Amazing Pizza, Brownies and More in Madrid at Pura Vida Vegan Bar

Madrid’s catching onto the vegan scene, in the last year alone over eight new plant-based places have popped up all over the city. One with rave reviews within their first week caught our eye, Pura Vida Vegan Bar, so we stopped in on our whirlwind visit to Madrid. You can find Pura Vida Vegan Bar off Calle Puerto de Toledo, close to the metro of the same name.

The upstairs space is small, and decorated like a well loved shabby chic home. Plants hang in burlap pouches over the staircase, a mural of an empty cage with birds being freed spans the bar, and there are vegan information pamphlets on a table in case you’d like to share the knowledge with your friends and family. Pura Vida instantly feels homey, whether you grab a barstool in the upstairs space or head downstairs where they sit large groups.

Maddy and I have had our fair share of burgers lately, after a delicious stint in Berlin, so we decided to try their pizzas. We ordered the Carbonara, Barbecue, and The Aleman. They are freshly made to order, so expect around a 20-minute wait for your pie, in the mean time you can try a range of the beers, wines, or tapas they’re offering, though we stuck to water. Unlike many restaurants, Pura Vida offers chilled water in carafes to cut down on plastic waste. Two thumbs up for this eco move!

The base is homemade and hand-tossed, their sauces were all varied and well spiced, but theirs was the first ever BBQ pizza I tried, and I was hooked! The balance of sweetness, salt, and earthy flavor of the sauce all rounded out to make this one incredible pizza. Maddy, a fan of BBQ pizza long before he’d gone vegan said it was even better than a version with meat!

You won’t believe it, but after this incredible pizza tasting, we also went ahead and indulged in desserts — I mean, we are technically working here! Maddy chose the brownie with vanilla ice cream and I chose the cheesecake…. both were good, but his was admittedly better. So much so, that every time we touch down in Madrid, it’s one of his first stops. Since we last visited they’ve expanded their dessert menu and even have vegan donuts, too. Be still my heart! (You can bet we will update this post when we visit again.)

We can’t decide what we love more: their incredible pizzas, or their solidarity burgers: each is named after a sanctuary in Spain, and $1 from each burger is donated to the respective sanctuary. Now that’s something I can get behind: eating for the animals, not eating animals!

The staff is lovely and we’re touched by the motives of the brothers who wanted to open a cool, fun, and casual place for vegans to meet up, and even for non-vegans to enjoy incredible food. Be sure to check their opening hours out, they post regular updates on their Facebook page — since sometimes they have to shut down early due to high demand. Seriously, their first week they sold out of the whole week’s worth of food on Day 2. Now, that’s how you start a vegan revolution.