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Soulgreen, Milan

Less than two years old, Soulgreen is already being described as Italy’s number one vegan hotspot.

Located near Corso Como, in the modern part of Milan, Soul Green is revolutionising traditional Italian food thinking with its innovative vegan and totally plant based cuisine. It’s a must visit!

The setting

Soulgreen is a genuinely beautiful, green focussed restaurant where you can totally escape city life. As you walk in you instantly relax.

Plants hang amongst the industrial lights and you feel like you’re in a total different world.

The high, stripped back ceiling makes the space seem airy, even when it’s really busy. The vibe is brightly painted chairs, recycled furniture and mosaic topped tables. There’s also a special room (which is filled with even more plants) which you can rent for parties and special occasions. There’s free wi-fi and kids get a welcome kit.

What else?

Not only are Soulgreen are revolutionising traditional Italian food thinking, their ordering system is also bang up to date. It’s all electronic as you order your food on iPads. You simply place your order in the basket and send it straight away to the kitchen.

The green juice test

I ordered the Lean ‘n Clean juice which included pineapple, fennel, pear and tea. At first, it tasted a bit sweet with the pineapple and pear, but after a while, you could really taste the freshness of the fennel which I really liked! The Ginger Head juice was a combo of carrots, ginger, celery, apple and pear. I like to really taste the ginger, as it makes the drink a little bit more fresh.

The little things

By eating at Soulgreen, you automatically help to provide water and food to children in need through Soulgreen’s charity programme ‘proud to give back’.

In 2018, in collaboration with Mission Bambini, Soulgreen will give three meals a day to 280 children in Markapur, India.  In 2017, Soulgreen provided a healthy and balanced daily diet to 150 children living in Cambodia.

What we ate

As we were  Italy, we ordered the Italian bowl. I couldn’t resist the caponata, which is one of my favourite Italian dishes.

It came with a base of rocket and the caponata had lots of flavour and chunks of super soft eggplant. It was accompanied by a simple paprika and  tomato salad with balsamic, vegan pesto and the best part- Cecina. I’d never had this before. It really tastes like omelette- it’s an Italian kind of flatbread made from chickpea flour, water, really good extra virgin oil, pepper and salt.

Our second  bowl was Lebanese,  a fresh mix of  hummus, falafel, greens and quinoa salad.

 

The bill

Lean n Clean medium  5EU
Ginger Head medium  5EU
Italian Bowl  15EU
Lebanese Bowl  15EU

What made us glow?

The plants and greenery. The waiter explained they are there to balance out the pollution of Milan. The plants filter and clean the air and this really made me glow.

 

 

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Milan: Açai Sisters superfood bar

Açai Sisters is Milan’s first superfood bar.

They believe that nourishing your body and mind is crucial – and they are on a mission to spread their belief. Being 100% Vegan in Italy is still a sensitive topic, but in my opinion Milan is a much richer food hotspot for plant lovers!

Açai Sisters

The setting

The setting is simple, it’s a grab and go with seating.

Think marble tables, painted metal chairs and potted cacti.

They have a little terrace with a cute pink awning over it. There’s free wifi.

The little things

There are  two large fridges stacked with takeaway juices and their amazing deserts – strawberry cheesefake, avocado chocolate mousse or a 100% vegan matcha tiramisu (we’re still in Italy, right!).

The green juice test

We wanted to try a green cold pressed juice, but all the juices were sold out sadly at a Saturday brunch,, so we chose a smoothie instead.

It was a combo of banana, mango, pineapple, ginger and rice milk.

The smoothie was thick, more like a nana-style ice cream, so we ate it with a spoon, but it was very good – especially as it was a very hot day and it was icey cold.

What we ate

We went for the classic açai bowl which came with strawberries, banana, goji berries, honey and granola. With açai, you can never go wrong, but the granola was quite sweet.

It takes some courage to put a cauliflower based pizza on the menu in Italy!

Açai Sisters

But we can assure you, they still know how to make it taste amazing! The three  little mini pizzas came on a bed of raw spinach with some olive oil. The tomato sauce was so rich in flavour and was perfect combined with the grilled veggies and the cashew cheese.

We got the strawberry cheesefake for dessert and had to ask if it was really vegan, because it was so creamy!.

The base is deliciously crumbly with a second layer of the “cream cheese”. The topping is stewed berries, which adds perfection. We also had to try the brownie and banana bread on the counter as well!

The brownie is more like a Snicker. with a bottom layer of caramel with chunky dates. Finally, the banana bread was really fresh and wasn’t over sweet.

The bill

Berrylicious  7.50EU
Tropical yellow  5.50EU
Cali-flower pizza 9.00EU
Strawberry cheese-fake 4.00EU
banana bread  2.00EU
Raw Brownie  2.00EU
Water 1.00EU

For more Milan inspiration click here. 

What else?

You can order Açai Sisters on deliveroo and Ubereats.

What made us glow?

The fact that plant based food is growing in Italy and Açai Sisters have changed their traditional pizza, pasta  mindset and bravely put zucchini noodles and cauliflower based pizza’s on the menu!

 

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Mantra Raw Vegan, Milan

Mantra Raw Vegan is the very first raw, vegan food bar in Milan. It’s curated by chef Alberto Minio Paluello, who trained at the Matthew Kenney Academy in Santa Monica.

Paluello brings his Italian passion for food and expertise in raw “cooking” to this trailblazing, innovative kitchen. It’s  an Instagram delight and a favourite of the King of Fashion, Karl Lagerfeld.

The setting

The café is based in the more contemporary east side of Milan. I went with a friend and as we entered there’s a market space where you can buy take away options like raw desserts, juices and snacks.

There’s also a half open kitchen where you can see the chef creating his artworks.

At the back of the restaurant is the dining room. The setting is minimal and modern with a stripped back palette, aluminium lighting and coloured vinyl chairs. A few little cactuses add warmth to the room. I loved the cosy the grey blankets.

The little things

They have a shop and a selection of containers where you can scoop your own portion of one of their treats. There are kale chips, chocolate walnuts and raw crackers.

The green juice test

Our green juices came in a wine glass. All the green juices were sold out so I went for the Purple Zen and my friend chose the Yellow Aim.

The Purple Zen was a mix of beets, apple and ginger and tasted more like a green juice – it wasn’t sweet at all (despite the apple).

The Yellow Aim was really special, because it was made of melon, lime and rosewater! The rosewater and the melon combined together to make the juice really delicate, but the lime gave it zing.

What we ate

We both had the two choice menu – a starter and a selection dish of the day which was pumpkin ravioli and walnut with mushroom balls. We ordered 2 different dishes and starters and shared everything between us.

The starter was a homemade carrot bread topped with a very thick layer of avocado smash, cherry tomato, lettuce, pretty edible flowers, e.v.o oil(extra virgin oil) and lemon marinated fennel on top, which gave the dish a very fresh flavour. The mushroom and walnut balls came with marinara sauce and some lettuce garnish.

The “no meatballs” were very crispy which was pretty impressive for raw food!

Our other plate was carrot bread with “feta cheese” and mushrooms. The feta cheese was stunning, it was really thick like real feta, but was made of soaked almonds and nutritional yeast! The pumpkin ravioli were filled with pine nuts and spinach fondue and came with some cilantro/pumpkin seed pesto and sweet and sour apple.

For dessert we had the tirawmisu (as we are in Italy)!

The base of the tirawmisu was made from hazelnuts soaked in caffeine-free coffee, and it did really taste like the traditional soaked lady finger cookies. The cream was made of coconut with beetroot juice (for the pink colour).

We also had a raw pie with a base of dried mango and a topping made from from soaked cashews with lime. Delicious!

The bill

Two Choices menu x 2   24EU
Purple Zen   5,90EU
Yellow Aim  5,90EU
Tiramisu  7EU
Raw pie  7EU

 

What else?

Mantra Raw Vegan is the first raw and vegan food bar in Italy so massive applause to them!

What made us glow?

It’s a real feast on your plate, all the food looks so pretty that you almost don’t want to eat it! Plus, the variety of ingredients they combine make the dishes very special …and it’s all raw, so packed with nutrition!