Restaurant review #53 – Auberge de Herborist is a gastronomical restaurant (Michelin*) located just outside Bruges, in Sint Andries (near Oostkamp). Although it is situated close to the highway (E40) you need to take a lot of small roads to get there, as there’s no exit closeby. The restaurant is in a rural setting, with its own large herb garden, as the name of the restaurant already leads to suggest (herborist).

I had mailed a long time ago if a vegan menu was possible (stipulating what we do and do not eat) and got confirmation. So finally, some months ago, we made a reservation.
We had a 5-course menu, paying 79€ (without drinks). 1L sparkling water was 12€.
The chef Alex Hanbuckers came to great us personally (at least we think it was him, I’m not really sure!) and explained that everything was plantbased and that he for example uses gellan (not to be confused with gelatin) for gelifying. That was reassuring.

But we were served bread and butter during the start of the meal. Before having any, I asked the waiter whether the bread rolls did not contain any animal ingredients? He went to check in the kitchen and came back with the message that the bread ‘contained only a little bit of animal products’ (can’t really remember whether he said it was butter or eggs – but it was not vegan anyway). Dang! No offer to replace it with something else, nor did he take it away, so the bread and butter just remained untouched on the table during the whole dinner.
Surely the kitchen could have come up with a vegan alternative during the evening (and maybe some olive oil to dip?). Especially since they knew we were coming. So that was a bit of a let down.

Here is what we had for dinner.
I will have to let the photos speak for themselves this time, as I don’t have my notes anymore. What I do remember is that I forgot to take a photo of the dessert, which was both beautiful and delicious!

And then there was also dessert, which I forgot to take a picture of!

And there were some nice chocolates with the coffee (6€).

 

All in all an enjoyable evening, great food, nicely presented, although a pity about the bread and butter not being vegan (and staying on the table!).
We were seated in the main restaurant room, from which you can see the garden. Comfortable seatings, although the table cloths are very long (even touching the ground) and sometimes hindering standing up up and getting seated easily.
I would have liked to received some more info about the herb garden (don’t even know if patrons are allowed to go have a walk in there?). Maybe a next time?

Auberge de Herborist, location
De Watermolen 15
8200 Sint Andries – Brugge / Bruges
050/387.600

website: http://www.aubergedeherborist.be/

See our lists of restaurants where vegans are welcome in the menu section of The Bruges vegan! List restaurants in Bruges and outside  Bruges.