VanPlanten — Restaurant in Utrecht

After hearing a few good stories about this place, we decided to have dinner here being a great fan of the creative potential of pure vegan food. To be honest, we were a little disappointed about restaurant Van Planten. Out of the three main dinner options we had the 'Mediterraans deelplateaux', hoping we would be tasting a variety of nice, small vegetarian bites that would be a representative of the restaurants vegan specialities. We received grilled vegetables, olives, three dips, some fried cannelloni and bread. Although the quality of the food was okayish, there was really nothing special about this platter, especially considering is was a main dish for 15.95 pp. We also ordered some white wine and although the (new?) staff was friendly, they clearly had no idea what type the wine served in the restaurant came from. I consider myself a quite flexible wine lover and I can appreciate both cheaper and more costly good wines, but I really had an untasty Sauvignon Blanc, that took me much effort to finish.

This place is not for...

Very glad to have discovered this fully plant-based restaurant. A very original menu which change regularly. Starter, main courses and desserts all look very appetizing. We started with their fresh homemade kombucha, followed for starter by their signature Sushi with tomato 'salmon' (the salmon vibe is very much present). This dish was particularly good with the avocado mousse and mango salsa. The samphire (zeekraal) salad was also very flavorful, although the samphire could have been a bit more present (it got a bit overshadowed by the - equally delicious - Spanish tortilla). I particularly appreciated the diversity of vegetables in the salad.

Overall a very good experience in a cosy atmosphere. We ate outside but the interior also looked very inviting. Thanks also for the good care of the team.

Will definitively come back to try other...

I like a lot the fact that it is a 100% plant based restaurant. Dishes were good and tasty, and different than what I normally eat. They have a special drink (kamboucha I think) that they make themselves and it was a nice new experience to drink. Waiting time between entry and main dish was a bit too long for me, and the owner (I think she was the owner) I don't know... I felt she was a bit too grumpy for me to enjoy the whole experience there. Not really elastic in accomodating customers requests .. Fortunately the guy serving the tables had a much bigger smile on his face. :-) which was good... I am wondering if I will ever come back. I ate very good but went away with a weird feeling,...