Subte Vegan started in 2006 in Alvorada, in Rio Grande do Sul, as a space for counterculture and underground art created by Chef Jazzin. It moved to the centre of São Paulo in 2017 and now runs as a café, restaurant and production kitchen in Santa Cecília, opposite the Marechal Deodoro metro station. The name plays on “subte”, the Buenos Aires metro, and on the idea of the underground. The house keeps a vinyl-record atmosphere and supports independent art with exhibitions and music gatherings.
Everything is vegan. The kitchen’s motto is “do cru ao junk”, from raw food to junk food. The lunch menu has plates of brown rice, beans, salad and farofa with seitan, soy and pea burgers or jackfruit, a feijoada with coconut bacon, a plantain, mango and coconut ceviche, and pasta with nut parmesan. Sandwiches include a seitan bauru, a choripán and a jackfruit pernil on house wholemeal bread. Subte makes its own ToFish, a gluten-free smoked calabresa sausage, seitan strips, burgers, pesto, mayonnaise and plant cheeses, with a frozen range of ready meals, and sells them through its online shop and partner stores across the city. Tables can be reserved through WhatsApp.
The coffee list covers espresso, double espresso, macchiato, americano, carioca, filter coffee and cold brew, then cappuccino, flat white, latte, mocha and caramel latte made with plant milk. There is also an espresso tonic, an orange cold brew, and an affogato with ice cream and a paçoca crumble. Matcha drinks, kombuchas, house mate and a switchel of ginger, cane molasses, lime and apple vinegar complete the list.
Photograph: Subte Vegan