Cañadu, Malaga – Review

In a country where tins of kidney beans include pork, it sometimes feels as if  Spain has no sympathy for the vegetarian. Luckily this isn’t true. As my partner is veggie we are always on the look out for good vegetarian restaurants, on a recent trip to Malaga we found such a place.

Cañadu wasn’t hidden away in some back street only to be frequented by the most devout veggies and kept secret lest they be discovered and mocked by a pork eating crowd. No this place is right in your face on the square next to the Picasso museum! This flagrant tactic seems to work as we got there when it opened and within a scant few minutes the place was packed, and as I found out for good reason too. They had a regular and specials menu, both great value, with the specials taking the prize for defending the Euro in your pocket. I opted for the regular and my partner the special to mix things up a bit. I started with mushroom croquettes which managed to capture all the soft, meaty umaminess you would expect from a good croquette with a perfect crisp coating. If the rest of the meal is this good I’ll be a happy man.

My partner had gazpacho which was perfectly executed and such a great refresher in the blazing sun. It was a little heavy on the garlic for my taste, but my partner loved it saying is was right on the money in her book. As she had the special she got 4 courses against my 2, so a huge bowl of soup (in truth it was more a stew) of chickpeas, mushroom and almond appeared in front of her. I had to dive in a try it of course and it was just delicious, the big chunks of mushroom in the rich stew was a real treat, although it would have been a substantial lunch on its own with a good hunk of bread.

My main arrived consisting of various veggie patties - soya balls, spinach burger and vegetable burger served with tomato sauce, rice and side salad. They were all really tasty, but I particularly liked the spinach ones. Again this was a large, hearty meal, they certainly don’t skimp on the portions here! After fighting her way through the big bowl of chickpea and mushroom stew the next course was delivered in front of my partner in the shape of fried Asian style tofu with home fries. This was a smaller potion, but under the circumstances it was welcome.

The tofu was good, well fried giving texture and the salty spiciness of the marinade ensured you could never call this tofu dish bland. The fries were good too, skin on and flavourful. After this lunchtime feast she still had an option for dessert. So we decided to share the watermelon, which as it turns out was a very good idea…a humongous slab appeared. It was so sweet and refreshing it was a welcome treat, and perfectly rounded off our meals. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone, veggie or not. A great deal of care and thought has gone into the recipes here and a love of what they do shines through. So when in Malaga don’t do what the Spaniards do, try Cañadu for a change :) Have you been to Cañadu? Remember to share below if you have or if you have found any interesting vegetarian restaurants in Spain. Michael Robinson