5 vegan meals in Antwerp (reviewed by a non-vegan)
You can’t have a conversation about sustainable living without talking about consumption of animal products. While I strongly disagree with the (lack of) ethics and the ecological footprint of animal husbandry, I’m not vegan. I haven’t completely sworn off dairy and eggs and I still eat fish from time to time, which puts me in the “pescatarian” category. While a vegan lifestyle corresponds best with my morals, convenience and fear of missing out on flavour are the main reasons why I haven’t made the switch. Result: a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance.
I was eager to find out whether my doubts about flavour were actually valid. I decided to try five completely vegan meals at five different restaurants in the city, and judge them honestly as a non-vegan. I’m by no means a food critic or photographer, but I am definitely someone who gets grumpy if her culinary itches aren’t scratched at a restaurant. Would I be left feeling like I missed out on something better?
Ellis gourmet burger
Ellis is a chain located in Belgium, France and The Netherlands. They offer decent burgers, from classic to more unique recipes. Hardly fine dining and not an Antwerp exclusive, but I’m fond of them nonetheless.
Starter: Sticky flower wings: chunks of cauliflower prepared to resemble chicken wings. I was very hesitant about this one because I have a verrry strong aversion to cauliflower. However, as this was their only starter explicitly labeled “vegan”, I felt like I had to give them a try regardless. And I’m so glad I did, because these were easily the highlight of the evening for me. Props to Ellis, because if you can make ME enjoy cauliflower, you’re doing something seriously right.
Main: The Beyond Burger with regular fries and vegan mayo. This burger is known for its strong resemblance to the real deal and as far as I can tell, that’s pretty accurate. Not dry and no bitter aftertaste as can sometimes be the case with meat free alternatives, just a solid, juicy, cruelty-free burger. Fries made me very happy (that’s a given), and the vegan mayo was a nice surprise as well. A tad sweet to my taste (I’m the lemony mayo type of person), but not too far off the original.
Dessert: Mango-lime layered pie with vegan ice cream. Not much to say about this one. It was creamy, fruity, relatively light, and very enjoyable.
Check: €33,70 for all three dishes above + one drink (Duvel).
Satisfaction rate: 4/5. I initially felt a bit nervous having to say no to some of the things that I usually like to order (calamari! nachos! real mayo!), but my doubts were unfounded. Throughout the evening, I did not feel like I was missing out in the slightest, and I will probably order all three of these dishes again.
Elsie’s ethiopisch en eritrees eethuis
After the first leg of this project, my boyfriend and I reached a stalemate about where to dine next. After an hour of negotiating and googling, we settled on a restaurant with a menu that seemed to accommodate both my vegan whims, and his desire for a meaty dish. This restaurant was Elsie’s. Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisine was a first for us. Would we be served the satisfying soul food we were hoping for?
Starter: Vegetarian/vegan sambusas. Oddly enough I’ve had variations of these at Asian restaurants before. I like them! The only con I could name is that there weren’t more of them, but given the size of our main course, it was probably for the best.
Main: My boyfriend and I chose a sharing platter. This platter usually contains several vegetable sides served with sauce in the middle and injera: thick, neutral tasting crêpes. Additionally, everyone chooses a dish from the menu to be added to the platter. The menu already contained a nice variety of vegan dishes, however, on the day of our visit Elsie had new vegan versions of some of her meat dishes on trial. She recommended I try the newly veganized minchet abis, a minced beef stew with garlic and spices (left bowl in the photo). This turned out to be an excellent choice. Both our dishes were served neatly in separate little bowls, so vegans can rest easy: no chance of contamination here.
Dessert: Unfortunately Elsie’s doesn’t offer any vegan desserts (yet). However, this wasn’t a huge problem, since I only managed to finish half of my main anyway.
Check: €35 for my starter, my half of the sharing dish, two beers and a glass of thatch (a traditional alcoholic honey* beverage you can see me enjoy in the middle picture).
*EDIT In hindsight: very blatantly NOT VEGAN. Mea culpa.
Satisfaction rate: 4,5/5. I will definitely dine here again (and be torn about what to order next).
frituur Ellen
If I had to eat just one thing for the rest of my life, it would be Belgian fries. I frequent a frituur once a week, so this Belgian classic just had to be included in this experiment. If my research for this project has taught me one thing, it’s that vegan friendly fries and snacks are hardly a rarity in Antwerp, as long as you know where to look. I decided to go with the most popular option among my vegan friends: Frituur Ellen.
Fries & mayo: I thought the fries were good, a nice combination of crunch on the outside and smoothness on the inside, without being overly soggy. Perfect amount of saté spices. The mayo, again, was a little sweeter than what I prefer, but I wasn’t mad at it.
Snack #1: Vegan “chicken” nuggets. These were nice! Crunchy on the outside and actually juicy on the inside. A far cry from the dry yet never-quite-crunchy alternatives I’ve tried at home.
Snack #2: Vegan kipcorn, a plant based spin on a classic frituur snack: a stick of chicken, covered in panko/cornflakes. Same findings as with the nuggets, the chicken alternative is excellent.
Snack #3: Vegan kaaskroket. If you know me in real life, you know I take my cheese croquettes very seriously. I have accepted the cheese croquette as my lord and saviour and I may or may not have looked into having one tattooed. Point is, when it comes to cheese croquettes I’m hard to please, and unfortunately, this one didn’t do anything for me. Same distinctly artificial aftertaste I’ve noticed in several fake cheese products, and it just refuses to grow on me. While the poor thing was trying so hard to be cheese, I just couldn’t muster more than two bites. Actually, scrap that, I have a feeling the bastard wasn’t trying at all.
Check: €14,20 for all of the above + 1 can of iced tea.
Satisfaction rate: 3,5/5, mainly due to the cheese croquette. I felt nice and full regardless, but I will be trying out a different snack next time.
No point in trying to make this look classy, but if this doesn’t make your mouth water, I don’t know what to tell you.
Otomat
Otomat is another Belgian chain, and probably every Italian nonna’s worst nightmare, as they are know for their creative interpretations of pizza. Apart from some classics such as the margherita, they offer pizzas inspired by dishes from around the world, including Belgian staples such as asparagus and egg or chicory and ham. Each pizza is accompanied by a craft beer suggestion. I love the creativity of this concept and have enjoyed many a meal here. But would the vegan options be equally to my liking?
Starter: Flatbread with hummus, cashews and veggies. Plain and simple. Not the most exciting option, but you can’t really go wrong with this combo.
Main: The Las Vega pizza: spinach, mushrooms and garlic on a curry legumaise base, topped off with coconut shavings and soy yoghurt espuma. An atypical combination of flavours, which did not convince me entirely. The yoghurt and coconut combined were a bit too sweet to my liking. Had they combined the garlic in the espuma and replaced the coconut with something saltier (or even smoked the flakes?) this would have been one hell of a pizza.
Dessert: I’m quite sure they did not offer any vegan options, but I was full anyway, so no big loss here.
Check: €25,75 for my half of the starter, the pizza and two Duvel.
Satisfaction rate: 3/5. I did enjoy my meal, but I will be trying a different vegan pizza next time. Luckily they have two more options to try!
Wild Project
For the final leg of our challenge, we chose a slightly more refined route. As soon as I started this project, I knew Wild Project had to be on my to do list. This entirely vegan restaurant uses the best seasonal and local vegetables and was recommended to me, again, by several vegan friends. No stress about which dish to choose and no risk of FOMO: Wild has just one menu comprising of five dishes to share. Unfortunately, Wild will be closing its doors soon, but I was glad I could experience it at least once.
Course 1: cucumber salad. We chose to add this optional starter to our menu, since my boyfriend is a big dude. The little cucumbers were fun (did you know they also come in yellow?), and it was a perfectly tasty starter, but nothing too exciting just yet.
Course 2: ajo blanco, courgette carpaccio & mint: brilliant. I had never heard of ajo blanco before, but if I ever see this on a menu again, I’ll be sure to order it. Also, I used to think of courgette as “the inoffensive vegetable everyone kinda likes but no-one really loves”, and I 100% take that back.
Course 3: tomatoes four ways (fermented, poached, fresh & vinaigrette). Not the most exciting dish of this menu, but perfectly tasty. Everybody likes tomatoes, right?
Course 4: aubergine tower with yellow bell pepper puree. I’m usually not big on aubergine, but this was great. The aubergine’s slightly smoky flavour contrasted very nicely with the acidity and fruitiness of the bell peppers (my God do I sound pretentious).
Course 5: charred string beans with fermented watermelon. Another winner. The habanero sauce definitely packed a punch, reminding me how the beans must have felt being set ablaze. Also, I’m not sure how one ferments a watermelon, but I might have to look into it.
Course 6: mushroom risotto. Usually one of my all time favourites, second only to fries. This was very tasty indeed, however, I’m used to eating this with a shit ton of cheese. The lack thereof was mostly made up by the great variety of mushrooms: it didn’t make me forget about the existence of cheese completely, but I was at peace with it not being there.
Check: €28 for my half of the menu. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the price of the additional starter, some extra bread and two gin and tonic. I estimate the night cost us about €50 per person and I blame the G&T’s for my not remembering exactly. No regrets here, they were excellent.
Satisfaction rate: 5/5. The individual dishes were small-ish, but I still felt pleasantly stuffed by the end. I came to Wild expecting a culinary trip highlighting the best of the vegetable world, and that’s exactly what I got.
In conclusion
I thouroughly enjoyed this experiment, so it’s safe to say you can expect a part two at some point in time. I had five lovely meals at five awesome locations in great company, and discovered so many new things I would order again (that bloody cauliflower, man). I have no clue if people even enjoy reading my delirious raving about food, but I’d say any excuse to eat out more is a good one.
For now, the current study concludes more research is needed (just for good measure) but you can rest easy: I happily volunteer to dive further into the subject. Also, join the experiment! Try ordering something vegan next time you get the opportunity, and feel free to tag me on Instagram (@elynehrmn) if you think I should try your meal. Bon appétit!