Francesinhas Al Forno da Baixa

The vegetarian menu is actually vegan as stated in the previous comments but this national dish wasn't tasty at all. It wasn't the fact that it was veganized but more that it was just mainly cheese, bread, fake meat and the sauce. It was nothing special and there was way too much fat. The service was great though!

Updated from previous review on 2017-03-23

Decided to try out the Porto national food in this place. The service there was incredibly friendly. The lady told us that they were planning on broadening their vegan menu by adding some starters, salads and desserts to the menu in the near future - awesome!

The vegan francesinha felt very real - the cheese could have fooled anyone and the sausages tasted like the real thing. I usually don't eat this kind of food but it was an experience and definitely worth going when visiting Porto or just if you like some junk food every once in a while.

It's great to be able to eat a Francesinha (a very non vegan dish) whenever I feel like it. Even the cheese on top is vegan!

The restaurant itself has a very rustic feel to it and the back wall is full of typical sayings from Porto. The menu has a whole section of "vegetarian" options that are actually vegan. If they run out of vegan cheese, they will inform you.

Every time I went there the staff was always friendly and available for any questions I had related to the food. The only downside is that it is usually rather empty.








Updated from previous review on 2016-12-10

Francesinhas are the dish Porto is famous for. It is a sandwich, with Chorizo, ham and steak, baked with cheese and a spicy tomato-based sauce, often topped with egg. In short, a vegan’s nightmare….

But at Francesinhas da Baixa they also have many vegan versions of this – a hearty and filling dish, with either tofu, seitan or tempeh and vegan sausage and vegan cheese. Quite different from the things I usually eat, but I liked it very much! The fries weren’t that good, though.

It is great to have the opportunity to taste Portuguese food! This is a non-touristy place. It is rather dark inside, to I’d prefer to go there when the weather is bad, or in the evening when it is dark anyway. They are open every day at lunchtime and again from the evening till early in the morning!

Would go there again!

Buen restaurante con opciones veganas. Una buena forma de poder probar platos tipicos de Oporto sin sufrimiento animal.

This restaurant does not have the best Francesinhas in Porto but they have something more importante: vegan francesinhas!

All the "vegetarian" part of the menu (mainly consisting of Francesinhas, hot-dogs, seitan steak, etc) is actually vegan. If, for example, they run out of vegan cheese, they will inform you in advance and ask if you would like to have the dairy cheese instead. Otherwise, ingridients are 100% vegetable.

The Francesinhas can have tofu, smoked tofu, seitan, sausage and Portuguese vegan chouriço, so you have plenty to choose from.

It's hard to find vegan francesinhas so this is definitely a good choice and a must to try in Porto.

Friendly staff.

Updated from previous review on 2016-08-23

considering you are in Portugal an incredible amount of vegetarian/vegan options. the restaurant itself appears to to be a cheap looking place. the staff was kind and polite. also aware of vegan/vegetarian differences. we started with some olives, which were very good. the main dish was, although not looking so overwhelming, good. i enjoyed the tofu francesinha, my girlfriend the seitan francesinha, which was a little bit too savory for me.
so if you fancy design places you will be disappointed, but otherwise you will have a good time and some proper food.

We ordered a Seitan and a Tofu Francesinha both absolutely delicious. Sauce is quite spicy so worth bearing in mind. Good veggie choice (see attached pic)