Vegan Brussels

Brussels is a city of Art Nouveau facades, comic-strip murals painted across whole gable walls and a waffle stand on what feels like every corner, and the plant-based eating keeps pace with all of it. Within a short tram ride you can book a Michelin-starred vegan tasting menu, eat a gluten-free waffle in a shopping arcade and finish with a Korean burger beside Grand-Place, the gilded main square.

My picks sit in the city centre, the Marolles (the old working-class quarter below the Palace of Justice) and the communes, or boroughs, of Ixelles and Saint-Gilles. All eight are fully plant-based, so you can point at anything on the menu. When you have eaten your way through Brussels, browse the rest of my vegan travel destinations.

Vegan Brussels at a Glance

• Special occasion: Humus x Hortense
• Weekend brunch: Terter
• Belgian waffles: Vegan Waf
• Bao buns: Lil Bao
• Quick healthy lunch: Le Botaniste
• Pastries and café brunch: Lucifer Lives
• Burgers near Grand-Place: Kitsune Burgers
• Coffee with a twist: Buddy Buddy

Best Vegan Restaurants in Brussels

1. Humus x Hortense: Michelin-Starred Botanical Tasting Menu Vegan

Diners leave Humus x Hortense talking about the botanical tasting menu, a run of small, precise plates built around 24 micro-seasons (growing windows of a week or two) and produce from regenerative farms. Recent reviews call the cooking creative, delicious and unlike anything they have tasted before, and the drink pairings get as much praise as the plates.

Order a pairing, either the wines or the alcohol-free juices and mocktails, because the drinks are half the show. The restaurant has served plant-based fine dining since 2008 and holds a Michelin star plus a Green Star for sustainability. Dinner happens in an Art Nouveau house in Ixelles with frescoes and gilded ceilings. I would book this first.

💡 Tip: Reserve weeks ahead through the website. Dinner runs Wednesday to Saturday from 6PM, lunch is Friday and Saturday from 12PM, and it is closed Sunday to Tuesday.

📍 Rue de Vergnies 2, 1050 Ixelles | Ixelles | ☎️ +32 474 65 37 06 | 🌐 humushortense.be | 📸 @humushortense

2. Terter: Gluten-Free Brunch and Shared Dinners Vegan

Locals queue for brunch at Terter, and reviewers call it the most creative vegan brunch in Brussels. Start with the seed crackers topped with plant-based feta and tomato, move on to the lentil patties, and finish with the raw pistachio cake, which people single out by name. Everything on the menu is plant-based and gluten-free, so nobody at the table misses out.

Come back for dinner, when the kitchen switches to small plates for sharing. One table ordered seven and loved every one, especially the courgette ganoush, a smoky dip in the style of baba ganoush. The restaurant is cosy and split into little nooks, and one reviewer found the house dog asleep in the fireplace.

💡 Tip: Breakfast and lunch run daily from 9AM to 4PM, with dinner Wednesday to Saturday from 6PM to 11PM. Book weekend brunch online.

📍 Chaussée de Waterloo 264, 1060 Saint-Gilles | Saint-Gilles | ☎️ +32 490 38 67 57 | 🌐 terter.be | 📸 @terter_brussels

3. Vegan Waf: Gluten-Free Belgian Waffles Vegan

Vegan Waf makes every waffle fresh in front of you, and reviewers keep describing them the same way: warm, soft, chewy and good enough to eat plain. Get one with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, the order people rave about most. Everything here is plant-based and gluten-free, so coeliac friends finally get a proper Belgian waffle too.

Then order the potato waffle, the savoury surprise that sent one table back to the counter for a second round. There is plant-based ice cream as well. The founder is vegan, and the shop is a tiny takeaway counter inside Galerie Agora, a covered arcade two minutes from Grand-Place, with almost nowhere to sit.

💡 Tip: Open daily from 11AM to 7PM. Take your waffle for a slow lap of Grand-Place.

📍 Galerie Agora 48, 1000 Brussels | City centre | 📸 @veganwaf

4. Lil Bao: Fluffy Taiwanese-Style Bao Vegan

Lil Bao fills soft, pillowy bao (steamed Taiwanese buns) with plant-based chicken and fish, and the chicky bao turns up in review after review. Recent diners also rave about the wontons and the chicken satay, and one reviewer reckons the plant-based meats might beat the real thing. Expect bold sweet and savoury flavours and generous portions.

Add the calamares (crispy battered rings) and finish with the ice cream. Stick to the bao and small plates, since one diner found the noodle and rice bowls less exciting. The restaurant is small, friendly and funky, on Rue Haute at the Sablon end, the antiques quarter that slopes down into the Marolles.

💡 Tip: Lunch runs 12PM to 3PM and dinner 6PM to 9:30PM, every day except Tuesday.

📍 Rue Haute 20, 1000 Brussels | Sablon | ☎️ +32 2 428 76 18 | 🌐 lilbao.be | 📸 @lilbao.be

5. Le Botaniste: Organic Bowls and Fresh Juices Vegan

Le Botaniste serves big organic bowls that one visitor compared to a home-cooked meal on the road, good enough that they came back several times in one stay. Order the Chili Sin Carne or the Chipotle Bowl, and add a Tutti Frutti Detox juice on the side. Portions are generous, and nearly everything on the menu is gluten-free.

The Burrito Salad and the daily soups are good lighter picks. Le Botaniste is a small organic chain that started in Ghent, and its motto is “let food be the medicine”. The Brussels branch sits in the European Quarter, home to the EU institutions, a short walk from Parc du Cinquantenaire, which makes it handy for lunch.

💡 Tip: Open weekdays from 8:30AM to 9:30PM and weekends from 11:30AM to 9:30PM, so it works for a late lunch after a museum.

📍 Rue Franklin 2, 1000 Brussels | European Quarter | ☎️ +32 2 646 44 47 | 🌐 lebotaniste.eu | 📸 @le_botaniste_be

6. Lucifer Lives: Quirky Café With Brunch and Pastries Vegan

Lucifer Lives is a plant-based café whose pastries reviewers call some of the best vegan bakes they have eaten. The brunch plates are generous and varied, and the Sloppy Joe brunch is a firm favourite. Pair anything with the lavender matcha and take a cookie for later, because people who visit once tend to come back the next day.

Look out for the quiche, such as a potato, bacon and cheese version made entirely from plants. The menu is short and everything on it is done well. The café is quirky and busy, packed with personal decor, on Rue Haute in the Marolles, a short walk from the Place du Jeu de Balle flea market.

💡 Tip: No bookings. Open Tuesday to Friday from 9:30AM to 4:30PM and weekends from 10AM to 5PM, closed Monday. Arrive early on weekends.

📍 Rue Haute 120, 1000 Brussels | Marolles | 📸 @luciferlivescoffee

7. Kitsune Burgers: Asian-Inspired Vegan Burgers Vegan

Kitsune Burgers makes homemade Asian-inspired burgers, and the Korean burger gets top marks, with one diner calling it among the best burgers they have ever had. Order it with the kimchi rice balls on the side. The smash falafel burger with its tangy slaw is the other big favourite, and one non-vegan said it beat most meat burgers he had eaten.

Finish with the soft serve. You order at the counter and food reaches the table quickly, which makes this an easy lunch between sights. The restaurant is women-owned and sits on Petite rue des Bouchers, the narrow restaurant lane a minute from Grand-Place, so it fits neatly into a day in the centre.

💡 Tip: Closed Monday and Tuesday. Open Wednesday to Friday 12PM to 2:30PM and 5:30PM to 10PM, and all day on weekends from 12PM to 10PM. It fills up fast after opening on Saturdays.

📍 Petite rue des Bouchers 25, 1000 Brussels | City centre | ☎️ +32 472 48 07 93 | 🌐 kitsuneburgers.com | 📸 @kitsune.burgers

8. Buddy Buddy: The Original Nut Butter Coffee Bar Vegan

Buddy Buddy blends its own organic nut butters into coffee, and reviewers describe the drinks as creamy, rich and unlike any coffee they have had. Start with Le Buddy, peanut butter with oat milk, espresso and raw cacao, served hot or iced. The PB&J drink gets raves too, and the cookies have their own fan club.

If peanut is not your thing, try the Praline Mocha with hazelnut butter and dark chocolate. This Ixelles café opened in 2020 as the very first Buddy Buddy, and branches in Paris and New York followed. It is a stylish little spot with a merch stand, and a jar of nut butter makes an easy edible souvenir.

💡 Tip: Open weekdays from 8AM to 7PM and weekends from 9AM to 7PM. Nut butter goes into almost every signature drink, so skip this one if you have a nut allergy.

📍 Rue des Drapiers 10, 1050 Ixelles | Ixelles | 🌐 buddybuddy.co | 📸 @buddybuddy

Comic Strip Walls Between Meals

Brussels treats comics as a serious art form, and more than 60 giant comic-strip murals cover gable walls on the free Comic Book Route. Tintin and Captain Haddock clamber down a fire escape on Rue de l’Étuve near Manneken Pis, and plenty more sit in the centre and the Marolles, so a waffle run to Vegan Waf doubles as a mural hunt.

For the full story, the Comics Art Museum (also called the Belgian Comic Strip Center) fills a 1906 Art Nouveau warehouse designed by Victor Horta on Rue des Sables. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10AM to 6PM, and adult entry is €14. Afterwards it is an easy walk down to Kitsune Burgers for lunch.

Vegan Brussels: What to Know Before You Go

• Many friteries (chip shops) fry their frites in beef fat, called blanc de boeuf, so ask for frites cooked in vegetable oil (huile végétale) before you order.
• Waffles from street stands are made with butter, milk and eggs. Get your fix at Vegan Waf.
• Speculoos, the spiced caramelised biscuit served with coffee all over Belgium, is vegan in its Lotus form. Read the label on other brands, which can contain butter.
• Brussels is officially bilingual, French and Dutch. “Vegan” works in both, and végétalien (French) or veganistisch (Dutch) will help on menus.
• Monday and Tuesday are the quiet days: Humus x Hortense, Kitsune Burgers, Lucifer Lives and Lil Bao each close on one or both. Save Terter, Le Botaniste, Vegan Waf and Buddy Buddy for the start of the week.
• Metro, tram and bus readers on the STIB network take contactless bank cards, so tap your card when you board and skip the ticket machine.

When to Visit Brussels

Late spring and early autumn are the sweet spot, with mild days for walking between neighbourhoods and café terraces open. Rain turns up in every season, so pack a light jacket whatever the month. From late November into early January, the Winter Wonders festival (Plaisirs d’Hiver) fills the centre with Christmas market stalls and lights.

In August of even-numbered years, Grand-Place disappears under the Flower Carpet, a giant pattern made from hundreds of thousands of flowers, mostly begonias. Whatever the season, book Humus x Hortense and weekend brunch at Terter as soon as your dates are set.

Vegan Brussels FAQ