Story by María Garcia Juanes📍Utrecht
These days in the Netherlands, we all miss going out for food as a means to gather with friends and relax after our work day. Since the country imposed stricter lockdown measures in December, including the closure of restaurants, bars, cafes and all non-essential stores, there hasn’t been much to do outside, and it’s getting hard to come up with creative substitutes.
This time, it wasn’t easy to come up with recommendations for exciting places to visit or new activities to try in the city of Utrecht. I’ve spent these past few weeks at home, alternating between work and idle activities, often too lazy to cook. Since I’ve been ordering a lot of food, I’ll leave here a list of my five favorite vegetarian restaurants in Utrecht and their dishes. Let’s keep inspiring each other to find and support local businesses which, in turn, will delight us with their food!
Broei
My love affair with sate started when I first tried gado-gado in the streets of Indonesia. And after my first bite of Broei’s delicious tempeh and sate sandwich, that is precisely where I was transported to. The popular sweet peanut sauce was adopted by the Dutch through its colonization of South East Asia and it’s quite common to find in the Netherlands.
But at Broei, they don’t just offer traditional Asian flavors, they also adapt their own Dutch dishes. Bitterballen, deep-fried appetizers made with meat, are a very typical starter in the Netherlands. At Broei they have reinvented them in a vegetarian version, substituting the meat for oyster mushrooms. This smooths the flavor and provides a delicious twist. They serve them with a strong Dijon mustard, but they’re so tasty you won’t want to dip them in it.
Krishna Vilas
Krishna Vilas is my go-to option for great vegetarian food in the city. I always include a dosa in my order, which is a thin, crispy rice and lentil pancake with different fillings. My favorite one, which is also listed as one of their most popular, is cheese masala dosa. They have many options, but the grated cheese in this one accompanied by the potato and onion filling adds up to a really nice combination. It’s served with vegetable sambar and varieties of chutney for dipping.
I also love their assortment of naan bread and the paratha kurma, a South Indian bread that’s served with vegetable curry. Honestly, I have yet to discover a dish at Krishna Vilas that I don’t enjoy, and they have a really varied menu.
Dogma
If you prefer less spicy, more western-style food, then your place is Dogma. Dogma sells the best vegan and vegetarian hot-dogs I’ve ever tried. Even meat lovers will have trouble finding excuses not to love them; the taste of the traditional hot-dog sausage is copied to perfection. Here you won’t find damp bread overflowing with ketchup and mayonnaise. At Dogma, hot-dogs include many nutritious ingredients, combined to create mouth-watering combinations. Try their vegetarische patserige pater, a plant-based sausage with mesclun, aged cheese, smokey whiskey sauce, fried onion and fresh tomato. Adding avocado as an extra is the icing on the cake, and the value for money is good.
You can find all three places above on the app Thuisbezorgd, or if you prefer, you can also call the restaurants and pick the food up yourself.
Warung Tresno and Eaterie Aarti
Same star dish: vegetarian roti — different places. It is a good idea to keep them both on your list, since they are open for takeaway but not delivery. You can see which one is closer to you and order accordingly. Eaterie Aarti is in Kanaalstraat, in the Lombok area, and Warung Tresno is in Oudenoord. Both are Surinamese and their vegetarian roti is delicious. Warung Tresno offers a more protein heavy version, as they have an option to include tofu and tempeh, while Eaterie Aarti is better if you prefer spicy food. Prices are very similar.
Although we are unsure about when restaurants, cafes and bars will reopen, we can still indulge in our favorite meals. Here’s to one of the best sources of pleasure available during these lockdown days: eating!
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