All posts tagged: restaurant

#8 Restaurant Sans Cravate, Bruges ****

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Restaurant review #8 Sans Cravate is one of the more classier restaurants (and hence more expensive ones) in Bruges. It is listed in the Michelin guide (2013-2014) with one star. Sans Cravate is located on the edge of the city center, in the North East side of town, in a completely renovated house in the Langestraat. There’s an accompanying B&B just on the other side of the street, not far from the restaurant. When we first inquired into the possibilty of getting a vegan menu at Sans Cravate end of 2013, the owner mailed us that because of staff shortages, it was not possible at that time, but he advised us to inquire again in a couple of months time. And so we did, and in the beginning of 2014 we made a reservation for a 4-course vegan dinner (having explictly stated what we do and don’t eat – as we always do when inquiring at a restaurant). We went there on a weekday evening. Sans Cravate is French for ‘without a tie’, and the atmposhere …

#7 Restaurant Komkommertijd, Gent ****

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restaurant review #7 – Restaurant Komkommertijd in Ghent is probably the best know vegan restaurant in Belgium (there are in fact only 3 vegan restos in Belgium). Komkommertijd literally translates as ‘cucumber time‘, a period where there is not much news to report and not much happening. The word possibly originates in 17th century England, referring to the period when there was hardly any business for tailors, because when the cucumbers were in season the gentry left town for the countryside and business was slow for them. Business is definitely not slow at Komkommertijd in Ghent. It is highly recommended to make a reservation, because every time we’ve been there, the place is packed. The restaurant has an all you can eat vegan buffet, with soup, warm and cold dishes and also a dessert (most often a piece of cake). At lunchtime, you pay 13,50€ for the buffet, in the evening and during the weekend it’s 16€. You can go and fill your plate as many times as you want, so this is definitely the place to go if you …

13 Foods that’ll make you want to visit Belgium, but not if you’re vegan!

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This overview of 13 typical Belgian foods appeared in The Huffington Post recently. They are listed as thé tourist attraction and appealing feature to come and visit Belgium: the food! Although the Huffington Post has spent a good deal of attention to the rise of veganism in the US (see this overview with keyword vegan), it’s obvious the author of this article clearly wasn’t thinking about the growing popularity of plant based foods or veganism in general. Let’s take a closer look at these 13 typical Belgian foods, and see whether there’s something for vegans in there. 1. Endives in slices of ham, covered in cheese sauce. You could try and veganise the dish, but it’ll take quite some years to come before any traditional restaurant will standardly have a vegan version of this dish on their menu! 2. Mussles with fries. Nope. Mussles are animals. I don’t now if ‘faux vegan mussles’ even exist, but I wouldn’t fancy them anyway! 3. Belgian waffles. Dairy and eggs. Of course you make these vegan yourselves, but …

#6 Restaurant Chang Thong Thai, Bruges **

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Restaurant review #6 – Chang Thong Thai is a Thai restaurant in a small alley next to ‘t Zand. Their online menu card lists several vegetarian/vegan dishes seperately. We’ve already heard some experiences from other vegans and vegetarians about this place, so we decided to go check it out ourselves! It was a good thing we made a reservation for dinner, because shortly after we arrived, the place was packed (on a weeknight). Although it is in the city center, we hardly saw any tourists probably because it’s not in a main street. There’s a small area upstairs with some tables as well, but since the toilets were located there we decided to take place at one of the tables downstairs. Tables are stashed pretty close next to each other, which made us a bit uncomfortable (hearing every word of the conversation of the couple next to you, willingly or not, is not really enjoyable). Comfy arm chairs though. This is dining in a traditional Asian style setting (well, you know, Western Asian style), with buddhas statues …

#5 Brasserie Forestière, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #5 – Brasserie Forestière in Bruges lists some vegetarian options on their menu. I had already enjoyed a vegan wrap with tofu when I was there for a work lunch, so we decided to go check it out for dinner. Before going there for dinner, we had asked whether it was possible to get a vegan menu (explaining what this means), and chef Kenny assured us this wouldn’t be a problem, and that certain items on the menu could be adapted à la minute (e.g. leaving dairy items out of the dish). Forestière doesn’t serve any desserts though, only starters (or soup) and a main dish. Forestière is located close to the theater (schouwburg), in the center of Bruges. Upon being seated, we immediately noticed the wide space between the tables. Contrary to many other brasseries or bistros, Forestière is not jam-packed with tables and chairs (they could at least add 10 more tables), and that gives a nice feeling of spaciousness. It gives you some breathing space and you don’t have to …

The Bruges Catering Guide. What about vegans?

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We discovered this handy pocket size guide on our last restaurant visit in Bruges. The Bruges catering guide /Horecagids Brugge (online version) lists dozens of restaurants and pubs in Bruges, which a short description of each establisment. Handy in size, sure, but hardly any information relevant for vegans. There’s only one restaurant that explictly mentions vegan dishes in its description, and that’s restaurant Réliva (see our review here)*. Having the word ‘vegan’ mentioned in a restaurant guide for Bruges is in itself already progress compared to a couple of years ago, but still leaves vegans pretty much in the dark as to where they can get a decent meal. There are other restaurants listed in this guide which also cater for vegans (and we know because we’ve checked them, see our list of restaurants in Bruges where vegans are welcome), but it’s not clear from their description in the Bruges catering guide. So vegans are pretty much left in the dark. That’s also one of the reasons why we started this blog of course. However, the …

#3 Restaurant Patrick Devos, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #3 – restaurant Patrick Devos always offers a vegetarian menu. We asked them whether it was possible to get a vegan menu (explaining what this means – what we do eat and don’t eat), and they affirmed! The vegan menu would be the same as the vegetarian menu, but without the dairy and eggs. A vegan 3- or 4-course menu is respectively 35€ and 45€  (with accompanying wines resp. 53€ and 69€). Shortly after, we called to make a reservation and mentioned ‘vegan’ again, and it was no problem. We could dine there the same evening. We hadn’t heard any other experiences from others about restaurant Patrick Devos, so we were pretty curious! The restaurant is in the center of Bruges, in the Zilverstraat.

#2 Restaurant het Stadhuis, Oostburg (Nl) ***

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Restaurant review #2 – Every year, in the beginning of October, there’s a Vegetarian restaurantweek in the Netherlands, a campaign from the Nederlandse Vegetariërsbond (Dutch Vegetarian Union). During that week, participating restaurants offer a vegetarian menu for 25 or 40 euro. We found three participating restaurants in Zeeland (the most southern province of the Netherlands), of which one on ‘our side’ of the water (the Scheldt)! Restaurant het Stadhuis in Oostburg, not too far from Bruges (29km). 

#1 Restaurant Réliva, Bruges ****

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Restaurant review #1 – Some British friends told us that in one of the small alleys not too far from ‘tZand, they’d seen a sign in front of a restaurant that mentioned ‘vegan’. What?? really??