Our Spirulina Power Granola Bowl (4,400 Ft at both Cookie Beacon brunch spots in Budapest) is a spirulina smoothie bowl with pineapple, banana, coconut milk, peanut butter and collagen, topped with honey toasted granola, goji, pollen, seasonal fruit and mint.
It is one of the two granola bowls in the Hearty Brunch section of our card for brunch in Budapest, and the card tags it gluten-free, sugar-free and vegetarian at both spots. Both serve it all day, and neither takes bookings.
Why is there a spirulina bowl on our menu?
It started on a trip. Here is the story, as one of the family behind Cookie Beacon tells it:
On our trip to Oslo, we tried a Spirulina bowl in a small brunch store. I was expecting our first baby and for some reason this dish just clicked with me. When we came back home to Barcelona, we made many tests to get to the same texture as the dish we tried. We decided to add extra collagen since protein is a priority when growing a baby and even after. We added gluten-free Honey Toasted granola for extra crunch. Fresh fruit is a staple touch for a smoothie dish.
Taken one part at a time:
Oslo. It began with a spirulina bowl at a small brunch place in Oslo, during a first pregnancy.
The texture. Back home in Barcelona, the family made many tests to get the same texture as the bowl in Oslo. In our photos the base is thick enough that the toppings sit on its surface.
The collagen. Collagen went in on purpose, for protein: the story names protein as a priority while growing a baby, and after.
The granola. Gluten-free honey toasted granola, added for crunch. In our photos it is the heap on one side of the bowl.
The fruit. “A staple touch for a smoothie dish.” The card lists pineapple, banana and seasonal fruits; in our photos the fresh fruit on top is banana pieces and cut strawberries.
What is in the Spirulina Smoothie Bowl?
Our Budapest menu lists eleven things, here with the Hungarian names:
- Pineapple (ananász).
- Banana (banán). In our photos there are banana pieces on top.
- Coconut milk (kókusztej).
- Spirulina powder (spirulina por). The reason the base is teal-green.
- Peanut butter (mogyoróvaj).
- Collagen (kollagén).
- Honey toasted granola (mézes pirított granola). Gluten-free, as the story says.
- Goji (goji). A few small red berries on top.
- Pollen (virágpor). Bee pollen: the yellow granules scattered over the strawberries.
- Seasonal fruits (szezonális gyümölcsök). Strawberries in our photos.
- Mint (menta). One sprig in the middle.
Our photos also show toasted coconut flakes heaped beside the granola, which the Budapest card does not list. The card’s list is the one we can vouch for here. It prints no add-ons for this bowl.
What is spirulina?
Spirulina is a blue-green alga, strictly speaking a cyanobacterium, that is dried and sold as a fine dark-green powder. It is what colours the base of this bowl. On its own it tastes grassy, with a hint of the sea.
It is not a new food. Sixteenth-century Spanish accounts from Mexico describe the Aztecs skimming a blue-green scum from Lake Texcoco and drying it into cakes they called tecuitlatl, which historians generally identify as spirulina, and people around Lake Chad still dry a similar alga into cakes called dihé. Smoothie bowls are much younger. Most accounts trace the style to Brazil’s açaí bowls, which spread to cafés around the world over the past few decades.
Spirulina or ube?
Until our August 2026 card, the Budapest menu listed an Ube Power Granola Bowl in this place: the same eleven ingredients, with ube powder where this one has spirulina. Ube is purple yam, so that bowl is violet and this one is teal. Budapest’s card now lists only the spirulina version, at both spots.
Our Belgrade brunch spot on Kralja Petra still serves the Ube Power Granola Bowl, for 1,290 RSD. If you read an older Budapest review that mentions the ube bowl, it may describe the ube version the card listed until August 2026.
Is it vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free?
Our Budapest card prints three tags on this bowl at both brunch spots: gluten-free, sugar-free and vegetarian. Here is what each one means for this bowl.
Vegetarian. The card tags it vegetarian. The recipe also includes collagen, which is made from animal sources, and the card does not say which kind we use. If you are strictly vegetarian, ask our team before you order.
Vegan. No. Fruit can replace the honey toasted granola if you ask, but the collagen and the bee pollen stay, so we do not list it as vegan.
Gluten-free. The card tags it, and the story says the granola is gluten-free. Everything is made in a shared kitchen, so if you are coeliac, confirm with our team when you order.
Sugar-free. The card lists honey toasted granola and fruit, both of which contain natural sugar, so read the tag as no added refined sugar. If you avoid sugar for medical reasons, ask before you order.
Allergies. The card lists peanut butter and pollen. If you have a peanut or pollen allergy, tell our team before you order.
Where does it sit among our dishes?
Its closest relative is right after it on our Budapest card: the Yogurt & Honey Whipped Granola Bowl, 3,950 Ft. That one has Greek yogurt with honey where this one has the spirulina base, with blueberries, strawberries and dehydrated orange on top. The two bowls share the honey toasted granola, the pollen and the mint.
What should you know before ordering it in Budapest?
It sits in Hearty Brunch, the first section of our Budapest menu, second from the end. The name stays in English on both halves of the card.
The price is the same at Basilica on Hercegprímás utca, near St. Stephen’s Basilica, and at Ferenciek tere, at the Váci utca end of the square. Both open 08:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and 09:00 to 17:00 at weekends, and both are walk-in only. The walk between them takes about fifteen minutes.