Prishtina’s new health food restaurant has nice vegan and vegetarian options and now offers the city's first soy-based coffee menu.
Review updated on July 13, 2017.
A small health food joint opened in downtown Prishtina a couple months ago offering the capital’s first wide array of fresh juices and several vegan food options.
Everything about the restaurant, from the packaging to the self-service system, indicates that the business was primarily opened as take-away spot. But the new outdoor patio seating, located in the middle of the Rexhep Luci street, shows that the place has a lot of capacity to become great a sit-down lunch and dinner option for casual health food.
First things first: the most disappointing aspect of the menu isn’t about the food itself, but the packaging. Even when dining in, all juices are served in plastic cups, all salads in plastic takeaway containers, sandwiches are wrapped instead of served on plates, and forks and spoons are disposable. For a place with Green in the name, it’s a shame that the restaurant produces so much unnecessary waste even for sit-in diners.
Green and Protein’s menu highlights are the juices, smoothies, and wraps. Although it feels a bit awkward to order some items–for example the ‘Bodybuilders Heaven’ salad or the ‘Fat Flush and Slim Down’ juice–it’s great to have so many options otherwise unavailable in the city. The Spirulina and Avocado Vegan Thrill is refreshing and filling. The Monkey Business smoothie–milk, walnuts, chia, banana and peanut butter–is delicious, but it would be even better with a non-dairy option. Homemade cashew milk, which is a menu item of its own, would be a good option, or even almond or soya milk from the box. In fact, since Green and Protein advertises itself as a vegan-friendly establishment, non-dairy macchiatos and lattes would be great additions to their coffee menu.
The wraps are tasty and filling, with options including tuna, chickpeas, avocado and egg, and chicken tucked into a whole wheat spinach wrap with veggies.
The sandwiches on the other hand have yet to reach a stage of perfection. We tried the vegan burger with a lentil patty, covered in sriracha-reminiscent sauce, a slice of tomato and the staple pickle. The whole-wheat bun covered in sunflower seeds is dense, and generally, more flavorful than the patty, which lacks a certain crispness that would provide a variety of texture.
Unlike the burger, the double egg sandwich is pretty solid and does the job as a protein-fuelled hearty meal. Two sunny side up eggs, curdled cheese, spinach spread, and tomatoes on a whole wheat bun function both as a good breakfast and lunch option (unfortunately other than oats and chia pudding, this is all that qualifies as breakfast-food on the menu). When we tried it however, the lettuce was wilted, but the spinach spread saved the day.
The salad options are also a mixed bag. When we tried the Vegan Spirit salad, the flavors and textures were off: boiled, bland sweet potato cubes (roasted and spiced at least with salt and pepper would be much better for a salad), the dressing was sour, and the avocado was not ripe at all. It’s better to omit and replace with another ingredient when there are no good avocados on hand. The entire time I was eating the salad I thought to myself, this is why people think they hate healthy food. The Light Joy, however, with quinoa, tomato, avocado and honey mustard has been consistently simple and delicious.
Overall, Green and Protein is a good addition to Prishtina’s lighter lunch options. If they begin offering reusable dishes and non-dairy macchiato options, we’d be absolutely sold.
Update, July 2017: We were excited to try Green and Protein’s new coffee menu items and are happy to report that the soy frappe is delicious. Kudos to Green and Protein for being the first place in Prishtina to offer dairy-free but creamy coffee options! We also especially enjoyed our salads served in large glass bowls in the restaurant’s refreshing air conditioning.
23 June 2017 - 11:37
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