Review: Amaltea

by David | Barcelona restaurants

To be perfectly honest, the idea of spending a Friday night in a restaurant that doesn’t serve meat doesn’t much appeal, but when I arrived and found out that it doesn’t serve alcohol either irritation set in.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a vegetarian restaurant, and while I can understand that some people don’t eat meat for ethical reasons, it is a fallacy that it is a healthier option as the human being is designed to be an omnivore and a truly balanced diet therefore includes meat. And I know that alcohol doesn’t have much place in a healthy lifestyle, but after a long week spent slaving over a hot keyboard it is time to enjoy a glass or three of a nice Rioja.

Instead I tried to order a beer to start with, only to be told that it was alcohol free. Taking a look at the menu I saw that they had wine on the list – only to be deflated when I realised that too was alcohol free.

For starter I ordered humus with “pitta bread” – in reality a wrap – and a salad. The humus was good, the salad bloody awful with ghastly iceberg, a few bean sprouts and black olives and missing the one thing that could have livened it up, a good dressing.

I’ve noticed in Spain that they rarely dress a salad well. Usually you find olive oil and vinegar on the table to throw over it, but that’s no match for a French dressing made with good olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a good dollop of mustard.

For a main I ordered pizza as nothing else looked in the least appealing. Instead of having a good pizza with asparagus, artichoke and mushrooms or something similar, it had courgette, and I’m sorry, but courgette has no place on any pizza.

The food wasn’t up to much and I didn’t have any booze to dull the senses either, a lethal combination. Yet I know how good vegetarian food can be, owing to having eaten genuine Hindu dishes years ago – I admit having a weakness for Indian food, but how much more satisfying to have the spices put a bit of life into what can otherwise be a dreary diet.

Otherwise the restaurant is quite pleasant inside and the staff friendly and attentive, so if a booze-free vegetarian restaurant appeals, you might get on better than me.

C/Diputació 164, Tel: 93 454 86 13
Close to Urgell metro