All posts tagged: vegan baking

Vegan bakery De Broodenier, Leuven

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shop review#63 – De Broodenier is a vegan bakery in Leuven and opened in the Summer of 2020. Finally a vegan bakery in Belgium that offers and vegan pastry ánd vegan bread! There are already several traditional bakeries offering vegan options like Danish pastry (see Frimout in Ghent, Filip and Liraz in Kuurne) and many bakeries that offer cakes and pies (see Peas in Hasselt), but a traditional vegan bakery with bread and pastry is still a rarity in Belgium. De Broodenier is a run by brother and sister Michiel and Hilke. Hilke previously ran tea house T&Ko in Leuven, which I wrote about here.

Cake at the terrace of Heavenly Cupcakes, Rotterdam

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restaurant review #130 – shop review#37 Heavenly Cupcakes is a vegan patisserie and lunch bistro (sandwiches and Dutch weedburger) in the city center of Rotterdam. It is located just outside the city center of Rotterdam, on the West side of town. There is a small terrace in front of Heavenly Cupcakes, and at the back of the bistro there is a seating area with some tables for two. It is bright and spacious, and nicely decorated, with a sort of a ‘modern but vintage’ feel. Heavenly Cupcakes also has a small selection of vegan products for sale: We had already eaten nice cupcakes from Heavenly Cupcakes during our visit to VegfestNL in Utrecht in 2015 and they were also at the latest Vegan Summerfest in Belgium (blog will follow). Must say that at that latter opportunity, I was not inclined to line up to buy a cupcake from them again, as the middle aged lady at their stall was again a bit grumpy and not welcoming (let me take this opportunity to say it wouldn’t hurt to smile …

Vegan ‘koffiekoeken’ and pie from Bakkerij Filip, Kuurne

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Shop review #30 – Bakkerij Filip is a local bakery in Kuurne, which is a small town just next to Kortrijk (Courtrai) in the south of Flanders. I had already seen several posts on facebook and Instagram of their vegan pastry and cakes. Yeah! Vegan pastry is still a rarity in Belgian bakeries, and I have only been able to buy it on one ocasion before, at Bakkerij Frimout in Ghent (see blog here). So when we planned a trip to Kortrijk a couple of weeks ago, I definitely wanted to check out Bakkerij Filip! There is a selection of vegan items for sale at the bakery, among which some specialties that are not so easily found in regular shops in Belgium. Like this omelet mix (still need to try it). I also bought some cookies and other goodies (some very nice lemon cookies and veganaise). The wife of bakery Filip, Liraz – vegan herself, gave us a tour of the bakery downstairs, which still runs with some real antique machines (and more modern ones too of …

#82 – Nice light lunch at new bistro Grün, Bruges ***

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Restaurant review #82 – Grün is a new bistro in the city center of Bruges, not far from ‘t Zand and ‘t Zilverpand. On their facebookpage, Grün describes itself as a “healthy food restaurant“, “Take out Deli” and a “green hang out spot“. I had read on social media that they have vegan options, and phoned beforehand to inquire and make a reservation, and yes, they confirmed they have vegan options. Note: see update below We were there for lunch on a weekday and the place soon filled up. There’s also a nice terrace in the back, and some tables in front of the bistro. It’s a spacious, bright place, soberly decorated, not so comfy chairs though. There did not seem to be a lot of vegan dishes available on the menu card, but some dishes could easily be adapted to make them vegan (with either falafel or baked tofu). We had the Lebanese salad (avocadohummus, roasted cauliflower, carrots and instead of haloumi, we choose falafel, 14€) and the plat du jour, which was pearl couscous with salad …

#75 – A piece of cake (or three!) at Greenway, Antwerp ***

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Restaurant review #75 – Greenway is a Belgian vegetarian brand (restaurants and products) and was founded by Paul Florizoone in the mid nineties. The first Greenway restaurant opened in Ghent in 1996 and I vividly remember it opening at that time (I worked nearby and was thrilled!). Meanwhile there are three Greenway restaurants in Belgium (Ghent, Louvain and Antwerp) and a take-away at the railway station of Brussels-Midi. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the one in Ghent, but I have visited the Greenway in Louvain again recently for lunch (blog is coming up soon). On my visit to Antwerp a couple of weeks ago (where my friend and I also went on board one of Sea Shepherd’s ships that was docked in the harbor for a couple of days, see the blog here), we visited Greenway in Antwerp for some cakes. The Greenway is at de Groenplaats, which is in the city center, close to the cathedral and the city hall. There were three vegan cakes on offer, all made by Julie from Flockfoods, a new company making vegan pies, muffins and …

Looking for gluten powder to make seitan. Visit to Gents Bakkershuis

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Shop review #22 – My search for gluten powder (for homemade seitan) led me to “Het Gents Bakkershuis“, a shop with baking equipment and supplies in Ghent. (NOTE see edit below) The shop is more aimed at wholesale trade and opening hours for retail is limited. Gluten powder or vital wheat gluten is not so easy to find in Belgian shops.  I had previously bought organic vital wheat gluten in organic shop Biovita in Bruges (only available on special demand), but that was very expensive (+/- 50€ for 5kg, being organic). Last year, I paid a visit to Flourpower in Pouke, a small shop inside the Artemeersmill at Poeke to buy gluten powder (13,70€ for 5 kg). I inquired beforehand to Het Gents Bakkershuis to be sure they had gluten powder in stock.  And they did. So I paid them a visit at the end of 2015. I found the wheat gluten powder, 21,62 for 5 kg. Het Gents Bakkershuis is packed with baking supplies, from pie decorations to rolling pins, packages for chocolates, cakes and other baking or pastry things. I arrived …

Apple and raisin pie with walnut crumble

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We have plenty of apples from our apple trees in the garden. I juice them, I make apple sauce, and they are of course also great for baking. And as I also have plenty of walnuts from our own tree, so this apple pie with walnut crumble is a great combo to use both of these! Attention: making this pie requires advance preparation! you need to soak the cashews for at least 6-8 hours before you can make the pie! You also need a large (especially deep) pie pan (23cm or 9 inch) – considering that about 6 to 8 apples go in it! Ingredients 1 puff pastry* For the topping 1/2 cup flour 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 tbs chopped walnuts 1/2 ts cinnamon 1/4 ts salt 6 tbs cold vegan butter For the filling 1/2 cup cashews, soaked in water for 6-8 hours (til they are very soft) 3 tbs lemon juice (this is from about 1 + 1/2 lemon) 1/4 cup plain soy yoghurt 3 tbs flour 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 ts vanille extract 3/4 ts cinnamon 1/2 ginger 1/2 …

I’m now also on Instagram!

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I finally made an account on Instagram! I will mostly be posting photos of vegan products, impressions of restaurant visits, things I see on the road, pictures from my garden and of course photos from in my kitchen. I’ll still be posting reviews and other thoughts on my blog of course, either here or on our Dutch blog veggieleven.be (or sometimes on both). My account is trudi_brugesvegan Are you on instagram? Let me know! Do you have any tips about instagram (which hashtags to use, etc), please tell me, as I am a total newbie 😉

Vegan baking for the Vegan Challenge

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I haven’t posted many entries on The Bruges Vegan lately, because I was busy posting a series a vegan baking recipes on our other blog veggieleven.be. In April 2015, I posted a vegan baking recipe daily, to match the Vegan Challenge (a campagne of the Dutch organisation NVV). So all in all 30 recipes for pies, cookies and muffins! We’ve been vegan for quite some years now, and I’ve baked many goodies in that time, so I thought it would be a good occasion to show newbie vegans or those trying a vegan lifestyle that baking pies, cupcakes and cookies without animal ingredients is … easy as pie! 🙂 Some of the recipes were already posted on the Bruges Vegan, and some other are favourites of mine or recipes which I consider to be good introductions into the world of vegan baking. You can see the overview of all recipes in this blogentry on veggieleven.be. Here are some more pictures.       I’ll be posting some of the vegan baking recipes here too in the upcoming months!