What I ate in Brussels [vegan]

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

A new month and no new recipe BUT a very new kind of blog post. I personally love watching “What I ate”-videos on Youtube, so I thought, you might also enjoy this style of blog post. Obviously, it’s not a Video but if I say so myself, I got some pretty food photos. It was uncomfortable taking out my huge camera in every restaurant but I only failed once (the tiny falafel store was just too intimidating). Coming to Brussels was a rather spontaneous decision and definitely not a decision made because of the amazing variety of vegan foods. I have been to Belgium a thousand times before but never as a vegan. I love waffles, chips and all the other non-vegan Belgian foods. Let me tell something, I don’t need a ton of options but WHY do you take away chips from me?! I adore chips and reading that Belgian chips aren’t vegan (or even vegetarian) broke my heart and no amount of vegan Belgian chocolate was able to cure that (and it’s not because I ate too little chocolate, I can tell you that). However, with a little research and with a lot of help by my life saviour https://www.happycow.net/, I managed to get delicious food (even without going to actual vegan places). Even though I got tricked once but more of that later on. We stayed in Brussels from Saturday noon to Monday noon and apparently, lots of restaurants and cafes close on Sundays so we were a little limited in our options. I am just mentioning that because I want you to know that there are more vegan options available in Brussels and what I ate is just an assortment of vegan options you have in Brussels. Let’s get started!

DISCLAIMER: I do follow a mainly vegan diet, but no special diet. I eat carbs, I eat proteins, I eat fats, I eat sugar, I eat raw food, I eat cooked food, I eat 'till 4 and long after that (usually not until 4 am though), I love fresh veggies and fruits but I also love processed foods. This is not what I eat on a daily basis (who can afford that?!) but what I ate on holiday, without a kitchen for me to use. I am not on any diet and I most certainly did not try to lose weight in Brussels.

WHAT I ATE IN BRUSSELS:

Saturday

Lunch

As I mentioned before, we arrived around lunchtime and we went for a long walk after checking into our hotel and had lunch in a park along our route.

I had a couscous salad and for some reason, it says vegetarian on the package and not vegan. But I checked the ingredients and maybe it’s because my French isn't fluent but I didn’t find any non-vegan ingredient so I had it for lunch.

Snack

After our walk and a little bit of exploring, we went to a supermarket and bought some snacks (crisps, carrots and hummus #cliché). Back in the hotel room I might or might not have eaten a LOT of crisps #notsorry!

Dinner

After this, we did something unbelievably stupid. We went out for dinner at 9.00 p.m. on a Saturday night WITHOUT a reservation. We ended out eating at 10.30 p.m. and I was starving. Luckily the food made up for it!

We ate at the Kokob which is an Ethiopian restaurant. The service was superb and the food was just as stunning as the service. The best part about it was that I was able to enjoy delicious vegan food while my boyfriend ate meat. They simply created a little salad “wall” for us.

We got LOTS of food for 20 Euros each and as that is a little pricey from a German point of view, it’s absolutely fine compared to other restaurants in Belgium. As I felt the need to reward myself after looking for food for such a long time I also had a delicious virgin mojito.

I really recommend the Kokob, it’s not the cheapest restaurant but it’s definitely worth the money.

Sunday

Breakfast

We didn’t book breakfast at our hotel but they had a half-price thing going on, so we ended up having breakfast in our hotel. I was seriously impressed by the amount of vegan options. I can’t eat soy but if you can you could have eaten cereals with milk or even yoghurt! But there was definitely enough food even for handicapped vegans like myself. I started off with some fruit and then I had some roasted potatoes and two small(ish) bread rolls with baked potatoes with fresh parsley.

Lunch

We then went out, explored the city, did some shopping and I had a cliché vegan lunch: a falafel sandwich. It's just one of my go to foods, it's cheap, it's vegan and I like it. As I mentioned in the introduction, I was too intimidated by the crowded tiny store to take out my big camera, so sorry for the rubbish quality.

It might not look like the best food ever but trust me it was good! Not the best falafel sandwich I ever had, but 1. I eat a lot of falafel sandwiches and 2. I’m from Cologne and we do have a huge amount of “Döner-Buden” which actually prepare the falafels fresh in front of you just as you order. I do have high standards when it comes to falafels but those weren’t that bad and I had a lunch which filled me up for only 3,50 Euro.

Snack

AND THEN IT HAPPENED!

I craved cake and the only café close to us which was opened was Starbucks and I was actually positive that I might find some vegan baked goods in there. Well, now I know I was wrong. The cashier didn’t know if they had anything vegan, so he called in his store manager. She thought about it and then said: “The only vegan baked good we have is the granola bar.”. I was truly impressed, as I thought that the granola bar had at least honey in it (it actually doesn’t!) but being the naïve me (and not having internet to check it) I trusted the store manager. I bought the granola bar and a lovely herbal tea. We went back to the hotel room and I took a beautiful picture of my purchases.

I then took a bite of it and thought that it tasted really buttery. So, I went online and checked for the ingredients. It turns out the granola bar contains butter AND milk. The vegan in me was annoyed but what was even more annoying was the lactose intolerant part of me. Being vegan and lactose intolerant is great because I never have to think about it but if something like this happens it comes full on back. I am not one of those people who say “Oh yes I am lactose intolerant if I drink a glass of milk my tummy hurts”. If I would drink a glass of milk… Let’s just say hell probably smells like this and I love laying in the bed for days because I can’t move due to the pain. To sum it up: don’t let me eat something with lactose. I obviously stopped eating the granola bar (bless my food vacuum alias, my beloved boyfriend). But the damaged had been done, that’s why I had a very vegan cookie by the trustworthy Aldi which I brought with me just in case…

I also had some apple rhubarb juice and my actually vegan Starbucks tea.

Btw, I wasn't sure if I should include this incident in the blog post but then I thought that is reality. You will mess up (if not, you are amazing, good for you!) and that’s perfectly fine. You are not less of a vegan or not less of a person who is trying to make a difference. You are great and mistakes are made to learn from. And even if it wasn’t a mistake but you wanted to consciously eat something with dairy, eggs or even meat or fish in it, it’s about every meal you actually decide to NOT eat any of this. YOU make a difference with every of those meals and if you think about veganism but you think you couldn’t give up cheese, then don’t. Obviously, in an ideal world none of us eats any animal products but for now, it’s such a big improvement if you for example switch one omnivore meal for a vegan meal or you bake the vegan cake instead of the eggy cake. It’s about small steps but small is never irrelevant EVERY step counts!

Dinner

Anyway, back to what I ate. To make up for the lousy snacks experience earlier the day we went to the restaurant, I was dying to try out since we first decided to go to Brussels: THE SISTER

I read great things about it online and the pictures looked great. Being my-not-so-hard-to-convince-self that was more than enough to make me want to go there. It's a lovely pub and the food is simple but delicious. I had an herbal tea and a vegan sandwich with some soup.

The sandwich was very good but this soup…! The soup changes regularly, however, if the other soups are just half as good as the one I ate, you'll be able to enjoy a delicious soup. Another plus is the variety of beers they have. You can get so many (organic) beers, it's overwhelming (in a good way). I personally don't like beer at all (what a shocker, a German adult who doesn't like beer. Yes, we are out here), however, Belgium is well known for its beers, so if you like beer definitely try some beer while staying in Brussels.

If you are in Brussels and you fancy a beer and sandwich, try out the sister Brussels café. The food is delicious, the beer variety is impressive, the service is super friendly and helpful and it isn't pricey at all.

Monday

Breakfast

We went out for breakfast on Monday morning. Before actually going out I googled quite a bit and always ended up at the Peck47 and as I really fancied a fruity and healthy(ish) breakfast, the Peck47 seemed to be perfect. Peck47 is a very small but cosy "hipster" café and the best thing about hipster locations: the chances to find enjoyable vegan food are good. I had an acai smoothie bowl and the smoothie part was very nice BUT holy moly this granola?! I could have eaten tons of it, it was sooooo delicious!

And because the day doesn't start before I had a good cup of tea, I had fruity tea with the smoothie bowl.

Snack

We did some more exploring and touristy stuff after breakfast and along the way was a little café which sells vegan hot chocolate with almond milk! (Laurent Gerbaud)

After this, it was already time for us to leave again. However, I started the post with a lunch so I wanted to wrap it up with a lunch as well. On our way back, I finally had time to eat the carrots and hummus, it was good but it wasn’t the best hummus ever (if you are ever in Germany and on the hunt for some hummus to go, definitely go to an REWE, they have a sugar free hummus, which I think is the best hummus you can get at any German supermarket). For those of you wondering: of course I did buy some vegan chocolate but I ate it at home with my mum and sister.

Here we go, my first ever "What I ate"-post! Exciting! ♥

I hope you liked this very new kind of blog post, please let me know! I'd love to hear your feedback!
Have a great April and I’m really looking forward to seeing you next month, with another recipe, until then:

Do not forget: Happiness can be delicious, so go on and spread some feliciousness ❤️

Love, Miss Felicious XXX

Saskianafelicitas

I like to spent my days in my kitchen and create little pieces of happiness. I hope you'll find something you like ❤️

2 Kommentare

Unknown2 April 2017 at 11:26
Oh gosh I adore ethiopian food. It is soo good. First time I have it was last year in america. Since that I am in love with the flavors and ingredients.
Oh and I really liked you post, it was something new but enjoyable to read. <3
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