All posts tagged: fine dining

#150 Lovely gastronomic dinner at Zarza, Louvain

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Restaurant review #150 – Zarza is a gastronomic restaurant in the city center of Leuven. It is located on the Bondgenotenlaan, which is the long lane from the train station to the city hall. We had walked by here on numerous occassions, but had never noticed there was a restaurant there! I had seen Zarza mentionned as a suggestion in a vegan facebook group. Zarza has a vegetarian menu standardly available, which is veganised on request (when making the reservation). And so we did! We were warmly welcome and were asked whether we wanted the 4 course of 5 course menu. We went for the latter (I am not sure about the price anymore, but I believe it was 60€). This is what we were served (couldn’t take note of all the ingredients mentionned, but this gives you an idea 😉 fennel, pistache, gel of curry, dried shiitake avocado in two ways (mashed and grilled), radish, cucumber, kaffir lime quinoa, black radish, juice of celery some sort of sea vegetable, ‘meringue’ (made of seaweed powder) …

#122 Another fabulous dinner at Réliva, Bruges (5)

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Restaurant review #122 – Restaurant Réliva is one of the few places in Bruges that standardly offers a vegan menu. It is not an all vegan restaurant, but since the start (2012) they have served vegan dishes. We’ve been here several times over the years, and it is always a delight to go dining here. Previous reviews of Réliva on The Bruges Vegan are here. (see updates below!) The interior has changed a bit over the years, and there’s also a large terrace in the back. We’ve never had the chance to dine on the terrace, as it was always cold or rainy when we visited. Definitely will try to visit on a nice Summer evening in the coming months, so we can enjoy the terrace! This review is from our last visit, a couple of weeks ago (Spring 2017). The vegan menu is still 35€ (starter, main dish and dessert). When ordering a la carte it is a bit more expensive (see prices listed, total of 43€ for 3 courses). For starters we had the …

#100 Vegan fine dining at Vanilla Black, London (UK)

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Restaurant review #100 – Reminder – GIVEAWAY to celebrate 100 restaurant reviews & 3 years The Bruges Vegan. Vanilla Black is a vegetarian restaurant in city center of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice. It is located in a small quiet alley. It is one of the more expensive vegetarian restaurants in London, and offers fine gastronomical dining. We telephoned to make a reservation for the same evening and that was no problem, although we had to be early (6PM all later hours were fully booked). We received a vegan menu card and also a vegan wine list. Nice! We ordered the 3 course vegan menu and could each choose different meals, even nicer! The 3 course dinner was £41,50. We started with a glass of champagne (drapier, £9,75). Water was £3,95, glass of wine was £9,75 (quite expensive drinks!). Here’s what we had for dinner. It was too much too take notes of all the ingredients, but every dish was very nice. Service was also very swift and friendly. Toilets downstairs were clean, although a bit unorderly. …

#87 – Vegan fine dining at Tian (Vienna), a gastronomic feast! *****

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Restaurant review #87 – Tian is a gastronomical vegetarian restaurant in the city center of Vienna (one Michelin star). It is located in between the Stadtpark and the Stephansplatz, near the Ring around the inner city. We made a reservation through the website of Tian for a Saturday evening. A good thing we made the reservation, beacuse several patrons were turned away on the evening itself! (see other reviews from our trip to Vienna). It was a very nice Summer evening and we were suggested a seat on the terrace in front of the restaurant. Although located in a quiet street, there is a theater across the street, which made it a bit busy at times. At one point there was a coach standing stationary with the motor running in front of the theater (bringing people to the evening performance), which was somewhat unpleasant, but otherwise we had a lovely evening. It was perfect Summer weather for outside dining! The waiter suggested a glass of champagne and we went for it! (it was very, VERY expensive: 16 euro for …

A word or two about restaurant reviews

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We have visited hundreds of restaurants over the years. And although we have only started this blog fairly recently (beginning of 2014) there are already quite a lot of posts with restaurant reviews on our blog. Here are some thoughts about restaurant reviews, and our take on the matter. #1. A restaurant review is always a subjective account A restaurant review is always a personal account. So many different subjective preferences shape the experience. As we explain in #2 we try to look at the global picture when writing a restaurant review, but even that is of course shaped by our own personal preferences and taste. #2. More than food: everything counts The food is of course the main focal point. A restaurant experience is however also shaped by other factors: comfort, hygiene, service, attitude, location, accessibility, choice of vegan options, presence of non-vegan items (like leather chairs in vegetarian restaurants), …  And a price tag that is in check with the quality. So sometimes the vegan food may have been great, but the restaurant scores less on other points (or …

#53 Vegan Fine dining at Auberge De herborist, Sint Andries, Bruges ****

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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 …

#36 Vegan fine dining at De Jonkman, Bruges ****

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Restaurant review #36 – De Jonkman is a gastronomical restaurant at the edge of Bruges (Sint-Kruis). It is listed in the renowned Michelin guide with two stars. There is no vegan menu standardly available at De Jonkman, but if you ask it in advance it is no problem. We went there for our 25th anniversary. Not a big party, but just the two of us, for a relaxed evening with fine dining ❤ Upon making the reservation, I said we wanted a vegan menu, and explicited what this means (what we do and don’t eat). I asked for a 5-course menu, being 105€ per person (without drinks). Here are the photos of what we had. As is always the case in gastronomical restaurants, the waiter enumerated a series of ingredients when serving each plate. We tried to take some notes, but it was way too much to remember everything ;-). A very enjoyable evening out We thoroughly enjoyed our evening out. The athmosphere was distinguished and yet relaxed at the same time. Comfortable seatings. Fine touches that are custom in more …