Vegan Rotterdam

Rotterdam lost most of its historic centre to bombing on 14 May 1940, and the city rebuilt itself as a playground for architects, from Piet Blom’s tilted cube houses to the Markthal (the arched covered food market). That appetite for the new shows up on the plate: vegan sushi, Jordanian mezze and a plant-based kapsalon are all a few tram stops apart.

All but one of the places below are fully vegan, and the exception is a vegetarian kitchen that makes every dish vegan on request. Most sit within walking distance of Rotterdam Centraal or Blaak station, with one well worth a metro ride south. I would book Rotown for a night out and Nori for the food. More cities are waiting on the destinations page.

Vegan Rotterdam at a Glance

• Best vegan sushi: Nori
• Best quick lunch near the shops: Copper Branch
• Best gluten-free brunch: SUE
• Best pizza: Vegan Pizza Bar
• Best night out with live music: Rotown
• Best long afternoon south of the river: Happy Food & Health
• Best all-day café: Backyard
• Best falafel and hummus: Nabäti

Best Vegan Restaurants in Rotterdam

1. Nori: Vegan Sushi and Wok Dishes Vegan

Start with the spicy tuna roll and the flamed beef nigiri, the two pieces reviewers keep naming when they rave about this place. Both are fully plant-based, and the torch gives the nigiri a smoky edge. The tempura rolls are the crunchy favourite, and one diner in 2026 called the vegan shrimp a small miracle.

Add the wonton soup and a plate of gyoza (pan-fried dumplings) if you are sharing, and look at the wok dishes if someone at the table is not a sushi person. Nori is a small, cosy restaurant a short walk from the Markthal, with friendly staff and fair prices, and it does takeaway when the tables are full.

💡 Tip: Nori opens at 4PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, closes on Tuesdays, and runs 12PM to 9PM Thursday to Sunday, so plan a weekday lunch somewhere else.

📍 Pannekoekstraat 45A, 3011 LC Rotterdam | Stadsdriehoek | ☎️ +31 6 25116925 | 🌐 norirotterdam.nl | 📸 @nori.rotterdam

2. Copper Branch: Crispy Wraps, Burgers and Bowls Vegan

Order the crispy vegan chicken wrap, which one reviewer in 2026 crowned their new favourite vegan wrap in Rotterdam. Burgers get the most mentions overall, from the Grazie Mille burger to a bacon and blue cheese stack that another diner simply called amazing. The whole menu is plant-based, so you can point at anything.

Poke bowls, falafel wraps and loaded nachos fill out the menu, and there is matcha for the afternoon slump. Copper Branch is a Canadian plant-based chain with several Dutch branches, and this one sits on Korte Hoogstraat, a few minutes from the main shopping streets. It is the easy, reliable lunch between sights.

💡 Tip: It opens at 10AM every day and closes at 9PM, or 10PM on Fridays and Saturdays, so it works for a late breakfast too.

📍 Korte Hoogstraat 6, 3011 GL Rotterdam | Stadsdriehoek | ☎️ +31 85 008 0339 | 🌐 copperbranchnl.com | 📸 @copperbranch_nl

3. SUE: Gluten-Free Vegan Brunch Vegan

Order the avocado toast, which comes on crisp seeded bread with house-made hummus and fresh greens, and add a slice of banana bread. Reviewers come back for the seeded toast and the chia pudding. Everything at SUE is vegan, gluten-free and made without refined sugar, so a coeliac friend can order from the whole menu.

The lunchery on Karel Doormanstraat is a pretty, cosy café a block from the Lijnbaan shopping street, and the staff get almost as many compliments as the food. SUE also serves SUE TEA, a vegan high tea you reserve ahead, and runs a separate bakery on Goudsesingel for cakes and treats to take away.

💡 Tip: The lunchery is open 9AM to 5PM Monday to Saturday and 10AM to 5PM on Sundays. The bakery at Goudsesingel 330A closes at 4PM and does not open on Sundays.

📍 Karel Doormanstraat 372-374, 3012 GA Rotterdam | Centrum | ☎️ +31 10 226 5066 | 🌐 sue-food.nl | 📸 @suefoodrotterdam

4. Vegan Pizza Bar: Pizza with House-Made Cheese Vegan

Order a pizza with wild mushrooms and let the dough do the talking; one regular called it among the best doughs in Rotterdam. The cheeses are made in-house and are the whole point of the place. Start with the vegan chicken wings and the arancini (fried risotto balls), which reviewers praise as much as the pizzas.

Save room for tiramisu, or the lemon cake with basil sauce that keeps turning up in reviews. Vegan Pizza Bar has sister restaurants in The Hague and Utrecht, and the Goudsesingel branch is relaxed, friendly and plays good music. Gluten-free pizza, pasta and desserts are on the menu, which makes it an easy group dinner.

💡 Tip: It is dinner only: 5PM to 9PM Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday, until 9:30PM on Fridays and Saturdays, and closed on Mondays. Book ahead for Friday and Saturday nights.

📍 Goudsesingel 73, 3031 EE Rotterdam | Rubroek | ☎️ +31 10 499 3331 | 🌐 veganpizzabar.com | 📸 @veganpizzabar

5. Rotown: Vegan Kapsalon and Live Music Vegan

Order the kapsalon, Rotterdam’s own takeaway tray of fries, doner, melted cheese and salad, made here with plant-based doner and vegan cheese. The kitchen also does marble spareribs with fries and potato salad, seitan rendang (an Indonesian slow-cooked curry) and butter chicken. One diner in 2026 could hardly believe how flavourful and satisfying everything was.

Rotown is a live music venue and café on Nieuwe Binnenweg in Cool (yes, that is the district’s real name), and its Backstage Vegan Kitchen feeds gig-goers and bar regulars alike. Eat before a show, or sit outside with a beer and watch one of the liveliest streets in the city go by.

💡 Tip: Rotown is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The café opens at 12PM the rest of the week and stays open until 4AM on Fridays and Saturdays; reserve a table online before concert nights.

📍 Nieuwe Binnenweg 19, 3014 GB Rotterdam | Cool | ☎️ +31 10 436 2669 | 🌐 rotown.nl | 📸 @rotowncafevegankitchen

6. Happy Food & Health: Comfort Food by the Maashaven Vegan

Order the köfte (spiced plant-based meatballs), the dish reviewers mention more than any other, and a few small bites; one diner’s favourites were the dumplings and the nuggets. Brunch fans go for the pancakes, grilled vegetables and good coffee, and the warm brownie with cold ice cream is the dessert people write about afterwards.

Everything is plant-based and made in-house, and the gluten-free food comes out of its own separate kitchen. The restaurant sits on the Maashaven, a harbour basin in Rotterdam-Zuid (the south bank), with a relaxed beach-café feel and the skyline across the water. The friendly owner gets named in review after review.

💡 Tip: Take metro line D or E to Maashaven station. It opens at 10AM Tuesday to Sunday and closes at 6PM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 10PM otherwise; the kitchen stops an hour before closing.

📍 Maashavenweg 31, 3072 AZ Rotterdam | Rotterdam-Zuid | ☎️ +31 6 85391666 | 🌐 happyfoodandhealth.nl | 📸 @happyfoodandhealth

7. Backyard: All-Day Plant-Based Café Vegan

Order the kimchi burger or the katsu burger, and add the corn ribs (corn cobs cut lengthwise and roasted until they curl), which one reviewer singled out as really tasty. Backyard also makes its own kapsalon and a croque monsieur, and the carrot cake and Oreo cake are the slices that keep turning up in photos.

Backyard has served fully plant-based food on Korte Hoogstraat since 2018, from breakfast waffles with fresh fruit to cocktails in the evening. The restaurant leans into its name with plenty of greenery, warm wood and a terrace. Breakfast can be slow when it is busy, so come when you have time to linger.

💡 Tip: Backyard opens at 9AM daily and closes at 5PM on Mondays and Tuesdays and 9PM from Wednesday to Sunday.

📍 Korte Hoogstraat 14, 3011 GL Rotterdam | Stadsdriehoek | ☎️ +31 10 842 8263 | 🌐 backyardrotterdam.nl | 📸 @backyardrotterdam

8. Nabäti: Jordanian Falafel and Hummus Vegetarian

Order the falafel with hummus and salads, then the aubergine fatteh (layers of crisp bread, aubergine and sauce), which reviewers name almost as often. The hummus comes with olive oil and chilli, the falafel with lemon tahini, and one diner in 2026 loved the lentil soup served with fritters. Put a few dips in the middle and share.

Nabäti is a vegetarian kitchen where every dish can be made vegan, so say vegan when you order; fatteh is traditionally finished with yoghurt, and that is the one to ask about. The recipes come from family kitchens in Amman and Jordanian street food, served in a small, warm restaurant near Blaak station.

💡 Tip: Nabäti opens at 12PM and closes at 7PM or 8PM most days, earlier than most dinner spots, so treat it as lunch or an early supper. Ring before you go on weekends, because their hours move.

📍 Keizerstraat 168, 3011 GH Rotterdam | Stadsdriehoek | ☎️ +31 6 25417757 | 🌐 nabatieatery.com | 📸 @nabatieatery

The Kapsalon: Rotterdam’s Hairdresser Dinner

The kapsalon (Dutch for hairdresser’s salon) was born in Rotterdam in 2003, when a hairdresser named Nathaniel Gomes kept asking a takeaway in Delfshaven, the old harbour district, to pile shawarma, fries, cheese and salad into one tray. The takeaway put it on the menu under his job title, and it spread across the Netherlands and beyond.

The classic version is meat under melted Gouda, but Rotown makes one with plant-based doner and vegan cheese, and Backyard has its own version too. Eat it hot, with garlic sauce and sambal (Indonesian chilli paste), and do not plan anything energetic afterwards.

Vegan Rotterdam: What to Know Before You Go

• Early-week closures are common. Rotown shuts on Mondays and Tuesdays, Nori on Tuesdays, and Vegan Pizza Bar and Happy Food & Health on Mondays, so plan Mondays around Copper Branch, SUE, Backyard and Nabäti.
• Carry a bank card. Plenty of Dutch cafés are card-only, and RET trams and metros take contactless cards: tap in and out with the same card.
• At a Dutch snack bar, a frikandel (deep-fried sausage) contains meat and fritessaus (the sweet Dutch fries mayo) usually contains egg. Ask for ketchup or curry ketchup with your fries.
• Albert Heijn and Jumbo supermarkets stock plenty of plant-based milks, sandwich fillings and snacks for train days and picnics.
• The city is flat and easy to cycle, and most of the places above are within a 20-minute walk of Rotterdam Centraal.

When to Visit Rotterdam

Late spring and summer are the easiest months, with long evenings for terraces on Nieuwe Binnenweg and along the water. July brings the North Sea Jazz Festival at Ahoy and the Rotterdam Summer Carnival, so book a room early if your dates overlap.

Winter is grey and windy off the Maas river, but the International Film Festival Rotterdam fills cinemas and cafés in late January and early February, and a warm brownie at Happy Food & Health makes a strong case for a cold day.

Vegan Rotterdam FAQ