All posts tagged: Kortrijk

Everything you need for home cooking, brewing and preserving: BMSwijndepot, Kuurne

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Shop review #31 – I had been looking for creme of tartar* for quite a while, to use for vegan baking. One of the comments in a facebook group led me to this shop near Kortrijk (Courtrai). As we had planned a trip to Kortrijk, during which I also wanted to check out the vegan goodies at Bakery Filip in Kuurne (see this blogpost), we stopped in BMS Wijndepot in Kuurne on our way back home. The shop is 49 km from Bruges. BMS Wijndepot is a store packed with materials and ingredients for home cooking, brewing and preserving. What a discovery! Bottles in all shapes and sizes, lids to seal jars and bottles, ingredients to make your own wine (also vegan fining agents like betoniet), cannin jars, corks, herbs, extracts and essences, … And also the equipment to do your own brewing, canning and bottling (and more).  Here are some more photos which give you an idea of the store. Note that not all the items pictured in the photos are necessarily vegan, as it is not a vegan store. I asked …

Vegan ‘koffiekoeken’ and pie from Bakkerij Filip, Kuurne

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Shop review #30 – Bakkerij Filip is a local bakery in Kuurne, which is a small town just next to Kortrijk (Courtrai) in the south of Flanders. I had already seen several posts on facebook and Instagram of their vegan pastry and cakes. Yeah! Vegan pastry is still a rarity in Belgian bakeries, and I have only been able to buy it on one ocasion before, at Bakkerij Frimout in Ghent (see blog here). So when we planned a trip to Kortrijk a couple of weeks ago, I definitely wanted to check out Bakkerij Filip! There is a selection of vegan items for sale at the bakery, among which some specialties that are not so easily found in regular shops in Belgium. Like this omelet mix (still need to try it). I also bought some cookies and other goodies (some very nice lemon cookies and veganaise). The wife of bakery Filip, Liraz – vegan herself, gave us a tour of the bakery downstairs, which still runs with some real antique machines (and more modern ones too of …

Finding vegan goodies at organic supermarket Biomarkt, Kortrijk / Courtrai

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Shop review #19 – Biomarkt is an organic supermarket on the outskirts of Kortrijk (Courtrai) a town in Western Flanders, near the French border (57km from Bruges). We were in Kortrijk a couple of weeks ago, and I always like to go check out organic shops to go see if and which vegan products they offer. There’s easy parking right in front of the shop. The shop is not really a ‘supermarket’ but a reasonably sized shop (comparable to for example Biovita in Bruges or Roeselare, or Mordan in Ostend). Biomarkt is not an all-vegan shop, but they do have many vegan products available that you will not find so easily in other ‘regular’ shops. For example vegan cheeses, icecream or non dairy milkdrinks, tempeh, silk tofu, nuts, seaweeds, etc. Also a selection of fresh vegetables and fruits. Here’s a look inside shop Biomarket in Kortrijk, to give you an idea of the size of the shop and the space inside (as it is not a vegan shop, please note that not all items on these photos are necessarily vegan).  An overview …

#40 Our vegan lunch at vegetarian resto Nectar, Kortrijk / Courtrai **

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Restaurant review #40 – Nectar is a organic vegetarian restaurant in Kortrijk / Courtrai, a city in the south of Flanders (60km from Bruges). Restaurant Nectar is only open for lunch, during weekdays, a common feature among vegetarian restaurants with a typical ‘plat du jour’ offer (similar vegetarian plat du jour restaurants, which are also only open for lunch are for example De Bron in Bruges, Grenoble in Sint-Niklaas, De Graankorrel in Ostend and Avalon in Ghent). We sometimes jokingly refer to these types of restaurants as ‘toefjesrestaurants‘, because they typically serve a variety of little heaps (=toefjes) of several vegetables and grains on one plate (macrobiotic inspired). As stated above, it is a vegetarian restaurant, and not a vegan restaurant. I had read conflicting posts on social media about whether or not you should ask for vegan in advance (some stating you have to make a reservation and specifically ask for vegan, other saying you can just drop in). We were in Kortrijk some weeks ago and had no set plans for lunch yet, so we decided to …

A visit to the Alpro factory in Wevelgem (Be)

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A couple of months ago, I visited Alpro in Wevelgem (near Kortrijk, Belgium). The visit to the factory was organised by EVA West, a local division of vegetarian organisation EVA. Alpro makes plant based products, made of soy, almond, hazelnut, rice, … Their soymilk, coconutmilk, pudding and yofu’s are omnipresent in about every Belgian supermarket and are also sold around the world. The factory is Wevelgem (Belgium) is the main factory of Alpro. We got an introduction of about half an hour by a PR-manager, followed by the opportunity to ask some questions. Afterwards we visited the production units inside the factory.