Lisbon is one of the easier European capitals for eating vegan and gluten-free, but menus still hide animal ingredients where you least expect them. At Aura Wellness Bar in Campo de Ourique, the honest version reads like this: all five cold-pressed juices and the SUNNY SHOT are vegan and gluten-free; all five smoothies are gluten-free but not all vegan, because RADIANCE contains collagen; and five of our eight food options are fully vegan.
How vegan-friendly is Lisbon, really?
Genuinely friendly, by European standards. Portugal made a vegetarian option a legal requirement in every public canteen — schools, universities, hospitals, prisons — with Law 11/2017, born from a citizens' petition, and Lisbon's restaurant scene has moved further still: fully plant-based kitchens, dedicated gluten-free bakeries and functional cafés are now normal across the city. Finding somewhere to eat is not the problem.
The traditional table is another matter. Portuguese pastry is built on egg yolks and wheat flour, the bread basket arrives unasked, and classic dishes lean on salt cod, cheese and cured pork. Eating vegan or gluten-free in Lisbon is rarely about finding the right neighbourhood — it is about reading the menu in front of you correctly.
What should you check on any menu?
First: "veggie" is not vegan. Vegetarian dishes here routinely include eggs, cheese, butter and honey, so if a menu does not say vegan explicitly, ask before ordering.
Second: wellness menus have their own blind spots. Collagen is always animal-derived — bovine or marine, since no plant produces it — so any beauty-focused blend deserves a question. Whey protein is dairy, and it is the default powder in many blenders. Honey hides in granola, energy bars and dressings.
Third: gluten goes beyond bread.Standard oats carry a genuine cross-contamination risk with wheat, soy sauce is brewed from it, and spelt — often marketed as an ancient, healthier flour — is still wheat. If you are coeliac rather than gluten-sensitive, preparation matters too: shared blenders and counters are a fair question, and an honest café will answer it precisely instead of waving it away.
Which Aura drinks are vegan and gluten-free?
Every cold-pressed juice we make — RAW, BALANCE, SERENITY and VIBRANCE, from €7 — plus the SUNNY SHOT (€4) is vegan and gluten-free. Not by reformulation, but by composition: the bottles contain pressed fruit, vegetables and roots, and nothing else. RAW is spinach, cucumber, celery, lemon, ginger and microgreens; the SUNNY SHOT is ginger, lemon, orange and turmeric. IGNITE (€8), the vegetable-led opener of our juice cleanse days (it is not sold as a standalone bottle yet), is the same story: beetroot, cucumber, lime, celery and ginger. Full ingredient lists live, bottle by bottle, on our cold-pressed juices and shots menu.
Are the smoothies vegan?
This is where honesty earns its keep. All five smoothies (€9 to €11) are gluten-free. They are not all vegan.
RADIANCE (€9) contains collagen, and collagen is animal-derived — there is no vegan version of the molecule, only plant blends marketed as collagen support. It is the working ingredient of the drink, so we will not pretend it can be swapped out. If you are vegan, RADIANCE is simply not your smoothie.
The other four — BLISS, CREATIVITY, ENERGY and JOY — are built on fruit, almond milk and our homemade coconut whipped cream, which is coconut, not dairy. Each comes with a choice of whey or plant-based protein: order the plant option and all four are vegan.
What food at Aura is actually vegan?
Five of our eight food options are both vegan and gluten-free: Energy Balls (€3), Crunchy Salad (€9), Carrot Cake Bites (€3), Cacao Peanut Chia Pudding (€6) and Coconut Lentil Curry (€10).
The other three we label precisely rather than optimistically. Greek Salad (€8) is vegetarian and gluten-free — feta is the reason it is not vegan. Overnight Oats (€7) and Power Bars (€4) are vegetarian — the bars contain honey — and because both are built on standard oats, we do not flag them gluten-free. Every dietary flag sits on the product pages of our food and bites menu.
How do you order vegan or gluten-free at Aura in Lisbon?
Say it at the counter — that is genuinely the whole system. The team swaps whey for plant protein on any smoothie, and every product we sell publishes its complete ingredient list, because transparency is the brand's founding habit, not a compliance exercise.
You will find us at R. Domingos Sequeira 11A in Campo de Ourique (Tuesday to Friday, 08:00 to 20:00; Saturday, 09:00 to 19:00), inside MVMT Studio in Santos, inside Fine Club in Campolide, and across Lisbon on Uber Eats. For allergen detail and more dietary answers, our FAQ on dietary options covers the common questions.