All posts tagged: Leuven

#220 The Beyond Meat Burger at Greenway, Leuven (3)

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restaurant review #220 – Greenway is a Belgian vegetarian brand (restaurants and products) and was founded in the mid nineties. There are three Greenway restaurants in Belgium: in Ghent (it’s been ages since I was there!), in Louvain and in Antwerp. There’s also a Greenway foodstall at the train station of Gare du Midi, where we had a nice lunch before boarding on the Eurostar to London (previous reviews of Greenway here). In 2018, Greenway announced that all it’s restaurants would become fully vegan! This is from a visit at the Greenway in Louvain a couple of months ago (end of 2018). We’ve been to the Greenway in Louvain several times before, but on this occassion, we went to try the Beyond Meat burger, a new vegan burger that has been getting quite a few headlines lately for its supposedly ‘meaty’ taste and texture. Greenway in Louvain is in the city center, next to the Oude Markt (Parijsstraat). The Beyond Meat burger does live up to its reputation: it does taste really meaty! For some vegans this might be a deterrent, …

Fancy a vegan pancake (or two, or ..)? LEO pancakes, Louvain

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LEO pancakes is a coffee/lunch house in the city center of Leuven. And as the name suggests: they serve pancakes! We were here a couple of months ago, in the Fall of 2018. It was a nice sunny afternoon, and we could sit outside (small terrace in front). The menu mainly consists of pancakes, and a handful of lunch options (one vegan bagel available). Vegan options are clearly labelled. We had the Chocolate drops pancake (8€) and the Fruit circle pancake (9€) and some tea and lemonade. Unfortunately it took a very long while for our pancakes to be served (more than half an hour), which was a real bummer. Especially since the outdoor chairs are not really comfortable. The pancakes eventually came, and they were great! Loved it! Huge portions and as we already had lunch shortly before, we could not finish all of it. Note: Interior is wheelchair accessible (ramp to go in – didn’t see an accessible toilet though). LEO Pancakes, location Mechelsestraat 45 3000 Leuven 0484/46.04.66 no website facebookpage: https://www.facebook.com/LEOpancakesleuven/  

#213 The Dutch weedburger at Life Bar, Louvain

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restaurant review #213 – Life Bar is an all vegan lunch restaurant in the city center of Leuven (near Brussels). Not so far from the central market square. We visited Life Bar for lunch a couple of weeks ago, in the Fall of 2018. The menu is noted on a board above the counter and a menu card was also brough to our table. One orders at the counter, and there you also get your drinks. The food is brought to the table. We had the Dutch weedburger (9,50€), and a soup (it was leek soup) with a slice of bread (5€). We have eaten the Dutch weedburger on many occasions before, and I quite like the taste and texture! Life Bar is a cosy little place. Everything seemed newly renovated, and all was clean. Terrace out front. Reserved but friendly service. About accessibility: the restaurant is on ground level. There’s a small step to get inside. Toilets are on ground floor, but there is no accessible toilet. Toilets were clean and tidy. One damp …

#209 ‘Beet the roots’ at Ellis Gourmet Burger, Louvain

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restaurant review #209 – Ellis Gourmet Burger is part of a chain of restaurants, with several locations in Belgium and the Netherlands. There is one vegan burger standardly available: “beet the roots”, which is made with (the name already gives it away) beet roots. We were at the restaurant in Leuven (Louvain, close to Brussels) during the Summer. The restaurant has a nice interior. There’s also a large terrace outside in front of the restaurant. We inquired about any other vegan options. The waitress was very friendly and went to check ingredients/allergenes with the kitchen. The Portobello burger could be made vegan: without the bun, and without the cheese (but not much remains then; in hindsight, I wonder why they cannot just take the buns from the vegan beet the roots burger?). The other vegetarian burgers were said to be not vegan. So we both ordered the vegan ‘beet the roots’ burger (11€), with fries (3,70€). Fries are baked in vegetable oil. The burger and fries came with mayo. The waitress realized her mistake, and came …

#207 Nice dinner in a relaxed decor, Het Strand, Louvain

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restaurant review #207 – Het Strand (‘the beach’) is a vegetarian restaurant in the city center of Leuven (Louvain, near Brussels). We were here for dinner during the Summer. We didn’t make a reservation as the restaurant only takes reservations for parties of six and more. We had to search a little bit, because the restaurant is located in a brand new complex (with cinema etc). Luckily, there were still plenty of free tables (we were there quite early, the place soon filled up though). Het Strand is a spacious modern place, everything is brand new. An enjoyable atmosphere, although quite uncomfy (hard!) schoollike wooden chairs. Lunch and dinner options are noted on the large chalkboards in the back. Most options seemed vegan, although that was not noted on the chalkboard. So to us, it was unclear whether everything was vegan or not. We asked the waiter, and he said he would check to be sure with the kitchen staff. The walnut spread with onions was unfortunately sold out. This is what we had for dinner: cauliflower …

#177 Vegan gastronomic dinner at Taste, Louvain

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restaurant review #177  – Taste is a gastronomic restaurant in the city centre of Louvain / Leuven. They offer a vegan menu on request (mention it when making the reservation). I made a reservation online a couple of days before we wanted to go (and had to make a deposit, by bank transfer). This review is from a visit a couple of months ago, during the past Winter. We were warmly welcomed when we arrived and given the menu, and asked whether we wanted a 4-course or 5-course menu. We went for the latter, which was 95€ per person. Additionally, Jim had the beers* (22,50€), and for me the non-alcoholic drinks (18,75€) to go along with the courses. This is what we had for dinner (in sum, we tried to remember as many as the recited ingredients as we could, but – as is often the case in gastronomic restaurants, there were plenty more ingredients on the dishes and enumerated!). a trio of amuse geueles to start with: pumpkin soup, red beet and pumpernickel, and …

#165 Light lunch at vegan tea house T&Ko, Louvain

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restaurant review #165 – T & Ko is a new vegan tea house in the city of Louvain. It is located in de Tiensestraat, which seems gradually to become the vegan street of Louvain, with the Loving Hut and Vegaverso all in the same street! (Update Fall 2018 see below). We were here for lunch a couple of weeks ago. T&Ko offers some light lunch options, like soup and hummus, and also a plat du jour. They also have vegan pancakes, and lots of pies and cakes! This is what we had for lunch: Very nice lunch, and very good value for money (we though the main dishes were quite cheap actually). The interior at T&Ko is simple but bright, with wooden chairs and tables. The silence was on occasion deafening though, at one point I even started hearing the buzzing of the lights (or maybe that was my imagination?). Anyway, one could hear a pin drop, and as there were also other patrons in the establisment, we hardly dared to speak to each other, …

#153 Burgers at Loving Hut Veganerie, Louvain (3)

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restaurant review #153 – The Loving Hut Veganerie is a vegan restaurant in Leuven (Louvain, close to Brussels) and part of the international chain of Loving Hut restaurants. There is also a smaller Loving Hut restaurant in Louvain (just around the corner!), and next to those two Belgian 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). There are already several reviews of Loving Huts we have visited up on the blog (see here). This is from a visit to the Loving Hut Veganerie in Leuven a couple of months ago. The Loving Hut Veganerie is more of a fastfood place.  One orders at the counter, and then an electronic device lets you know when your order is ready. Menu also consists of mainly ‘fastfood’ items, like burgers and wraps, and side dishes like potatoe wedges. This was our lunch: a smokey BBQ burger (9€), 1 chicky cheezy (9€), potato wegdes (3,50€), with veganaise, calamares (3,80€) …

#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) …

#145 Vegan lunch at Café Manger, Louvain

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restaurant review #145 – Café Manger is a brasserie/pub in the city center of Louvain, on the Oude Markt (old market). “Manger” is French for ‘to eat’, so it literally translates as a pub where you can eat. It is right across Lebanese restaurant Karamna, where we also went to a couple of weeks ago! We had to be in Louvain a couple of weeks ago, and just the day before we went, I saw an announcement in a vegan Belgian facebookgroep that Café Manger would standardly be serving a vegan option as a suggestion, starting the next day. In that same announcement (by one of the owners of the brasserie), it was also announced that the bread, soup of the day, and fries are vegan. And they have soy creamer for coffee. So that was lunch planned for the next day! 🙂 We arrived rather early for lunch, and as such, we were the first ones to try to vegan option at Café Manger! 😀 We had made a reservation, but that seemed not to be …