Gluten free restaurant Mantra

Mantra or the first raw vegan and gluten free restaurant in Milan.

Well, I should say in Italy! Mantra is actually the very first restaurant to combine together foods that are raw, vegan and gluten free. This means no wheat or any cereals with gluten, no processed foods, nothing is cooked above 42° C and no products coming from animals whatsoever.

In the US or in Australia, this food is more common and it comes with no surprise that the Mantra chef and food designer, the talented Alberto Minio Paluello, got his diploma at the prestigious Matthew Kenney Accademy in Santa Monica, California, and worked then at MAKE, always in Santa Monica and at RASA Juice Bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

What surprised me actually was the beauty of the food that I chose to eat and how incredibly tasty it was!

I took the gluten free seasonal salad called Insy Wak made of algae, mixed leaves salad, lime and tahini vinaigrette, cucumber pickles, ginger foam, hemp seeds, and gomasio with spirulina. It was fresh, it was delicious!

I am always amazed how great chefs like Alberto can transform something ordinary, like a salad for example, into an extraordinary food experience!

The colours, the consistencies, the different flavours married harmoniously together and I took a deep pleasure at every bite.

For dessert I went for the gluten free, raw, vegan cheesecake.

I chose the raspberry one with rose and Himalayan salt. First of all, I was mesmerised just by looking at it. So beautiful! Then I ate it and I went straight to Heaven! The best raw vegan gluten free cheesecake of my life!

At Mantra another great thing are the coldly pressed juices: I tasted a cocktail with beetroot, apple and ginger that was very good.

I would have loved to try also the avocado toasts that I saw passing by but decided to save them for my next trip to Milan.

Before leaving, as Mantra is also a shop that sells several homemade products, I bought some gluten free granola. I chose one flavoured with strawberry, another with chocolate and the last “green” granola was made with spirulina.

Back home I ate them all: they are impossible to resist and perfect also to be eaten as a healthy snack on the go.

I can’t but hope to be back to Mantra soon, this place is really great and I do recommend it.

pS Looking for a gluten free pastry shop in Milan? Check out my post on Via Dalla Spiga, it’s right here.