosphere – and it happens to be all vegan! (It also has a menu section with raw dishes). My boyfriend and I each had a primo piatto (pasta with a broccoli cream sauce for me and spinach gnocchi in a mushroom sauce with slivers of truffle – divine! – for him), then shared a secondo (a chickpea tempeh dish with pear and endive) as well as a dessert (chocolate mousse with buckwheat granola and dried persimmon). The whole evening was an absolute treat and really inspiring! Really can’t recommend this enough. Just make sure you have a reservation ahead of time, as it did fill up quite quickly. (Luckily I’d already made us a secret reservation days before our trip 😉 ).
Location: Via Santa Giulia 2, 10124 Torino
This vegan Italian burger chain (also located in Rome, Milan and Monza) has a cool vibe and a really fun burger menu. You can literally eat the rainbow here with buns ranging from charcoal black (ok not really a color of the rainbow, but you get what I’m saying) and turmeric yellow to cherry pink like the “Cherry Bomb” burger my boyfriend tried. I went for the “Cheesy Chico” which was a chickpea based patty full of herby flavor and a wonderful cheesiness. Also definitely go for the potatoes – we shared some and these little wedges were so delicious and not too greasy.
Location: Via Antonio Bertola, 29/c, 10122 Torino
This was one of the places on my radar, so when we accidentally passed it after our walking tour, on our way to Flower Burger, I had to have a quick look inside. And, of course, you can’t have a quick look and spot tasty treats without also grabbing something to go. I spotted some croissants, including a charcoal one and ended up going for a wholewheat croissant with a blueberry jam filling for breakfast the next day – it was so delicious! I wish I could have gone back for a proper meal, but at least I got to try something 🙂
Location: Piazza Vittorio Veneto, 8, 10123 Torino
This vegan Italian restaurant, deli and PASTRY SHOP is also not to be missed in my opinion. It’s located slightly outside of the touristy center, but you can take a scenic walk back to the main attractions along the river Po, while digesting all the pastries you couldn’t resist. We went there for lunch on the second day and both ordered pizza – which was so satisfyingly doughy and thick, and really tasted like regular non-vegan pizza. Afterwards we kept the employees busy and entertained, ordering lots of items from the deli counter to take on the train with us as well as pastries and treats to bring home, in a mix of Italian (my boyfriend) and English & the odd mispronounced Italian word (me), while constantly asking what things were and changing our minds amid the never-ending options. I’ve never been to a fully vegan pastry shop, so this was truly a kid-in-candy-shop experience for me 🙂
Location: Corso Tortona 2, 10153 Torina
Note: What’s also great about this place is – unlike many others – it’s open on a Sunday!
There were more places I would have liked to try, so I’ll mention these too:
- Mezzaluna – we had a peek inside on our way to Soul Kitchen, and it also has a little shop at the back
- L’Articiocc (it wasn’t yet open when we wanted to check it out, unfortunately)
- Il Gelato Amico – vegan gelateria! Need I say more?
And finally, one last tip is the health food store Ditta Ceni – which is right behind Mezzaluna. Here we found dried carob pods and I am now obsessed. They are so delicious and definitely worth stocking up on if you’re nearby!
Hope you enjoyed reading, and please let me know if you’ve tried any of these places or have any other recommendations!
Blueberrysmiles 