All posts tagged: Oostende

#194 Lovely lunch at new resto Organic Vision, Ostend

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restaurant review #194 – Organic Vision is a new restaurant in the city center of Ostend. It is located near the main shopping street. Organic Vision is the long awaited successor of De Graankorrel, which was a vegan – macrobiotic restaurant in Ostend, but closed about 2 years ago. Unlike De Graankorel, Organic Vision is not a vegan restaurant. There are however several vegan dishes available (the plat du jour is also always vegan) and all desserts are vegan and sugarfree. And as the name suggests, it is an organic restaurant. Since it opened in the Spring of 2018, I have already visited Organic Vision a couple of times. The restaurant is in a nicely renovated place, with a sober yet fresh and elegant design. There are also seating places outside, just in front of the restaurant, where you can have a relaxed lunch, albeit very close to the touristy heart of Ostend. The vegan plat du jour is 19,60€. Another vegan dish is the chanco-nabe (20,30€). Or if you are not really that hungry, …

#151 Bagels and salads at Sanseveria Bagelsalon, Ostend

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Restaurant review #151 – This is the second location of Sanseveria Bagelsalon. The orginal one is in Bruges, which I visited a year ago (see review). Meanwhile, Sanseveria bagelsalon has comfirmed that the bagels (bread buns) are vegan, and now also has some vegan options on the menu (one standardly vegan bagel, the other is vegetarian and can be veganised, and then there’s also a salad). They are clearly labelled on the menu. It is in the city center in the the Wittenonnenstraat (the “white nuns” street), next to book shop Corman. UPDATE – see below I was here for lunch a couple of weeks ago. I had an orange juice (rather small glass, but then it also was only 3€) and the bagel with avocado, grilled eggplant, tomato and salad (8€). Didn’t have to wait long, and it was nice! When I arrived the place was quite full (it’s not really big, I think there’s room for about 12-14 people). And I asked if I could join other people at their table, which was …

Shopping at organic shop Mordan, Ostend (2)

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Shop review #33 – Mordan is an organic shop in Ostend (at the Belgian coast) and has two locations: the oldest shop is the city center (right next to the main shopping street Kappelestraat) and has been there for decades. The other one is at the edge of Ostend, on the Torhoutsesteenweg (review of this one is here: shop review #16). Mordan now also has a webshop, with free delivery throughout Belgium (for any order above 25€). The shop Mordan has been there as long as I can remember. As I grew up in Ostend (and didn’t live far from it!), I know the shop quite well. Mordan in Ostend is not a vegan shop, but sells many vegan products that you won’t find so easily in ‘regular’ shops. From vegan cheese to chia seeds from coconut oil to vegan chocolate, from vegan bread spreads to vegan desserts. Note: as is the case in many organic shops in Belgium, there is unfortunately also a ‘meat and cheese’ counter: One big difference with the other shop at the Torhoustesteenweg is there is no …

#116 Vegan lunch at the beach: Histoires d’O, Ostend

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Restaurant review #116 – Histoires d’O is a bistro on the beach promenade in Ostend. I had inquired beforehand via e-mail and received a reply that they have several vegan dishes, like a pasta pesto and a dish with quinoa. We were in Ostend a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday, and had no set lunch plans, so this was more sprung of the moment. I did phone beforehand to make a reservation (which turned out not to be really necessary, still plenty of space available) and asked again about vegan options. The lady on the phone seemed to be a bit confused about what vegan means, but we decided to go anyway and hoped it would become clear when ordering. Histoires d’O is a nice place, with a vintage feel. The dark wooden furniture reminds me of old fishermen pubs from decades ago. The chairs are also very vintage, and as is often the case with retro style, not so comfortable 😉 Service was very friendly, and the waitress had no problem checking …

#114 Lunch at Agua del Mar, Ostend

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restaurant review #114 – Agua del Mar is one of the two restaurants in the Kursaal of Ostend, with a nice view on the beach promenade and the North sea. We originally planned on going to the other restaurant, situated above Agua del Mar, the Ostend Queen, as we had seen in this facebook post that they offer a gastronomical vegan menu. Unfortunately, since the beginning of 2017, Ostend Queen has stopped taking reservations for smaller parties (only reservations for groups of 25 and more!). When telephoning to make a reservation, we were assured that we could just as well have a vegan menu at Agua del Mar (always a vegan option standardly available), and that it is the same chef for the two restaurants, and that he could also come up with a vegan suggestion a la minute. So we were happy to make the reservation at Agua del Mar! (Update see below) We were here for lunch on a Saturday. Despite it being a school holiday week, there weren’t that many tables occupied (besides ourselves, …

#111 Snack at Le Touquet, Ostend

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Restaurant review #111 – Le Touquet is a restaurant (brasserie style) on the beach promenade of Ostend. I had seen comments on social media that Le Touquet offers vegan snacks, like spaghetti and croques (toasted bread with vegan cheese, etc) and also vegan pancakes. We had already taken a look inside one afternoon when in Ostend hoping to have a pancake, but at that time the place was nearly packed (and very crowded and noisy) and as such we did not fancy taking a seat. A couple of months ago we were in Ostend again for a concert in the nearby Casino Kursaal. We had planned on eating homemade sandwiches after visiting family in Ostend, before going to the show. Helas, we forgot our sandwiches at home! So we headed over to Le Touquet, hoping to have a quick snack. (I did not have my camera with me, so the food photos are just from my mobile, and have poor lighting, sorry about that). The menu lists several vegan options, like vegan tostis (with Wilmersburger cheese) We ordered a tosti …

#89 Nice vegan dish at Bistro Belle de Jour, Ostend ****

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Restaurant review #89 – Bistro Belle de Jour is a small place in one of the quiet streets of the city center, at the back of cultural centre De Grote Post. (update: new location 2019 see below). It’s a two minute walk from shopping street Kappelestraat, I had inquired some time ago whether vegan was possible, and that was said to be no problem. So when making the reservation, I requested this again. Communication on the phone didn’t go very smooth (the lady answering didn’t seem to understand Flemish very well), so we were a bit anxious to go. But we were quickly reassured upon arrival. Chef Els came personally to give us some vegan suggestions, based on the vegetarian dishes of the day (listed on the chalk board) and what’s available in the kitchen. We were seated at a little table at the window, with antique glass vases on the windowstill. There is one large table in the middle, sharing space with others. When we make a reservation again, I would definitely ask for a private table, …

#84 Lunch on the beach promenade at Bottarga, Ostend **

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Restaurant review #84 – Bottarga is a traditional restaurant in city center of Ostend, on the beach promenade, near the Casino Kursaal. I had seen Bottarga mentioned on social media as one of the restaurants where one can have a vegan meal, and on their website I could see there are two vegetarian dishes on their menu – which seemed possibly vegan or easy to veganise. I telephoned to inquire and received confirmation that the dishes did not contain any egg, dairy. So I made the reservation for lunch later that week and specified again that we are both vegan. We were quickly seated and inquired again about the vegan options. The waitress said the noodles contain egg, so they would serve the vegetable ragout with rice. The other dish was a Thai red curry with vegetables. We did not spot any vegan appetizers on the menu, or any dishes that could easily be veganised, nor were given any suggestions, so we just ordered a main dish. For drinks we had a tonic (2,80€) and a fresh orange juice (4,50€). Our drinks and lunch were …

Finding vegan goodies at Asian Supermarket Chow Chun, Ostend

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Shop review #24 – Chow Chun is an Asian supermarket in the city center of Ostend. It is located in between the Casino Kursaal and the Kapellestraat (Ostend’s main shopping street). It is not a vegan shop, but we did see a selection of vegan goodies that are not so commonly found in regular shops in Belgium. And also some rather rare fresh vegetables. These photos give you an impression of the size of the store and what’s for sale. Note that not all items on the photos are necessarily vegan, since it’s not a vegan shop.   Here are some items that caught our eye (I didn’t have time to check all of them for ingredients, but at first glance they looked vegan): This is what we bought: mock duck and mock chicken, soybean pudding, crackers and fried gluted with peanuts (seitan). (11,30€). Chow Chun, location Van Iseghemlaan 50 8400 Oostende +32 (0)59 80 13 68 website: https://www.hetwinkelweb.be/handelaar/detail/chow-chun-supermarkt