Crucina is the raw vegan restaurant in Madrid that has been on our Spain travel list for a while. Today we had a long lunch here. I only had my iPhone on me, the pics don’t do the food justice.

We more than recommend checking out the restaurant, not only if you are a vegan or a raw foody! It’s one of the few raw food restaurants in Spain. With its hearty, Greek twist, the dishes are flavourful and filling. The atmosphere is relaxed and the service simply awesome.

Conveniently located in the city center, Crucina is the only raw vegan restaurant in Madrid. We were super excited to visit and to try all the dishes we checked out on instagram and google beforehand. Otherwise, we did not expect much, just wanted to dive into gourmet raw food we have been successfully avoiding for months, except for an occasional raw cashew ice cream.

My overall rating of the restaurant compared to a “normal” restaurant in its price range is definitely 5 stars.The quality of the raw food, the mostly organic ingredients and the attention to the detail while creating these raw food dishes compared to the food at a regular restaurant food are winning all the way here. I will provide a more in depth rating, comparing this restaurant to other raw food restaurants down below.

Let’s see what we had! We ordered the tasting menu, that was different, than on the menu that day, the burger and the pizza.

Lemon milk

macadamia-, brazil-, and almond nutmilk; avocado, xylitol, lemon juice and zest, berries

The lemon milk (part of the menu 35 €) was amazing. It tasted like a sweetened condensed milk. The flavor and the texture were amazing, with a hint of lemon. I didn’t feel like eating the berries though, they seemed not washed. I know, many restaurants don’t wash the berries for the looks, I prefer them washed.

Moussaka

3 kinds tomatoes, avocado, sunflower seeds and sage base, macadamia cream with coconut sugar crust

This moussaka (part of the menu 35 €) was great. Served on a warm plate it had this “out-of-the-oven” feel to it. The tomato layer was flavorful, sweet and savoury. The base was meaty, the cheese layer unbelievably cheesy, even texture-wise.

meat balls

sunflower seeds, almond, curry, coconut sugar, with broccolini

The meatballs (part of the menu 35 €) were very tasty. Nice soft juicy meaty texture.

burger

zucchini, sunflower seeds, curry. raw bread, raw mayo, greens and veggies

The burger (14 €) was delicious, the taste and texture was similar to the meatballs. The dish is super filling, a perfect main dish. We got an oil free version at our request, which was awesome.

Pizza

seed and veggie crust with sprouted sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, and cashews; nutmeat, mayo sauce, tomatoes, arugula

The pizza ( 11.25 €) was very tasty and filling. The soft crust, the sauce and the meat combined were on point, with a fresh touch of tomato and arugula. The meat tasted meaty, a perfect balance of juicy softness and bite. We got a customised pizza without oil. So happy about the substitution.

Raw bread

chickpea, flax, bell pepper, tomato, pimento

The bread (free) was soft, spicy and amazing. We wanted to eat it with a dish, but while waiting, we devoured it, even before taking a picture, here you see the small left-over piece. Tasted like a delicious pizza.

The menu at Crucina

Item: Crucina
Author: Dr. Ina Melny

The menu was surprisingly small for a completely raw restaurant, many items were not available and the menu itself and the tables were dirty. I, with mine OCD tendencies, spoke out the option of leaving to Stefan, but I’m glad we stayed.

Hygiene

I’m a huge hygiene fan when it comes to food, and here, couple of things were disconcerting. Dirty tables, piles of dishes even the restaurant just opened after a day off, the server coughing in the kitchen and while serving, touching the food while serving, placing cutlery directly on the table, food scrapes on servers hands to name the once I observed without seeing the kitchen. Nothing really a big deal, but each of those make me less exited about going back.

Special requests

The restaurant made many alteration to our dishes as soon as we asked for it. We only asked for no extra oil, but the kitchen redid many dishes so there were no oils in dressing, just WOW! And everything tasted amazing, sometimes the dishes really on the oil for the taste, not here, everything tasted as if it was created oil free.

Waiting time

The waiting time was very long, I’m not sure if it was a misunderstanding, I specifically asked for serving everything at once, but the dishes came long time apart, we spend over two hours there, for a lunch way too long for my German taste. Maybe the restaurant wanted us to enjoy the food or the kitchen was simply slow, hard to say.
As I have timestamps on my iPhone pictures, here is the exact time.
Arriving 1:09
Menu 1:11
1st dish 1:49
2nd dish 2:14
free bread 2:25
3rd dish 2:35
4th dish 2:59
5th dish 3:23

The raw food takes a long time to prep, it surely does, but many components are pre-made. Then there were the alterations we requested. On the other hand, there were not so many other guests.
Other than us, there were 2 more parties served, 4 businessmen on lunch break and a family of 4-6, don’t remember exactly. They all stayed almost as long for lunch as we.

Quality

The food is mostly organic, except for the nuts, we eat 100% organic at home and for us, a place that serves conventional ingredients even partially, will never become a go to spot on the regular basis. Considering all the dishes were nut based, we would prefer the nuts to be organic. And sure, we would be willing pay more for all organic ingredients.

Taste

The food tasted great, the flavors were rich and the texture great.

Creativity

The dishes were rather simple, there was nothing I haven’t had before in a similar form at couple of other raw food restaurants. Some parts of the dishes were surpassingly creative though, like the taste and texture of the dessert and the cheese layer on the moussaka. The plating was not amazing for most dishes, the veggies were not cut nicely and the broccolini had a dried out stem I would cut off first thing making a salad for myself.

Portion sizes

The portion sizes are on point. We shares 5 dishes plus bread, and it was almost too much even we were very hungry. A starter and a main dish are super sufficient for one person. Add a salad or a dessert, and you will be more than full.

My rating of Crucina in Madrid

Scale 1 (lowest possible rating) – 5 (highest possible rating). More about how I rate the restaurants here.