Veganees — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Given the reviews, I was really excited to go here even though it’s a bit further out from Centraal. When we got to the restaurant we were told we couldn’t sit outside because we didn’t have a booking as the tables that were empty were reserved so we sat inside. Disappointed therefore that the other server showed a couple who arrived after us a table inside and later moved them outside. We were allowed to sit where we wanted inside so we chose to sit near the window. The server appeared to be by herself at that time so didn’t have the capacity to bring us menus. After we flagged her down, she brought the menus and explained the menu. We ordered straight away because we didn’t want to have to wait to flag her down again. We ordered gyozas, wontons, Dan Dan noodles, cucumber salad and crispy cauliflower. The food came reasonably quickly. It comes one by one when the items are ready! Having travelled to Asia several times and eaten a lot of Asian food, we were disappointed by the flavours which were more westernised rather than authentic Asian. The wontons were the best dish out of the lot followed by the cauliflower. The gyoza were just ok, the Dan Dan noodles were bland and we had to leave most of the cucumber salad as the cucumber was soggy in the middle and it had too much vinegar in the dressing. There were tiny flies all over whilst we were eating which was annoying. By this point we just wanted to leave. It took a while to flag down a server and get the bill. Cost about €45 and we didn’t leave fully satisfied. No one bothered asking whether the food was good even though the cucumber salad was not fully eaten. If you are looking for authentic flavours sadly I would try...

Nice restaurant, nice staff.

I didn't have the best experience, but I think that was the exception rather than the rule. For one, I was given a menu without further explanation, while other tables after me got a little introduction. The dishes of the restaurant are rather small, so they recommend about 4 dishes per person. I would have probably chosen differently if I knew beforehand. Since I heard the menu explanation several times when other guests were seated, I guess it was just an oversight.

I really loved the spring rolls and the rice was cooked very well, but the aubergine bun was rather tasteless (except for being mildly spicy without any indication). The hibiscus lemonade sadly tasted of cough sirup (never had one before - is that just how hibiscus soda tastes?) I ordered the kimchi, which was my fault - I mistook it for Bok Choi - but there was no warning that it was spicy on the menu, when other things were indicated as such. I don't know whether they expect everyone to know that kimchi is spicy (which, tbf, I would have known, had I not mistaken it for Bok Choi), or if the dishes that were indicated as spicy on the menu were so much spicier that it was more of a "this will melt off your face" warning, but either way, the little sign would have helped me a lot.

So while it wasn't the best experience for me personally, if you like spice or take some different dishes, and happen to not be unlucky with your waitress, I'm sure it could be a...

After a brisk walk to the city center and back to our neighbourhood Oud-West, we felt like something to eat and drink. Prefferably a glühwein or two, but a restaurant caught our eye.

Quite spontaneously we walked into the Veganees at 5:00 PM. The kitchen didn't open until 5:30 PM, so until then we were able to pick dishes from the snack menu.

The restaurant was completely empty when we entered. Maybe we should've taken that as a sign but thirst and hunger led us to pick a table and have a seat anyways.

We ordered the Samosas, Korean Fried Cauliflower, Spring Rolls and Tahoe Satay. It looked delicious. However, the Samosas were mushy and sparsely filled, the Spring Rolls were almost tasteless, the Cauliflower tasted like oliebollen (very oily) and the Tahoe Satay also had very little taste. If the Satays were served without the satay sauce the dish would also be completely tasteless.

We were a bit disappointed, as the place looked nice, tidy, clean and promising. We won't go back there. Next time we'll keep walking to the good old pub a couple of corners further and won't settle for anything else...