7 PLACES TO EAT THE BEST VEGETARIAN FOOD IN RIGA: A FOOD GUIDE
Last Updated on 2nd March 2026 by Bejal
You’re heading to charming medieval capital of Latvia and the question on your mind is where can can I eat vegetarian
food in Riga? Worry not, this guide is perfect for those who have a vegetarian diet but are also travelling with carnivores. The eateries featured here, including lunch spots. cafes, fine dining restaurants and bars, tend to have some great vegetarian-friendly dished on the menu and can also accommodate requests before your visit. Read on to find out more.
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Map of Riga
How to use map – this Google map features the location of restaurants featured in this article (click on the menu to reveal the legend), The map also accompanies the article ‘A guide to 3 Days in Riga‘.
Related Article: A weekend guide to spend 3 Days in Riga
Vegetarian Food In Riga
During the our 3 days in Riga itinerary over a long weekend, we did undertake quite a bit of research to locate restaurants that could accommodate our vegetarian-friendly diet. Where as we wouldn’t go as far as saying it was a difficult job, we would say that it was a little more difficult than many other places we’ve been to in Europe. It’s not just a simple job of walking into an eatery and assuming there will be a vegetarian-friendly option available. Infact, from our experience there are quite a few restaurants that don’t have a vegetarian-friendly option on their menu at all.
There are a number of vegan restaurants located far and few between around the city but it’s definitely worth calling restaurants that you like the look of and the food appeals to you as we found a few were open to specifically making vegetarian-friendly food for our visit to accommodate.
Unfortunately, we didn’t try much traditional Latvian vegetarian-friendly food but did try their salads and other styles of cuisines. Thats mainly because many of the traditional dishes are not vegetarian.
What Are Latvia’s Traditional Dishes?
A with most countries, Latvia has it’s fair share of locally popular specialities which come with interesting stories on how they became popular dishes. Unfortunately many are not meatless, but we’ve managed to sift out the vegetarian ones as well as local tipples, so keep an eye out on menus when in Riga.
Drinks
- Riga Black Balsam – This brand of bitter is around 260 years old was originally created for medicinal purposes. It’s consumed in a shot glass and tastes like a herval liqueor but with a slight sweet taste from the blackcurrant. If you’d like to learn a bit more about Riga Balsam then this Old Town Riga Balsam tasting tour that incorporates the history as well as tasting Riga Balsam, looks a good introduction.
- Kvass – This is a fermented cereal-based drink with a low alcohol percentage and tastes quite sweet and acidic.
- Moonshine – We woudl recommend tryin this with great caution. It contains 45–55% alcohol and is made from grains or potatoes, yeast, sugar and water, It’s then fermented for weeks. At the traditional Latvian restaurant, Folkklubs ALA Pagrabs, they serve Moonshine in some interesting flavours such as horseradish and garlic. This particular restaurant makes their Moonshine from vodka
Food
- Rupjmaize (Garlic Rye Bread) – Usually served at the table alongside starters and mains, it has raw garlic ribbed on top. many Latvians also add some apple juice to give it a slight sweetness.
- Maizes zupa (bread soup) – Usually made from rye bread that is soggy and sugar, dried fruit, spices and serve with whippe dcream on top. A great way to use up leftover rye bread too.
- Pelmeni (dumplings) – Originally from Russia, these dumplings are filled with mushrooms for a vegetarian version or meat and served with sour cream.
- Aukstā zupa (Latvian cold soup) – This pink soup, is made from beetroot mixed with cucumbers )milk sausage for carnivores), kefir and topped with a hard boiled egg, spring onions and dill. It tastes quite creamy and tart and we tried it as a starter. Definitely one to try if you love beetroot!
- Pelēkie Zirņi – Often referred to as Latvia’s National dish, this is a stew like consistency and consists of grey peas, also known as Latvia chickpeas, frie donions, fermented milk (kefir), It’s said the peas are rich in Vitamins B. C and E
- Sklandrausis (sweet rye pie) – With the exterior of the pie made from rye butter and water, then filled with potatoes, butter, salt, sour cream, eggs and sugar. The pie is served with honey and milk or a cup of tea. The Latvians class this as an almost healthy pie as the pastry is not very calorific.
- Debesmanna (Latvian cranberry mousse) – This mousse is. made wit a mixture of sugar, milk, wheat and water and is a pretty pink colour.
Fans of beer and bread you’re in luck as there’s a pretty unique tour from Riga that incorporates Latvian beer and bread tasting
Vegtarian Food in Riga
Here’s our round-up of places that serve delicious food for vegetarian’s in Latvia’s capital.
Domini Canes
Style: Casual, perfect for lunch
Having arrived at Livu Laukens, we’d recommend lunch at Domini Canes. As vegetarians they serve great meat-free options and have some great lunchtime offers. The menu does concentrate on seasonally available produce and is fresh and classic.
Domini Canes had to be by far one of our favourite lunch spots. It’s positioned in the Old Town cobbled streets of Riga between the churches of St Peter and St John. It’s also less busy at lunchtime and the whole ambience feels a lot more relaxed and enjoyable.
The restaurant has an outdoor terrace, which serves as a perfect suntrap, however we chose to dine inside in a quiet corner spot. The décor is simple with dark wood accents and pretty wall hangings including clocks and wrought iron bird cages. The dishes comprise contemporary twists on local ingredients. Domni Canes is pretty casual, the service is fantastic and provides a relaxing environment amongst a busy mornings sightseeing. It’s a restaurant that tourists and locals frequent in so feels a lot more authentic and is also more in keeping with the mid-range dining scene in Riga
Be-lavie Recommendations: we really enjoyed the aubergine, onion and avocado pasta as well as the Oven-baked pear with gorgonzola and walnuts. You can either choose to sit inside amongst the medieval-style meets modern decor, or grab a seat outside with views out to the Livu Square, Either way, we’d recommended reserving a table online beforehand,
- Location: Skārņu iela 18/20, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia
- Find it Here: Map Location
- Details: Menu
- Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 12:00-23:00
- Reservations: Essential
- Price Range: €€
Whitehouse Restorāns
Style: Fine dining, upmarket
This elegant restaurant is located in the Park Vērmanas dārz, on the edge of Old Town Riga. Its positioned well to make use of its outdoor terrace surrounded by beautiful gardens and a green.
Whitehouse restaurant focusses on Asian and European seasonal flavours and it pretty sophisticated and grown up surroundings. Perfect for a special night out and it represents the higher end of the dining scene in Riga
Please note the decor has now changed at Whitehouse Restaurants. We went when it was the ‘library themed’ Bibliotēka No 1 Restorāns.
Our drinks of choice were a classic London Gin and Tonic followed by a chef’s special appetiser of blue cheese with apple and watermelon. A small morsel that delivered all the flavour of each ingredient.
To start we went for the Burrata served with tomato and aubergine chutney, raisins, toasted hazelnuts, arugula and basil. A light refreshing dish with the softest delicate Burrata we’ve ever tasted.
The mains were way to delicious and we couldn’t wait to dive hence so we did’t manage to capture any photos, but the menu does change seasonally so you’re unlikely to get the same dish we experienced.
We ended the meal with a dessert to share. The dessert was called Liselotte, which included a hazelnut sponge, crispy praline layer, soft caramel, milk chocolate namelaka and a chocolate mousse. This was all quite simply in the centre of a plate, making it look both minimalist but worth diving into. We spolit ourselves and topped teh night off with a Calem ten years port, which was very smooth and warming following our meal.
Be-lavie Recommendations: Stracciatella which is savoury vegetarian starters, and ask for a vegetarian main. The chef is more than happy to whip something up! The desserts are definitely worth a try as they are delicious. The seasonal Hazelnut sponge with praline is to die for!
- Location: Tērbatas iela 2, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia
- Find it Here: Map Location
- Details: Menu
- Opening Hours: Closed Monday, Tuesday-Saturday 12:00-23:00
- Price Range:€€€
Riviera Restaurans
Style: Affordable fine dining Mediterranean cuisine
Riviera Restaurant is situated in the heart of the Art Nouveau district of Riga and definitely has a flair of French sophistication to it in terms of it’s decor however the menu is most definitely has a mediterranean focus.
Dishes at Riviera have a Soanish, French, Greek and Italian influence, created by Head Chef and owner Jānis Sokolovskis and sommelier, Eduards Jakuševskis, who also co-owns the restaurant and aims to bring diners fantastic wines as well as food.
Post amuse bouche, we headed straight for the main course after consuming some of their olive oil and tomato infused breads. Again we completely missed the main course photo op but as with most of Riga’s restaurant the menu does change every couple of months, so it’s. nice surprise if you do head there.
This is not an exclusive vegetarian or vegan place but are vegetarian-friendly and can also adapt th menu to suit dietary requirements. If we had to put the style down to anything, we’d say French cuisine. The decor is super pretty too and it has a real family vibe about it even though you’ll see couples having a romantic meal.
Be-lavie Recommendations: There burrata dishes are lovely and simple but well-cooked and their pavlova with fresh strawberries are really outstanding.
Don’t leave without a coffee to end! They do a remarkably good one and accompany it with a bowl of crunchy amoretto biscuits.
- Location: Dzirnavu iela 31, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1010, Latvia
- Find it Here: Map Location
- Details: Menu
- Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 10:00-22:00 (Hours change seasonally)
- Price Range: €€/€€€
** Riviera is Michelin Guide recommended restaurant**
Kozy Eats
If you loved plant-cased food and are Vegetarian, then this Vegan friendly, completely plant-based restaurant is one we would recommend. It’s a super popular spot with the local vegan community as well as with those visiting the city. It has fantastic online ratings too. We sadly only had a drink here so can’t really comment if the food, but we’ve always heard great things about it and the food we saw others eating looked really fresh and vibrant.
Be-lavie Recommendations: As mentioned previously, we’ve only had coffee here, but our friends and locals say the sharing platters with a mezze of fresh and roasted vegetables, dips, grains, bread, pickles and more.
- Location: Blaumaņa iela 34, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1011, Latvia
- Find it Here: Map Location
- Details: Menu
- Opening Hours: Monday-Wednesday 10:00-22:00, Thursday-Sunday 11:00-22:00
- Reservations: Not essential
- Price Range: €
Tirgonu Darz
A cute little traditional spot with an outdoor terrace in Old Town, Tirgonu Darz, is a placed we experienced some traditional vegetarian dishes, such as the cold pink Latvian potato soup. This one didn’t have any sausage in it as we asked for a vegetarian version. The beetroot gives it a vibrant pink colour. The soup is quite common in the Baltic states but in Latvia they tend to add the beetroot.
The location also means you get a great view of the Riga Cathedral in the lively square which has a wonderful atmosphere in the warmer months. they also have live music in the evenings and the staff are very friendly and service is most definitely delivered with a warm and hospitable smile at Tirgonu Darz.
Be-lavie Recommendations: Cold Latvian potato soup, salads and great coffee. We were advised by our hotel concierge, Grand Palace, Riga they do great Latvia beers.
- Location: Kaļķu iela 1A, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia
- Find it Here: Map Location
- Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 11:00-00:00
- Reservations: Not Required but can be made by phone when in Riga in peak season.
- Price Range: €/€€
Related Article: The Grand Palace Riga: A Luxury Hotel Review
Rigensis
This very quaint Old Town bakery is one not to miss. We quickly grabbed a cappuccino ( they do great coffee by the way!) and a vecriga pastry which is almost like a choux bun-like cloud filled with vanilla cottage cheese like filling. They also do delicious pretzels, however we arrived in between batches and were in a hurry to wait, then forgot to return for them.
We loved the authentic small business feel to this traditional bakery and could easily see ourselves dropping. by for goodies daily!
Be-lavie Recommendations: the Vecriga and coffee and fantastic and great to take out too or grab one of the tables on the terrace outside of the bakery.
- Location: Tirgoņu iela 8, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia
- Find it Here: Map Location
- Details: Menu
- Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 09:00-19:00
- Reservations: Not Applicable
- Price Range: €
Skyline Bar
One of the best ways to take in the Riga view son an evening is at the Skyline Bar which is located on the 26th floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel. To be frank, you really do want to add this spot to your 3 days Riga itinerary for the weekend. The views here are excellent and a great way to enjoy a well-deserved sundowner after all that walking and culture-filled activities during the day!
We made reservations here just for drinks but luckily as it wasn’t particularly busy were allowed to stay for dinner as we noted that they had some great vegetarian-friendly options available. Plus we needed to soak up the alcohol with sustenance.
Sunset is a popular time at the bar so make sure you book well ahead or at least arrive a couple of hours early to grab a table close enough to the windows so as to get a great view of the city.
Be-lavie Tip: Ladies, make sure you head to the toilets, here you can snap some pretty great shots of the views but you’ll be fighting them with all the other ladies in there too. A little gem at the Skyline bar that many actually overlook! We were actually tipped off by one of the guests seated on a table behind us!
In between the myriad of drinks and taking in the fantastic views on a clear sunny day we ordered a few items from the menu including pickled mushrooms with egg plant, shiso and truffle dressing, crispy fried rice with Kimchi and cheese, apple salad and and spicy tofu.
Be-lavie Recommendations: we’d say opt for the ‘Hot winter in Latvia’ which is made from Riga Black Balsam ( a traditional Latvian herbal Liquer) made with blackcurrant juice, and cinnamon. It’s an acquired taste and is pretty warming as it is actually served warm. We also loved the Espresso Martini, Raspberry Gun Sour and a candy Crush for those who like a sweet cocktail option. This one co
simple chocolate dessert called Elements of chocolate, which incorporated several styles of tempering chocolate to create a very grown up, sophisticated chocolate dessert!
- Location: Skārņu iela 18/20, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia
- Find it Here:Map Location
- Details:Menu
- Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 15:00-01:00, Saturday 15:00-02:00
- Reservations: Recommended
- Price Range: €€
Recommended Food & Drinks Tours in Riga (Can be made Vegetarian)
Food is a big thing in Riga like many other capital cities and if you love to delve into the local food and drink culture then there most certainly is a great choice of tours to take.
Latvia has a reputation for local beers and a visit to a locally run brewery for some beer tasting is a popular tour amongst visitors to the capital we learnt. Additionally if you fancy seeing the city with a beer or Prosecco, there is ta pick between a beer or cider bike tour or even a Prosecco Old Town sightseeing bike tour.
One of our personal favourites is the central market Latvian food tour for its real authenticity but a tour which we ran out of time to take is the Latvian wine adventure as the ones we had with our dinners were great and we would love to know more about the Vineyards and types of grapes.
If like us you love to get to know a destination by attending a cooking class with a local or at a school, get this traditional Khinkali and Pelmeni cooking masterclass on your itinerary.
Click below to check out some of our recommended tours in a bit more detail
Vegetarian Food In Riga FAQs
If you still have some unanswered questions about the food and drinks scene in Riga, then some of these questions may help with clarification.
How much is a standard meal in Riga?
Are there any Michelin Star restaurants in Riga?
Is there a tipping culture in Riga?
10% of your total bill is generally a good amount to add as a gratuity if you enjoyed the food and hospitality and the service is also of an exceptional standard. This is just a suggested price-point, you may want to tip more, dedending upon your whole experience.
When is dinner usually served in Riga?
Is traditional Latvian food Vegetarian-friendly?
Where To Eat in Riga Round-Up
We hope this vegetarian-friendly guide to Riga is useful and helps you craft a dining guide for your visit. Unfortunately as you won’t just stumble upon places that necessarily have vegetarian-friendly options, remember to research throughly and get in touch with the eateries beforehand to check if they can make adjustments to suit your dietary needs.
Another great tip is to use your hotel’s concierge service to ask before traveling if they can suggest some place sto dine. As they are locals, they will no doubt have a directory of personal recommendations and will be able to ask questions on your behalf in Latvian.
It’s not the biggest struggle to find something to eat that is vegetarian but a research will make things easier. we found the local dining spots pretty accommodating most of the time and waiting staff are really happy to help in making choices that are suitable.
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- A weekend itinerary to spend 3 days in Riga
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- Schlossle Hotel Tallinn: A Luxury Stay Reveiw
- Tallinn: A Vegetarian Food Guide
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À bientôt
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the Curious Pixie
Now this has made me super hungry. Love that your a G&T girl too. The burrata looked delish.
Bejal
the Curious PixieI bet, get some breakfast down you! Yes I do love a G & T every now and then and THAT burrata was quite possibly one of the best out of Italy!