Teresa Carles vegetarian restaurant

When I think of a vegetarian restaurant, what springs to mind is bland food, or food loaded with spices I’m not used to.

Teresa Carles has changed my mind, because its approach is nothing like strange little balls with oriental flavours: it’s all about Mediterranean flavour. Fruit, vegetables, pulses, pasta, grains and a few cheeses are the basic ingredients of every dish.

As any good vegetarian restaurant should, it has dishes with seitan and tofu, essential ingredients in a vegetarian diet because they’re so high in good-quality protein. They make their own pasta, croquettes and seitan, and they buy the best produce at Mercabarna (the city’s wholesale market).

A bright, open-plan, cosy space with part of the kitchen on view is what happened to draw us in off the street. My recommendations are the cuori (heart-shaped pasta) stuffed with seitan, the croquettes and a salad made just as you like it, where you choose all the ingredients you fancy, from the type of leaves, nuts, cheeses and tomatoes to the dressing. We had a heavenly dinner by candlelight, with excellent service and a lovely atmosphere. The restaurant is run by Teresa Carles and her son Jordi Barri. She’s a pioneer who opened one of Spain’s first vegetarian restaurants, in Lleida, which is still going.

They also have a restaurant in Zaragoza (Baobab).

Website: Teresa Carles Restaurant.

Address: C/Jovellanos 2, 08001 Barcelona

Tel: 93 317 18 29

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