Vegan Eats | Berlin: vegan capital of Europe

view from Klunkerkranich - a rooftop terrace on top of a shopping mall in Neukölln

Berlin is a great place for a trip for many reasons - laid back vibes, friendly people, culture, budget friendliness... and vegan food. Germany's capital has been named the Vegan capital of Europe more than once and not for no reason. Every time I get to spend a couple of days in Berlin (bless being able to stay with friends there!), I like to eat my way through the city and even though I love finding places to go to in advance and planning my food stops, I know that I can turn a corner here or stand in the middle of the city there and consult Happy Cow and I will always find tasty vegan food not far away. Here are a a couple of places I ate at this time - some newly discovered, some old favourites... too good not to share either way!

Pêle-Mêle [Neukölln]
Top notch place to brunch or have a slice of cake and coffee served in a mug the size of your head. Cosy interior, lovely staff and the café is advertised as a co-working space as well - perfect for all those digital nomads/bloggers/students/can't-work-at-home-people.

Innstrasse 26

12043 Berlin

Soya Vietnamese Vegan Kitchen [Kreuzberg]
Vietnamese restaurant offering an almost entirely vegan menu (only non-vegan item is condensed milk for traditional Vietnamese coffee). Lots of tofu dishes as well as mock meats; "chicken", "duck", "fake fish"...

Falckensteinstrasse 36

10997 Berlin

Yoyo Foodworld [Friedrichshain]
Perfect spot for some budget friendly vegan fast food like pizza, burgers and vegan fried calamari (!!). Simple interior, outside seating, situated in the hip neighbourhood Friedrichshain.

Gärtnerstrasse 27

10245 Berlin

Vegan Snackbar by Attila Hildmann [Charlottenburg]

German author of several cookbooks and my first inspiration to go vegan almost 4 years ago Attila Hildmann finally opened his first restaurant back in May. The place to be when you're looking for mouth watering burgers, pasta dishes with homemade sauces, matcha soft swerve, açaí bowls or healthy energy drinks. Slightly more expensive than your typical Berlin food place but well worth the price considering everything is freshly made, high quality and organic. You even get to chat to the owner himself as he's there most days of the week.

Schillerstrasse 71

10627 Berlin

Café Vux [Neukölln]
Brazilian café, entirely vegan, selling everything from paninis to cakes and waffles, including vegan versions of traditional Brazilian foods. Weekly Sunday brunch from 12 onwards (be on time!) for 9.50€ excluding drinks. Beautiful interior with small outside space.

Wipperstrasse 14

12055 Berlin

Superfoods & Organic Liquids [Mitte]
Drop by for bowls full of health, sweet pick-me-ups (about half are vegan), freshly made smoothies and filling açaí bowls. Comfortable and light interior, comfortable outside seating area, free infused water.

Weinbergsweg 23

10119 Berlin

Vöner [Friedrichshain]

All vegan place to get typical Berlin dishes like Döner (kebab) and Currywurst. Very affordable, extremely filling and not far from Veganz - the entirely vegan supermarket of your dreams.

Boxhagenerstrasse 56

10245 Berlin

Paletas Berlin [Friedrichshain]

Ice popsicle store just around the corner from Yoyo Foodworld, offering a wide range of vegan ice popsicle flavours ranging from fruity (mango, raspberry, ...) to creamy (chocolate, coffee, ...). Get it dipped in dark chocolate and your choice of nuts and you're ready to Instagram that beauty (before devouring it).

Wühlischstrasse 26

10245 Berlin

Vegan Eats | Reykjavík: chilli, crêpes and hot chocolate

Having heard of the different places my friend had been to during her longer stay in Reykjavík, I was somewhat prepared to be taken around the city and eat tasty vegan food at different locations. The restaurants and cafes she took me did not disappoint and I was nonetheless positively surprised just how many places offered vegan options on their menus, despite Iceland being a country where meat, fish and dairy are consumed rather heavily. I decided to pack two places into one post and dedicate a third, entirely vegan place we had brunch at its own post. 

Before I get into where you can get the world's best veggie chilli, a comforting hot chocolate and great crêpes, I do want to disclaim that Iceland is expensive. No matter where we ate or how much we ate, eating out easily added up to fifteen to twenty euros, especially if we had a cup of coffee with our meal. That being said, we typically had lunch in the city and ended the day with big bowls of pasta at home to avoid spending too much money.

Vegan Eats | Rome: Universo Vegano

If I had to sum up my stay in Rome in one sentence, it would be "lots of walking and lots of eating." Whilst I've already started covering the walking part with my When in Rome post and will be sharing more photos soon, I thought it was about time to address the (obviously) more important part of the trip: food. As before any city trip, I had spent some time scrolling through HappyCow's Rome selection and marked a few good food places on our city map so we could check off as many restaurants as possible during our stay. Universo Vegano had also been recommended by a friend of mine who is from Rome, so that was at the top of our to-eat-at-list.

Vegan Eats | Brighton: The Almond Tree

Even though I've finally moved out of my Brighton home for good last week (cue the waterfalls), I haven't quite finished - and probably never will - with the city that was my home for 3 years just yet. I'm already planning trips down to the most charming seaside city but meanwhile, I thought I'd share my latest food discovery for those of you that are lucky enough to pay Brighton a visit soon or just enjoy my posts about mouth watering vegan food (anyone?). 

Vegan Eats | Brighton: Brunch at Brewed

With being free from any kind of Uni work and only working a few days a week, comes the urge to go out for brunch, coffee or dinner as many times as my bank account allows me. Over the past few weeks, I've been discovering and trying out places I hadn't eaten at yet in Brighton (there's just so many!) and with things like vegan doughnuts still on my to-do list, I had the chance to try out a new uber cute place on Lewes Road last week. It's situated dangerously close to my place here, as it's only a 10-15 min walk away and even though it's not a vegan (or even veggie) place, their vegan options are amazing.

Vegan Eats | New York: Dun-Well Donuts

Doughnuts are one of those foods that I've always rather liked when younger (and still do) but for some reason didn't eat very often. Since going vegan, I finally hadn't had one for two years, but I never realise how much I enjoy biting into a good doughnut until I'm actually doing it. 

Vegan Eats | New York: Crêpes in Williamsburg

Crêpes = childhood memories.

Vegan Eats | Budapest: Napfényes Étterem

Budapest wasn't only my favourite stop city-wise but also foodwise...

Vegans Eat | Prague: Czech food at LoVeg

First off: HAPPY WORLD VEGAN DAY! We've officially made it to November (crazy!), which means that today is World Vegan Day - enough reason to try eating only plantbased goodness for a day? In the spirit of good, cruelty free food, I thought I'd share another Vegan Eats with you today, bringing veganised Czech food to you from Prague.

Vegan Eats | Warsaw: Spinach Soup & Pierogi

Vegan Eats | Berlin: Açai Bowls & Vöner

After having been to Berlin twice before this summer, I already knew of the endless choices of good places offering good food. Even though I wasn't vegan (yet) during both visits, I quickly realised that Berlin is probably one of the most vegan friendly and exciting cities when it comes to variety and taste of vegan options. As I have a total of four Vegan Eats to share with you from Berlin alone, I decided to pack two different cafés/restaurants into one post in order to avoid turning this blog into one big restaurant review (ha! As if it wasn't heading that way already).

Vegan Eats | New York City: Beyond Sushi

While I already published a post on where to go for brunch or a bowl of feel-good-do-good food in New York City, I never actually got around sharing where I had sushi. As a huge sushi lover (at both pre-, and post-vegan times), I naturally had to give sushi in the Big Apple a shot, together with my friend and travel buddy, a sushi lover herself. Thanks to Cassey Ho from Blogilates, my friend saw an Instagram post from her posting about Beyond Sushi. It took us quite a while to actually find the restaurant itself, given the lack of orientation and wifi but we eventually found what turned out to be a tiny space filled to the brim with people sitting or standing around, waiting for their orders. Given the amount of people, it did take more than half an hour for our sushi to arrive at our table but after patiently waiting with grumbling stomachs, it tasted even better. I generally love the simplicity of avocado maki sushis, but having a bit of a more "fancy" combination of tastes was nice for a change, especially as different kinds of rice were used instead of the typical white sushi rice. The price was okay, given that you really could tell how much work was put into making the individual rolls. However, I would probably opt for take-out the next time, as nothing is better than a big portion of sushi and your favourite tv show, sitting in your couch at home (or that of the place where you're staying at because - let's be realistic - I unfortunately don't live in NYC (yet?))

Beyond Sushi

229 East 14th Street

10003 New York City

PS: Beyond Sushi has more than one store/restaurant in NYC but this is the one we went to. For more information, have a look at their website.

Vegan Eats | Luxembourg: HaPP

As the amount of health food oriented, vegetarian or even vegan restaurants and cafés has been increasing in the last year/year and a half in Luxembourg, I only heard of HaPP a bit later. From what I've been able to observe, its focus is on health food (catering to everyone from omnivore to vegan) and tasty treats.

Vegan Eats | Luxembourg: Burgers at Beet

Beet, the newly opened restaurant that claims to be serving "conscious food and beverages" has been getting a huge hype in Luxembourg with its beetroot based burgers, falafels and homemade fries. 

Vegan Eats | Trier: Yomaro Frozen Yoghurt

As a lot of people, I very quickly became a huge fan of frozen yoghurt when it became more known and popular here in Luxembourg a couple of years ago. After all, who doesn't love the concept of covering their "ice cream" in toppings ranging from fruit to sprinkles or even oreos? Logically, I had to drop frozen yoghurt once I decided to adopt a vegan diet...

Vegan Eats | Luxembourg: Ready?!

While studying abroad and especially living in an exciting and multi faceted (and really simply a paradise for vegans) place like Brighton is everything I've wanted to do since finishing school, it does mean that a lot of my time is, well, spent abroad rather than at home in Luxembourg. Clearly, I've had the most amazing experiences food-wise in Brighton, but giving the limited amount of time I get to spend in Luxembourg (particularly during the actual school year), I often miss out on new, exciting things going on in Luxembourg. 

Vegan Eats | New York: Bliss Café

During my stay in New York, I ate a huge variety of vegan foods, including food that would rather be categorised as "junk food" than the food I usually eat. While I loved discovering vegan versions of ice cream, cupcakes, pancakes and other delicious foods, I started craving vegetables like crazy at some point. Now, you can call me crazy here but I just need my veggies! And by that I don't mean some vegetables on a pizza or a side salad with my pancake "bacon" brunch, but simple, steamed or cooked vegetables. I really do feel the difference when I eat more processed and "junk food" categorised foods, which I take as a good thing, as my body is aware of what I'm eating. That being said, I (and my friend too!) was more than happy to discover Bliss Café, a cute little restaurant/café where they serve everything from sandwiches and wraps to big bowls of fresh, healthy goodness and tasty desserts. Bliss Café is located in Williamsburg, one of my favourite neighbourhoods in New York and we loved it so much there that we even went back for a second time. This place is definitely one I would recommend to anyone who needs a change from more processed foods, while still having a delicious meal!

Bliss Café

191 Bedford Avenue

Brooklyn

NY 11211

Vegan Eats | New York: Brunch

Brunching is great. I don't know a single person who doesn't love the concept of stuffing themselves with their favourite breakfast foods for hours, without the conflict of having to choose between savoury and sweet - you can just have both. Since most people associate brunch with eggs, pancakes and waffles, it might seem a bit odd to think about vegan brunch foods at first. But let me tell you: you don't have to miss out on any of the fun! There is literally a vegan version of everything nowadays, whether you're in the mood of waffles with "bacon", scrambled "eggs" or just "yoghurt" with granola and fruit. Want to go for a feast brunch in New York? Then head to Champs Diner, an all-vegan place with the most mouth-watering menu in East Williamsburg. My friend and I shared the eggs benedict and the bananarama pancakes and it's safe to say that our taste buds were in heaven! The American diner also has milkshakes, juices, sandwiches, starters and more, so you can even just go for lunch there!

Champs Diner

197 Meserole Street

Brooklyn

NY 11206

Vegan Eats | Luxembourg: Octave

Like every year, the Octave is currently taking place in Luxembourg city. While there is a historical and religious background to the event you can read about here, I wanted to focus on something else in this post. Ever since I've gone vegan, I like to check vegan food options before I go to events like the Octave "market" or even just to a restaurant, so when I recently planned to pay it a visit with my family, I decided to ask about available vegan food in the group of the Vegan Society here in Luxembourg. Luckily, I got a lot of responses very quickly and had a look around the Octave myself, so I thought I'd write up a small guide of what foods you can eat there as a vegan! I'm a little bit late with this post, as the celebration will only take place until the end of this week (it ends on Sunday 10th of May) but I still thought that it might be interesting for some people who've been thinking about paying the Octave a visit but were uncertain about the food choices for non-omnis.

VEGAN EATS | VegFest Brighton

Today was finally the day my housemates and I had been looking forward to for weeks: it was the second day of the VegFest weekend in Brighton! I chose to eat a vegan diet (and pursue a vegan lifestyle as good as possible as well) not only for ethical and environmental reasons, but also for health. That being said, it's safe to say that I rarely eat what is considered vegan junk food and my diet mainly consists of whole foods, meaning lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and nuts. However, being the little foodie I am, I do love to indulge in a big piece of vegan cake or a pizza with vegan cheese every now and then. Obviously, the VegFest was the ideal occasion for me to let my inner fatty out (as tumblr would call it: an unchaperoned kid at a birthday party) and indulge on all kinds of foods, healthy and not so healthy because, I could for once eat everything on offer! My housemates and I ate ourselves through the food stalls, trying everything from hot dogs, burgers, curries, raw chocolate cakes, fried plantains, crêpes and just about every taster on offer. I also finally got to try a young coconut for the first time and oh my! I'm obsessed with it and brought the coconut home to get all out of the flesh out of it. I had a great time eating my weight in food, buying chocolates for my family and buying cruelty free, vegan shampoo and I really hope that this event will take place again next year! (I mean, if you ask me, this could be happening once a month, ha) 

I found out that this event takes place all over the UK, so if this is something you're interested in, definitely check it out - no matter if you're vegan yourself or not as I can definitely say that everyone I talked to (mostly non-vegans) enjoyed it a lot!

PS: I've shared quite a few impressions of my day on my snapchat and generally have been more active recently, so if you want to have a bit of an insight on my life, add me under noraameliie!