gastronomy
as an act of ecology.
a twenty-six-seat plant-based restaurant in porto, cooking from a small network of regenerative farms and producers in portugal, many of those relationships rooted in the north.
stems, skins, leaves. all of it is dinner.
Monika leads the kitchen at venn with a way of cooking that is both rigorous and intuitive: whole vegetables, low-waste technique, and a serious respect for the growers behind every ingredient. Stems, skins, leaves, broths, ferments and preserved citrus are treated as part of the dish, not as leftovers to hide.
Shaped by central European food memories and years of work with fermentation, preservation, and seasonal cooking, she found in Porto the kind of project that matched how she thinks about food. The kitchen works without animal products, not to imitate them, but to see what plants, grains, seaweeds, legumes, ferments and fungi can carry on their own.
The dishes coming out of her kitchen carry more than flavour. They point back to the farms, the season, and the small choices that made them possible. Precision matters, but so does restraint.
plant-based · since 2023
plant-based without imitation. plants, grains, seaweeds, legumes, ferments and fungi on their own terms.
every dish traces back to a farm, a season, and a choice. the kitchen works with what arrives: leaves, stems, skins, broths, ferments, old bread, preserved citrus, and the short windows that make a menu change.
"At Venn Canteen, Monika Bloch, a Polish chef, makes vegan comfort food with unexpected smells and flavors. She has magic hands."
Tiago at Formiga Gloriosa.
Formiga Gloriosa is a small-scale market garden in Muro, Trofa, dedicated to sustainable horticulture and the production of seasonal, local vegetables for restaurants and other partners in the Porto area.
Working largely without tractors and in conversion to certified organic agriculture, and hosting occasional visits and workshops that connect people directly with the biodiversity of the fields.
explore our farming partners →
your plate has a story. we just tell it.
PATIO is Venn's living platform for biodiversity, circularity, and social inclusion — using the restaurant as a real-world testbed for urban food-system change.
A datascape oracle experience connecting visitors to the farms, ingredients, and ecological webs behind venn's menu — through oracle cards, a kaleidoscope viewer, and an interactive digital layer.
join us for dinner.
the menu follows the harvest.
the kitchen works with what exists.
the rest happens at the table.
