Restaurant review #21 – Chances are you’ve probably been in one of the many establishments worldwide of Le Pain Quotidien. Or at least you’ve seen one of them! There is also one in the heart of Bruges, near the central market place and the Burg. Pain Quotidien is French for Daily Bread. They sell a wide variety of bread over the counter, and you can also sit down for breakfast, lunch or just a coffee with some baked goodies. The restaurant always has one large communal table (for 10 people or more), but also other tables for 2 if you want to have a more private conversation. There’s always something vegan available and vegan items are clearly marked on the menu card. Le Pain Quotidien confirmed to us that the bread served at the table is always vegan. Most of the breads sold over the counter are also vegan, but the raisin bread (kramiek), sugar bread and brioche are non-vegan.
UPDATE – see below
We were at Le Pain Quotidien in Bruges for lunch on a Friday, and the place was packed. It was a beautifull sunny day though, and there was still room at the terrace in the back of the restaurant. I was happy to be able to sit outside, as the indoor place was very loud and crowded. The terrace has one large communal table and a couple of tables for 2.
We ordered these:
- small bowl of soup of the day (always vegan; 4,50€)
- a quinoa salad, with grilled zucchini and eggplant, hummus, with a caviar of red beets and lentils (14,90€)
- and the Oriental dish: tahini, hummus of red beet and lentils with lemon zest, with salad and sundried tomatoes (14,10 €).
small bowl of soup of the day, 4,50€
quinoa salad, with grilled zucchini and eggplant, hummus, with caviar of red beets and lentils, 14,90€
Oriental dish: tahini, hummus of red beet and lentils with lemon zest, with salad and sundried tomatoes, 14,10 €
The food was good, fresh, and came with a variety of breads, with lost of prepacked dairybutter on the side though (although we had explicitly asked for vegan, and these dishes are marked on the menu as being vegan). We returned them and asked whether there wasn’t any vegan butter, but that wasn’t available. Service was rather slow (very friendly though), and seemed a bit chaotic (we could overhear mixed up orders on other tables).
All in all, nice food, but a bit overpriced for being a rather ‘light snack’ lunch.
Being a nice summer day, we were happy to sit outside! Pity about the (near) dead plants on the terrace. Ouch!
next to our table …
There is a “Le Pain Quotidien” in Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Charleroi, Ghent, Hasselt, Knokke-Heist, Leuven, Luik, Mechelen, Mons, Namen, Nijvel, Waterloo, Waver and Wemmel. Le Pain Quotidien is open from 7AM, so you can also get breakfast. No late dinners though as it closes around 7 in the evening.
Le Pain Quotidien, location
Philip Stockstraat 21
8000 Brugge / Bruges
+32 50 33 60 50
UPDATE 2017: CLOSED
See our lists of restaurants where vegans are welcome in the menu section of The Bruges vegan! List restaurants in Bruges and around Bruges 
The Bruges Vegan 
Interesting review. Partly confirms my own experiences. Last year I went twice to The Pain Quotidien in Antwerp City, for breakfast, and each time my partner and I thought the service was slow, chaotic and erratic. After half an hour of waiting, we had to approach a waitress ourselves. After 15 more minutes, she brought two items on the menu, forgot about another and announced that one item was not available. Meanwhile,our children had got terribly hungry. When we complained about the service, the waitress said it wasn’t her fault, there was a lack of personnel. It seems they need a decent HR manager at Le Pain Quotidien. Moreover I think the food is overpriced. All indications are that someone is making good money out of this hype of “common table”, without giving the customer good service. After these 2 negative experiences, they will never see me there again.
Dear Dirk,
We are terribly sorry for the unfortunate circumstances which occurred during your visit to Le Pain Quotidien Antwerp. Certainly, the incident which occurred is not the kind of experience we pride ourselves in offering to our guests. Thank you for taking the time to give us the details of your experience as your feedback is the mainstay of our company.
Our management team has been informed of the issues and are handling them internally with the immediate proper corrective actions. In the meantime, if you’d like to follow up, please reach out via email at silke@lepainquotidien.be and we will be in touch.
We hope you choose to return Le Pain Quotidien in the future to let us restore your impression of us.
Thank you.
Silke Van den Houte
Le Pain Quotidien
Great review! I did a review , a while back from the one in Mechelen: http://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/travelling-sophie-mechelen-part-1/
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Yesterday we visited le pain quotidien in Bruges. It was ok, but nothing special (the vegan muffins aren’t a must…). The warm vegan oat breakfast bowl with rice milk and berries was good. We would ‘t order again the vegan tartine with cashew mousse and vegetables. The service was indeed slowly but friendly
I had the same idea about the vegan muffin that I ate at a recent visit to LPQ in Hasselt.
https://brugesvegan.com/2016/04/07/le-pain-quotidien-hasselt/
Unfortunately LPQ is still one of the few places in Bruges where you can have a vegan dessert (baking).
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