restaurant review #226 – Full Circle Coffee is a vegan tea and coffee house in Ghent. It is located a little bit out of the city center, in between het Zuid and Sint-Anna square. The interior is nice, spacious and there is also outdoor seating at the back. There are several vegan cakes and donuts available. One orders at the counter and then your order is brought to you.
restaurant review #224 – d’Afspanning is a traditional restaurant in Beernem, about 15 km outside of Bruges. “Afspanning” is an old Dutch word for a restaurant or sleeping place along a travel route, where travellers dismounted from their horses and could stall the carriages and animals. We had been wanting to go to this restaurant for quite a while. When I inquired a couple of years ago whether they wanted to make a vegan menu, I received a negative response. But times change, and now they do make a vegan menu on request! Do make a reservation though and mention vegan specifically, preferably two days in advance. This review is from a visit a couple of months ago, in December 2018. We were warmly welcomed and could take a seat in the ‘voute’ room . I have no idea how ‘voute’ translates into English. It’s a room which is usually about 3 to 4 steps higher than the rest of the downstairs area, and was traditionally the bedroom in old houses. A cosy small room, …
restaurant review #221 – The Gate is vegetarian restaurant in London. Actually there are already three The Gate restaurants in London (Islington, Marylebone, Hammersmith), and in March 2019 a fourth one will open (St. John’s Wood). We had already been to the one at Marylebone (see review here), so this time we went to the one in Islington. This was during our stay in London for VegfestUK, in the Fall of 2018 (see post here). The Gate at Islington is a spacious place, and nicely renovated. A combination of old and new. There’s a restaurant room at ground level, and a room in the back which is up a few steps. I had made a reservation online, and we were warmly welcomed and took place in the ground floor restaurant room, with a view at the bar. Everything on the menu at the Gate is vegan, except for the non-vegan options labelled as such (NV = not vegan). We had a lovely dinner. Mezze platter (£22) to share as a starter. Mushroom risotto (£16) and …
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 …
restaurant review #212 – By Chloe is an American chain of vegan fastfood restaurants. It has two locations in London. We went to the one in the Theater district (Covent Garden) during our last London trip (to visit VegfestUK). By Chloe is selfservice (order at counter, go pick your food up at counter, and clean up yourself). People at the counter were very friendly. We had the meat balls with pesto (£9,60), and toast with smashed avocado, cauliflower and radish (£8,40). That was a very awkward tasting combination. Fries on the side were airfried (£4). I was amazed by the amount of waste that was produced in the restaurant (also a lot of plastic). Not really big portions too, and all in all quite expensive. We found the seatings to be very uncomfortable, and there was loud music. Nice 70’s-80’s music though, I think we were the only ones at the restaurant who were actually around when this music was aired on the radio (lots of millenials on the tables around us) 😉. The place …
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 …
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 …
restaurant review #204 – Imagine is an organic vegetarian restaurant in the city center of Middelburg (NL). We were here in the Summer of 2018, and had lunch on the terrace. It was a blooming hot day, and we were happy to take a seat under the big umbrellas on the large terrace in front, offering shade, with a nice view on the church. The lunch menu at Imagine is mainly snack items, like paninis and wraps. Vegan options are clearly indicated on the menu. There is also a small shop area inside, with nuts and seeds etc in dispensers (waste free). We ordered a vegan toasti with pesto, mushrooms, parsley and walnut (5,8€) and a wrap with cannelini spread, mushrooms, peanut, crunched onion and pickled red onion (8,5€). The food combinations were a bit odd and felt strange to our taste buds. Not really our cup of tea. There were several vegan cakes and pies on offer. We had a piece of strawberry and a piece of banana cake, and an ice coffee, which were …
restaurant review #203 – Pizza break is a small pizza restaurant in the city center of Torhout (a mall town near the Belgian coast, not far from Ostend). We had heard about their vegan pizza option through social media. During one of our bicycle tours last Summer, we were in the area and went to check it out! Pizza Break is a rather small more fast food type place, not really for elaborate wining and dining. There’s also a small terrace in front. There was one vegan pizza noted on the menu (small 9€ or large 11€). I checked about the crust and was reassured it is vegan. So we ordered two large pizzas! We didn’t have to wait long for the pizza to be served. Huge pizzas, topped with plenty vegetables and vegan cheese. Aferwards, we chatted a while with the owner, on why he decided to add vegan pizza to the menu, and his search for good vegan cheese and a crust that bakes nicely and can hold the weight of all the vegetables. …
restaurant review #201 – Pizza & Pasta Poppy’s is a restaurant in the city center of Ostend, just a two minute walk from the main shopping street and the central square Wapenplein. It is just around the corner of the Fishers’ square (Vissersplein). If I remember correctly, there used to be a shop here that sold party costumes, theater and carnaval attributes (was it called De Schaar?). Pizza & Pasta Poppy’s is a family run restaurant, which – the name gives it away 😉 serves mainly pizzas and pasta! This review is from a visit at the beginning of August, when I visited the restaurant alone. There were several vegetarian options indicated on menu, and some options can be made vegan (with leaving out the cheese). I asked which pizza she recommened as a vegan pizza, and was suggested the pizza Poppy’s, but without the dairy cheese. I took the medium version (14€) The pizza came loaded with fresh vegetables: Although this was a medium pizza, I could not finish it! It was topped with a …
