All posts tagged: chain

#277 Quick lunch at Maoz Muntplein, Amsterdam (NL)

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restaurant review #277 – Maoz is an international chain of vegan fastfood restaurants, with several locations in Amsterdam. I visited the one in the city center of Amsterdam (Muntplein) last Winter. So this review is from a restaurant visit from before the lockdown measures due to the COVID19 pandemic started. You can take all you want from the ‘salad’ bar to pimp your falafel or mushroom bread. Salad or pita bread is only 5,95€. The food is very cheap, but was delicious.

A look inside shop Holland & Barrett, Bruges

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Shop review #51 – Holland & Barrett is an international Chain (UK based) with also several shops in Belgium and the Netherlands. Holland & Barrett sells “a wide range of vitamins, minerals, health supplements, specialist foods and natural beauty products.” (taken from their website). There is also a Holland & Barrett shop in Bruges, in the Noordzandstraat (not far from ‘t Zand and the Dweersstraat).  I only recently discovered that H&B have a decent range of vegan labelled body and care products (e.g. shampoo, bath and shower wash, toothpaste, face cream), and now regularly do some shopping there. They also have some food items (nuts, special flours), and a wide range of vitamines and other supplements (vegan vitamine D for example). Here are some more pics from inside the Holland & Barrett in Bruges. Holland & Barrett, location Noordzandstraat 59 8000 Brugge 050/33 9477 website: https://www.hollandandbarrett.be/stores/brugge-9007 See our list of shops, which may interest vegans.  

A look inside the new Origin’O, Bruges

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Shop review #47 – Origin’O is a chain of organic stores in Flanders, with nearly 20 shops spread throughout the region. They are not supermarkets, but reasonable sized stores, with most often a good offer of vegan products. Other reviews of Origin’O shops are here on The Bruges Vegan. The Origin’O in Bruges used to be in the Katelijnestraat, but at the end of 2017 moved to a new location. It is now at the edge of the city, in Assebroek. This is about a 30 minute walk from the heart of Bruges (Market). After our lunch to Indian restaurant Shalimar a couple of weeks ago, which is just 2 minutes away (review will follow), we went to have a look at the new Origin’O store. The new Origin’O is very spacious, bright and modern! And we noticed the same interior design and concept as in the renovated Origin’O in Louvain (see post here). Please note that it is not a vegan shop, so not all the products on the photos are necessarily vegan. The shop does …

A look inside organic shop Origin’O, Louvain

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Shop review #34 – Origin’O is a chain of organic stores in Flanders, with nearly 20 shops spreaded throughout the region. They are not supermarkets, but reasonable sized stores, with most often a good offer of vegan products. There is also an Origin’O is Bruges (see one of the earliest posts on The Bruges Vegan).  The one in Bruges will be moving to a bigger location soon, at the edge of the city (see pic below). Whenever we are visiting another city, we like to check out the vegan and/or organic stores to see what they have on offer. I’ve been to the Origin’O in Louvain (near Brussels) a couple of times before, and on our last visit, I took some pics. Please note that it is not a vegan shop, so not all the products on the photos are necessarily vegan. The shop does sell a lot of vegan items that are not so easily found in ‘regular’ shops (vegan yoghurt, tempeh, chocolates, cakes, toothpaste…). The vegetables and fruits section is in a seperate …

#99 Nice quick lunch at EXKi in Brussels

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Restaurant review #99 – The Exki restaurants are part of an international chain. There are several EXKi restaurants in Belgium, most are in Brussels though (27 of them). There’s also an EXKi in the train station of Bruges. Contrary to common belief, it is not an full organic chain (the FAQ on their website states about 30% of their products are organic). The EXKi restaurants have a couple of vegan options standardly available, which are clearly indicated on the labels: sandwiches, salads, soup. Unfortunately no vegan desserts though (except for some fruit). The Exki restaurants are not for elaborate wining and dining, but more of a fastfood ‘self service’ place: you take your food from the fridges, pay at the counter, and then afterwards clean up the table. There’s also a microwave to heat your dish. You can of course also buy to take-away. A couple of weeks ao, we went to one in Brussels, Exki Agora. It is near the train station of Brussels Central (Grasmarkt – near shopping center Agora). This what we had: a mushroom soup (3,75€), a bread …

#37 Our lunch at Bagels & Beans, Alkmaar (NL) ***

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Restaurant review #37 – Travelling up north towards the island of Texel, we stopped in Alkmaar (in between Amsterdam and Texel). We originally planned to have our lunch at Thai restaurant Chada Thai in Alkmaar, since that restaurant is explicitly mentioned on Happy Cow as being very vegan friendly, to arrive at its frontdoor and find the restaurant … not open. Backup plan: a quick visit to Bagels & Beans, where – as the name suggest – a large variety of bagels is served. Bagels & Beans is a chain with several locations throughout the Netherlands. There’s always something vegan available, and staff was very friendly to check for ingredients (see also the note inside the menu – taking note of food allergies). We had the hummus bagel (standardly vegan) and the avocado bagel (without the cream cheese, but with hummus) with respectively a sesame bun and a tomato bun (asked whether they are vegan and got confirmation). Very nice! And very cheap too (5,40€ for the avocado bagel and 3,95 for the hummus bagel). Small orange juice was only …