Joia

Joia is a 100% dedicated vegetarian kitchen ('alta cucina vegetariana') — no meat is present on the premises. Europe's first vegetarian restaurant to gain a Michelin Star (1996, confirmed by the World's 50 Best), the identity is structural and corroborated by the official website, official menu, HappyCow categorisation, and multiple independent reviewers spanning three years.

Joia is a 100% vegetarian kitchen and keeps no meat whatsoever on the premises. Pescatarians, who exclude meat but accept fish, are structurally safe here, as the kitchen operates entirely without animal flesh of any kind.

Joia's official website states that tasting menus are offered 'anche in chiave interamente vegetale' (also in a fully plant-based version). Multiple HappyCow reviewers confirm most dishes are vegan by default and the kitchen reliably delivers fully vegan meals when informed at booking ('the restaurant has a vegan option for everything'; 'all dishes prepared and presented, including the wine, as fully vegan'). The menu page carries no per-dish V/VG symbols, and some dishes contain dairy (quark di capra, ricotta). Classified E because no marked menu exists; quality of accommodation is high when advance notice is given.

Joia's official website explicitly offers tasting menus 'anche in chiave senza glutine' (also gluten-free), and the World's 50 Best describes the menu as '80% vegan and gluten free'. A self-identified coeliac blogger dined at the Joia kitchen and reports seamless full-course gluten-free accommodation, with the blogger noting 'absolutely no problem to adapt each dish … they really know how to take care of people's needs' and receiving gluten-free corn blinis, gluten-free risotto, and a gluten-free tarte tatin. No per-dish gluten-free codes appear on the formal tasting-menu page, and the kitchen is shared, with some courses containing gluten (raviolo al cacao, sfoglia croccante, frolla di pistacchio). No accreditation is held. Advance notice is strongly recommended.

HappyCow confirms Joia is a lacto-vegetarian kitchen with "some lacto-vegetarian plates containing dairy." The Spring 2026 menu includes quark di capra (goat quark) and ricotta. A fully dairy-free meal is achievable via the stated vegan tasting-menu track ("in chiave interamente vegetale"), confirmed by multiple reviewers. No per-dish dairy-free markings appear on the menu. No dedicated dairy-free prep area is mentioned.

Nuts appear extensively across the Spring 2026 tasting menus (Sicilian almond, pistachio shortbread, hazelnut; HappyCow photo captions also name macadamia). A July 2025 HappyCow reviewer with a documented tree-nut and peanut anaphylaxis risk booked a month in advance with written allergy notes; the waiter was unaware of the allergy notes on arrival, and multiple courses promised as nut-free were returned to the kitchen after checking, 'I have to question everything … it was hard for me to truly enjoy it'. No nut-free marked menu exists. Advance notice is essential, but reliability cannot be confirmed from available sources.