All posts tagged: 3stars

#74 Nice dinner at vegan restaurant Markies de Salade, Deurle ***

Published by

Restaurant review #74 – Markies de Salade opened in the Fall of 2015. It started out as a raw vegan restaurant, but now also serves regular ‘hot’ vegan dishes. Their dishes are ‘plantbased’ and glutenfree, without wheat, lactose, dairy and free from refined sugars (their FB page states they don’t serve soy, but there are now dishes with soy). All ingredients of each dish are listed on the menu. Markies de Salade is in Deurle, which is a 10 minute car ride from Ghent (and 45 km from Bruges). The restaurant is along the road between Ghent and Deinze, so it’s an easy ride and not hard to find. It is a bit of a peculiar ride though, as sections of this road are also well know for its ‘red lights’, which can also be spotted from the restaurant itself. — Update — see below We went to Markies de Salade a couple of weeks ago, to celebrate our 26th anniversary. We were there on a weekday evening, but to be sure we made a reservation. When we arrived there, there was only one other couple dining …

#73 Breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, Louvain ***

Published by

Restaurant Review #73 – A couple of weeks ago, we were in Louvain and had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien. It is located in the city center of Louvain, just next to the old market. Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ) is a world wide chain of organic bistros, founded by Belgian Alain Coumont. We already wrote some reviews of LPQ (the one in Bruges, and the one in Hasselt). Alain Coumont has recently also started a vegan branch of bistros, Le Botaniste, of which we visited the one in Ghent recently (see our review here). Pain Quotidien is French for Daily Bread. LPQ sells 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. There’s always something vegan available and vegan items are clearly marked on the menu. Most of the breads are also vegan (see our blogpost about LPQ in Bruges) For the two of us, we ordered a blueberry muffin (4,10€), a bowl of fresh fruit (4,80€) and the bread platter (3,40€). There are jams on the table to cover …

#72 Vegan icecream (and more) at Bar Italiano, Ghent ***

Published by

Restaurant review #72 – After our lovely lunch at saladbar Zukini in Ghent (see my review here), we went to Bar Italiano for a vegan icecream. It is only a 5 minute walk from the Overpoortstraat. This was a bit of a trip down memory lane too, as this was the neighbourhood where we lived a couple of years as students! There were three vegan ice-cream flavours: chocolate, speculoos and mint. The ice-creams are homemade and based on rice. I went for the chocolate and mint, my friend for the speculoos and chocolate (2€ for a scoop of ice cream, so this totalled 8€). I had already tasted this icecream before, at Vegan Summerfest in 2015 (see our blogpost with the review here). And it’s really good! Afterwards, we had some tea. There’s a nice selection of teas to choose from at the counter. (2,50€ or if you combine it with an ice cream only 2,30€). There are always vegan options available at Bar Italiano (eg pastas) and on Thursday vegan specialties (like vegan lasagne). The owner was very friendly and seemed very …

#71 – Vegan cakes and pie at Vero Caffè, Bruges ***

Published by

Restaurant review #71 – Vero Caffè is a coffee and tea bar in the city center of Bruges, not far from the central Market Square and the Burg. So far, it’s one of the few places in Bruges where you can order a soy lattè or a vegan hot chocolate. Since a couple of weeks, Vero Caffè also serves vegan cakes and pies on Thursday, made by Marieke from Chez Mariette. Hurray! It was hard to choose from all those delicious looking cakes and pies. I went for the apple pie with a lemon tea. Very nice! The place is bright, spacious, and cosy, and there is also a terrace in front. Chairs are a bit uncomfortable, some cushions on the chairs would be nice and would make it a bit more relaxed (there are some couches in the front though). Service was friendly and quick. Toilet in the back was clean. We sure hope those vegan pies and cakes will become available every day! Vero Caffè, location Sint-Jansplein 9 8000 Brugge / Bruges 050/70.96.09 website: https://www.facebook.com/VeroCaffeBrugge See our lists of …

#68 Vegan lunch at Le Pain Quotidien, Hasselt ***

Published by

Restaurant review #68 – A couple of weeks ago, we were in Hasselt and had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. It is located in the city center of Hasselt, just a 2 minutes walk from the market square. Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ) is a world wide chain of organic bistros, founded by Belgian Alain Coumont. We already wrote a review of our visit to LPQ in the city center of Bruges, you can read that review here. Alain Coumont has recently also started a vegan branch of bistros, Le Botaniste, of which we visited the one in Ghent recently (see our review here). Pain Quotidien is French for Daily Bread. LPQ sells 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. There’s always something vegan available and vegan items are clearly marked on the menu. Most of the breads are also vegan (see our blogpost about LPQ in Bruges). We were there early and ordered some drinks to start with. The drinks came swiftly. 45 …

#61 Vegan burgers at Bagels & Beans, Yeah! Utrecht (NL) ***

Published by

Restaurant review #61 – We were in Utrecht for the vegan festival VegfestNL (see our review here), and the day afterwards, we went for lunch to Bagels & Beans in the city center. Utrecht is not that far from Bruges, only about 220 km. Bagels & Beans is a chain with several locations throughout the Netherlands. There’s always something vegan available, and on our visits staff has always been very friendly to check for ingredients (see previous review of Bagles & Beans in Alkmaar). Since mid October 2015, they also have two vegan burgers standardly available: the Dutch Weedburger and the Chili burger from Just like your mom. Yeah! The burgers do not come in a burger bun though, but in a bagel – of course! (there are about five bagels to choose from). The weather was exceptionally mild for a Fall day, and we choose to sit outside on the terrace, which was quite nice. The Bagels & Beans in thye city center of Utrecht is located on a nice quiet square, close to the music …

#60 Fast food lunch at the Loving Hut Veganerie, Leuven ***

Published by

Restaurant review #60 – The Loving Hut Veganerie is a new vegan place in Leuven (Louvain, close to Brussels) and part of the international chain of Loving Hut restaurants. It opened in 2015. There was already another Loving Hut restaurant in Louvain (just around the corner!), and next to those two Loving Hut restaurants, there is also the Viva Vega! Loving Hut Express, a fast food truck which you can encounter at festivals and other events (for example at Vegan Summer Fest or Fair Festival). UPDATE – see below Louvain has quite some options for vegans! The Loving Hut Veganerie is the third all vegan restaurant in town (the other ones are the first Loving Hut and Vegaverso), and is just around the corner from vegan shop SHAVT. Although the Veganerie it is not really a restaurant. The menu consists mainly of burgers and other typical fastfood things, and it is self service (you order at the counter, and after notification that your food is ready, you can go pick it up). Our photos and review is from two visits: in …

#59 Fastfood lunch at the Loving Hut in Brighton (UK) ***

Published by

Restaurant review #59 – I’ve already posted several reviews of the restaurants we went to in Brighton during our mini break there this Summer (there is still one more to come!). Brighton has a large collection of vegan eateries and restaurants with vegan options. There are also two Loving Huts in Brighton, vegan restaurants that are part of an international chain. One of those Loving Huts is located in Gardner street, which is in the main shopping area of the city. And it is right across from the shop ‘Vegetarian Shoes‘, which I blogged about here. We were in the shopping area of Brighton on a Saturday, and the street was made into a pedestrain zone, with terraces in front of cafés and pubs. The weather was beautiful, so it was a nice atmosphere! We sat outside on the terrace of the Loving Hut to have a fastfood lunch! This was the menu: This is what we had. To start with, we shared a mixed platter: some soy chunks, spring rolls, … (£6,95). The special of the day was a pie with …

#58 Lovely dinner at Het Stadhuis (2), Oostburg (NL) ***

Published by

Restaurant review #58 – Het Stadhuis is a traditional restaurant in the south of the Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland. That’s very close to the Belgian border, and very close to Bruges (only about 30km = 20 miles). Restaurant and coffeehouse Het Stadhuis is in the center of Oostburg, a small town in the south of Zeeland. Every year in the beginning of October, Het Stadhuis participates in De Vegetarische restaurantweek, a campaign of the Dutch Vegetarian Association. During this week, you can have a vegetarian dinner in the participating restaurants for only 25€. Some restaurants offer a vegan menu, or you can have the menu veganised upon request, which is the case in Het Stadhuis (preferably ask it at least one day in advance to have it veganised). We already went to Het Stadhuis in 2013, also during the ‘Vegetarische restaurantweek‘, and we liked it a lot (see our review of that visit here, it was one of the first reviews on our blog!). This was the menu for De Vegetarische restaurantweek in October 2015 (we got a …

#56 ‘Fish n Chips’ at The Gourmet Girls vegan Pop up restaurant, Brighton, UK ***

Published by

Restaurant review #56 – Last Summer, we spent some days in and around Brighton, in the southeast of England (UK). Brighton is a vibrant but also quite touristic place. Brighton is known to be a hub for vegans, with several vegan and vegan friendly restaurants. That is also the main reason why we choose to go there this Summer! I already posted some reviews of the restaurants we went to in Brighton, but there are still some more to come! One of the places we went to was the pop up restaurant of the Gourmet Girls (from Titbits catering), which is held every Friday evening. It is located at an organic store ‘Fanny’s of Hanover’, which is a 15 minute walk from the train station of Brighton. I just noticed on their website that the last pop up restaurant will be on December 18, 2015, so be quick if you still want to check it out! You do need to make an advance booking. The menu of the pop up restaurant of the Gourmet Girls is always built …