Vegan in Trieste
Trieste is small, so as you'd expect pure veg*n restaurants are limited. There was nonetheless more than enough to keep me occupied for a week though. Of course, every Italian restaurant offers the chance to take vegetarian pizza and pasta dishes without cheese, and most offer pizza marinara and spaghetti pomodoro anyway if you don't feel like making special requests.
Giardinio Tergesteo: a vegetarian restaurant with a lot of vegan options that I returned to over and over. They have ample seating options outside, inside, and outside-inside in a kind of mall area. There's power and wifi, and it's the sort of place you could go for a formal dinner, or to spend an afternoon with your laptop. At lunchtimes on weekdays they have a changing pasta dish, and the rest of the time they have salads, sandwiches (various breads and fillings) and a variety of vegan cake.
Erb Osteria: somewhat out of the way and in an odd part of town, this is a small vegetarian restaurant where all dishes are oriented around aromatic herbs. The menu changes daily, so it isn't written down. The decor was very cute, and it wasn't busy when I was there early evening. I asked the owner to furnish me with courses of vegan dishes, and was not disappointed. I was even more surprised by the price at the end, which was 13 EUR for a starter, main, dessert, iced tea, and another dessert to go. You would have to go out of your way to pass here I think, but worth a detour.
Draw Food: Draw is raw, but not all vegan. The menu is mostly meat and fish options, but one section is veg*n and some dishes can be tweaked to remove non-vegan cheese. They have their own cashew-based ricotta which I couldn't get enough of. There's power and wifi, and the decor is great. I spent an afternoon here with my laptop, as well as returning for several other meals, lunchtime and evenings. I had the aubergine ricotta dish twice, and it was slightly different but deliciously creamy both times. I also tried courgette spaghetti with mushrooms, which had an interesting tomato sauce, and a wrap. The dishes are beautifully presented, and small but well crafted. From here I also had juices, milkshakes, and coffees, when soya milk was available.
Genuino: is a good-for-you 'fast' food outlet, and everything comes packaged to-go, though there's plenty of space to eat in. The menu is omnivorous, but I tried all the vegan options I think: the vegan burger (a vegetable patty with copious salad, roasted potatoes, in a panini), a wild rice dish with finely chopped veggies, nuts and seeds, and a rich tomatoey sauce, and something similar but with millet.
La Caveja: is on the same lines as Geniuno, but with wraps. They have a separate vegan menu, which includes a hazelnut chocolate dessert wrap. Meanwhile, I tried roasted vegetables with a really delicious harissa sauce.
Gelato Marco: is a well known gelateria which has around a dozen vegan flavours. I worked my way through, trying chocolate cherry, different combinations of fruit sorbets, hazelnut, pistachio, and others..
Le Agavi: is a pizza place on the outskirts of Trieste; I walked an hour from the center to reach it. They have a big vegan menu, of pizzas topped with rice mozzerella and combinaions of tofu and vegetables, as well as different sauces. For some reason, leeks feature heavily. Totally worth the walk; I ate one there and took two back.. more in this post.
At D'Napoli (famous for pizza), they tweaked the gnocchi for me to remove mozzerella and add chilli (most places don't have chilli so this was great). The spaghetti pomodoro I had at a few places on various occasions, ever simple, was consistently rich and delicious. Aside from just wanting greens in my diet, I didn't tire of the experience of consuming this dish.