Mama Tierra: vegan street food & restaurant in Athens

I’m currently spending a month in Athens and exploring the local vegan food scene. One of my best discoveries is Mama Tierra. There are two spots in Athens, a vegan takeaway and a restaurant.

Mama Tierra: the concept

Meaning “Mother Earth” in Spanish, Mama Tierra aims to show the diversity and taste of vegan cuisine by offering freshly-prepared, delicious plant-based dishes that are accessible to everyone.

Chef Polash Alam took inspiration from all parts of the world to create a flavourful menu with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian and Latin influencers.

Mama Tierra uses fresh and high quality ingredients, many of them are organic and sourced from local Greek producers.

Two Mama Tierra spots

Mama Tierra started with a restaurant in the Exarchia neighbourhood. It is located at 84 Akadimias and open Mon-Sat from 1pm to 10pm.

More recently, they opened Mama Tierra Acropolis, a takeaway spot next to the Acropolis museum with a vegan street food menu. It is located at 29 Chatzichristou 29 and open every day from 1pm to 10pm.

What can you eat at Mama Tierra?

Mama Tierra restaurant

The restaurant has an extensive menu showcasing worldwide influences. There is something for every taste: burgers, wraps, pasta, moussaka, burritos… They also have a selection of vegan wines.

The prices are very reasonable, with pretty much all dishes under 10€. For instance, a burger costs 8,8€ and the moussaka costs 9.5€.

Mama Tierra street food

The street food spot has a more limited menu but between the appetizers, gyros, burgers and wraps, you’ll find something that tickles your fancy.

Count 4€ for a gyro, 7€ for a jackfruit bao bun and 7.5€ for a Beyond Meat burger.

Should you visit Mama Tierra?

Here are my thoughts after going to both places.

Mama Tierra restaurant

It’s a small spot, but it wasn’t very busy at lunch time so if you stop there during the day you’ll have a table.

I was pleasantly surprised with the menu, I didn’t expect to have this much choice and I lot of options seemed rather tempting. I settled for the mushroom burger, mostly because I was intrigued by the charcoal bun.

Turns out, it’s possibly the best vegan burger I have ever tried! Every component of the burger was delicious in itself and the whole burger together was simply incredible.

The patty was cooked to perfection, extremely soft and tasty. The cheese was nicely melting. I’m not usually a fan of mayo but I loved the mayo dip with my potatoes.

It was a satisfying meal but I didn’t feel “too full” afterwards, I think the charcoal brioche bun (which was delicious) was probably a little easier to digest than a regular bun.

My partner had the mushroom melt wrap and he says it was the best meal he had in Athens. If I go back to the restaurant, this will be my choice.

The only small downside of this restaurant is that there was no music, no background noise and it wasn’t busy so we could only hear the kitchen noises and the staff talking. It didn’t bother me, but it’s more a fast food than restaurant atmosphere.

The takeaway

I’m staying in an Airbnb just a few minutes away from the Mama Tierra Street Food, so although I’ve never really been a street food fan, I love the vegan gyros here in Athens.

I opted for the Greek Gyros and I would absolutely recommend it. Such a flavour-packed and satisfying lunch on the go, with a filling pita and plenty of seasoned mushrooms, onions and peppers, plus a few fries and delicious tzatziki.

I love the vegan gyros from Vegan Beat Athens but the Mama Tierra one is as delicious (and much closer to me).

Final words

If you’re looking for plant-based spots in Athens, you need to add Mama Tierra to your list! Grab a quick lunch at the takeaway after visiting the Acropolis or go to the restaurant for a sit down meal with more options on the menu.

The food is delicious, the service is speedy and eating there won’t break the bank. Oh and leave them a review after eating there, to help spread the word :) It’s definitely one of those vegan concepts that deserve all our support.