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• The best hope for a vegetarian future in Madrid

I was really thrilled to find this bright, cheerful, popular restaurant offering near-gourmet vegetarian food in the heart of Madrid. Madrid is the least veg-friendly city I have ever visited, and I found it disheartening to discover restaurants with not even one vegan tapas (not even an olive or potato), as if the concept were completely unknown. The existence of Yerbabuena gives me hope that vegetarianism will be increasingly popular; Madrid residents are finally discovering that you don't need meat to have a wonderful time eating awesome food. I hope it continues to draw the crowds it was drawing when we were there. Though we didn't have to wait for a table either time, there were many more people there than in the other veg restaurants we tried. On my first visit, I had an exremely filling menu del dia lunch that had as its main course an artfully constructed layered dish featuring an amazing vegan bechamel sauce. The meal didn't come with wine (just lots of good food), so we ordered a carafe of sangria, which turned out to be excellent. We were absolutely thrilled with the experience. Our second experience was not quite as good, since we came at dinner time, when no menu del dia was offered, and ended up spending way more money for less food. Still, the quality was just as good as before. Yerbabuena is nonsmoking.