All posts tagged: restaurant

#20 Restaurant Lan Na Thai, Mechelen **

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Restaurant review #20 – Lan Na Thai is a Thai restaurant in the center of Mechelen (Malines). It’s about a big 5 minute walk from the market place. (** See NOTE at bottom of post) We made a reservation for a Saturday evening, at 7PM. Good thing we made a reservation, because the restaurant soon filled, and the owner had to refuse several patrons. It’s not a big restaurant (I’m guessing about 20 to 25 seats) and tables are placed pretty close to each other. Update  – see below –  The menu on their website mentions several vegetarian dishes separately, of which most seem to be vegan. We asked whether the vegetarian dishes we ordered did not contain any dairy or egg, and the waitress confirmed – although seemingly a bit confused by our question at first – that they didn’t. Nonetheless we did get a bowl of prawn crackers as a free appetizer, not really reassuring. Let’s hope the staff in the kitchen was more knowledgeable (one is of course never 100% sure when dining out that everything served is vegan). We …

#18 – Restaurant Jinso, Amsterdam (Nl) ***

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Restaurant review #18 – Restaurant and loungebar Jinso is located outside the city center of Amsterdam, in the area around the Amsterdam Arena, The Heineken Music Hall and the Ziggo Dome. The restaurant is only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but whenever there are special events in the area (eg concerts), the restaurant also offers an all you can eat buffet and a restricted ‘event menu‘ to choose from. The special event menulist also mentions a vegetarian dish with tofu. We e-mailed in advance to check whether this dish was baked in vegetable oil and if it didn’t contain any animal ingredients, got an affirmative reply and made a reservation for 5PM. Pretty early for dinner, but we didn’t want to be late for the concert in nextdoor Ziggo Dome! Jinso is situated in a very big and spacious round-shaped building in the center of the Amsterdam Boulevard, just across Mediamarkt and Decathlon. You cannot miss it. We were seated in the upstairs area, which gives you a nice overview of the restaurant and the boulevard. Our meal followed quickly, …

#16 Restaurant De Bron, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #16 – De Bron is the only vegetarian restaurant in Bruges. It is located in the south of the city center, near the Beguinage and the Minnewaterpark . It is only open during weekdays for lunch, and offers a soup of the day and a plat du jour, which can be ordered in different sizes: baby, mini, medium and super size. Main dishes are veganized upon request. Desserts are mainly non-vegan, except for the soy vanilla pudding. There are also fresly pressed juices available. Most of what’s served in De Bron is organic. They also offer take-away lunch (orders must be placed before 11.30). Lunch We have been to the Bron several times over the last couple of years. On our last visit in March 2014, we had the soup of the day (2€), which happened to be vegan that day (carrot and chard). I went for the mini-size plat du jour (10,5€), my partner had the medium size dish (11€), which is already a fairly big portion. The plat du jour mostly consists of grains and a selection …

#15 Restaurant Rosenobel, Antwerp ***

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Restaurant review #15 – Rosenobel just opened a couple of months ago. It was announced in several media as being a vegetarian restaurant, although they also serve non-veg items. On their website they state to have a ‘vegetarian inspired kitchen’. We had already emailed to ask whether they also have vegan items standardly available and got an affirmative reply. Great! The restaurant is located at the foot of the cathedral in Antwerp, and although we knew this, we walked by several times in search for this restaurant. There is no sign on the front wall with the name of the restaurant, and given the lounge seatings behind the front windows it’s not really apparent this is a restaurant. To be clear and prevent you from wandering in the cold like we did: if you are facing the front entrance of the cathedral, restaurant Rosenobel is located on your left. We were there for lunch on a Saturday and the restaurant was remarkably quiet (just one other table besides us). Vegan items are not indicated on the menu …

#14 – Restaurant Gember & Sereh, Tilburg (Nl) ****

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Restaurant review #14 – Gember & Sereh is an Indonesian restaurant in the center of Tilburg. It is located just around the corner from the concert hall 013. Tilburg is a small but vibrant university city in the south of the Netherlands. It’s 166 km from Bruges. We went to Gember & Sereh in the late afternoon, before going to a concert at the 013.  They have several vegetarian options available, and we explicitly asked to have any items with eggs or dairy (or any other animal ingredients) be left out. No problem. We had the sates with tofu (tahu) at 17,50€ and the nasi rames veg (15,75€), a kind of mini rice table dish with different preparations. Both came with plain white rice (one of us asked for rice noodles, but some time after ordering someone from the kitchen said the rice noodles weren’t available at that point yet). It took some time, nearly an hour (I guess the kicthen had just started up) but we enjoyed the food. Typical Indonesian style (eg. peanut sauce) which we both like a …

#13 Restaurant De broers van Julienne, Antwerp **

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Restaurant review #13 – De Broers van Julienne is a restaurant in Antwerp well-known for its many vegetarian options. They mainly work with organic ingredients. Several sites list this as a vegetarian restaurant, but it is not (also serves fish). It also has some vegan options standardly available. I had been to De broers van Julienne on my own a couple of years ago, and wasn’t really impressed. It was on a cold snowy winter day, and although I had hoped to warm myself in the restaurant, it was unpleasantly cold inside. Don’t know whether their heating system was broke or if it was always like that, but there was a small heater placed in the middle of the room, that really couldn’t heat the spacious place. I remember a waitress who could hardly speak any Dutch, and replied to my question whether a certain dish was vegan: “gluten free?”. It wasn’t that reassuring and I can’t even remember what I had for lunch at that visit. I did remember the uncomfy chairs and slow …

#12 restaurant ‘t Jong Gerecht, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #12 – ‘t Jong Gerecht is located in the Langestraat near the Kruispoort. The restaurant is run by staff who are all in their early twenties (hence their name ‘Jong’ = young). The restaurant’s name also refers to the Court House (= Het Gerecht) opposite to the restaurant and ‘gerecht’ also means ‘a dish’. (2019: SEE UPDATE BELOW) I mailed ‘t Jong Gerecht a couple of weeks before, to ask whether we could get a vegan menu (explaining what we do and don’t eat). They swiftly replied that this was not a problem, since they also for example use algae (agar agar) as a binding agent. They do advise to make the reservation two days in advance, so they can take our vegan wishes into account. And so we did. We were there on a Thursday evening. At 7 o’ clock, we were standing with two other parties at the entrance of the restaurant (it was a bit chilly, so not so pleasant). We waited a bit at the closed door, and when I saw the …

#11 Salade Folle, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #11Salade Folle is located near the Beguinage (Begijnhof) and the brewery De Halve Maan. We had already inquired via e-mail whether we could get a vegan menu at Salade Folle (specifying what we do and don’t eat) and got an affirmative reply: ‘we can prepare something to meet everyone’s wishes‘. When we made the reservation, I asked again about the possibility of a vegan menu, and it was no problem, we could go the same evening. We were there on a Thursday evening and it was pretty quiet. Salade Folle is a spacious place, with high ceilings and seating upstairs as well. It is more a bistro-style type of place, with pastas, quiches and salades (obviously) on offer. Our waiter was very friendly and knowledgable about animal ingredients in certain dishes. He also did not have a problem to go double check for animal ingredients for some items, which gave us a reassuring feeling. All in all, our menu options were quite limited, but at least we each could get a different main …

#10 Bistro Pastis, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #10 – Bistro Pastis is one of the few places in Bruges which standardly has vegan main dishes available. We received this tip from vegan friends who had already been here for dinner. There are four vegetarian main dishes standardly available on their menu, of which two are without dairy and eggs. We had previously mailed with the question if we could get a vegan menu, explicitating what we do and don’t eat, and we got an affirmative reply. We went there on a friday evening, some months ago (November 2013). Remarkably, there were hardly any tourists, but a lot of locals. Although Pastis is very close to ‘t Zand, there seems to be little tourist traffic in the Speelmansrei. That night it was very quiet on the street. But the restaurant soon packed. So we do advise you to make a reservation. Tables are spaciously situated, which gives it a calm and more restaurant atmosphere than a bistro impression (at least downstairs, we don’t know about upstairs). Appetizer There’s nothing vegan to choose from on …

Bruges one of the 7 most romantic places in the world

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Business Insider published an overview of seven of the most romantic places in the world. It includes exotic destinations like Bali in Indonesia, Fez in Morocco and the Greek Isles in the Mediterranean. Bruges in Belgium is listed second. Among other things, the article mentions the boatrides on the swan filled canals, the cobblestone streets** and the quaint houses as some of its romantic features. Business Insider also mentions the horse drawn carriages as one of the top attractions, which is something we would like to see ended in Bruges. Enough of other medieval things to see and admire in Bruges! As for gastronomical experiences, Business Insider points you to 3star Michelin restaurant De Karmeliet in the city center. Not your average restaurant, but I guess the readers of Business Insider must not be your average business(wo)men! Menu prices in De Karmeliet range from 85€ to 210€. You can get a vegan menu if you ask it well in advance. Maybe one day we will splash out and treat ourselves! But let us assure you that …