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Wittevrouwen · Utrecht · Netherlands

Kasvio

A plant based tasting menu restaurant in central Utrecht where chef Mari Pitkänen builds Nordic flavoured courses from foraged greens, ferments, and organic European produce.

The essentials, at a glance

◐
Impact score
4 - Recognised
→
Documented practices
Local sourcing
Seasonal cooking
Low waste
Sustainable meat/fish plant-based kitchen
Social impact
Plant-forward menu
Health-intentional kitchen

Style
Fine dining
Cuisine
International
Recognised by
We're Smart Green Guide·3 radishes

The delicious details

Kasvio, Finnish for herbarium, is the plant based kitchen of chef Mari Pitkänen, who relocated the restaurant to central Utrecht in late 2025. The menu does not aim to replicate non vegan dishes; it draws on culinary memory and Nordic flavour to compose vegetable led courses on their own terms.

Five course, four course, and three course tasting menus turn over every two to two and a half months, with dishes presented alongside short poems and explained by the floor team.

Behind the room, kombuchas are fermented in house, gas equipment has been replaced with electric run on green power, and the dining space was built around reclaimed railway sleepers and tables cut from fallen trees outside the city.

Menu
What's on the table, and what's left off

Fixed tasting menus only, entirely plant based. Recent courses include slow cooked radishes with horseradish cream, spinach pasta with ramson oil and rye miso, and charcoal baked lion's mane mushroom with orca beans. The kitchen builds desserts on fruit sweetness rather than refined sugar, ferments kombuchas in house, and treats foraged greens and grains as everyday ingredients. Advance notice required for allergies and dietary accommodations.

Cuisine
International
Dietary options
Vegetarian options
Fully plant-based
Dairy-free options
Health-intentional kitchen✓
Specific health practices named in at least one sub-area
Self-declared

Kombuchas are fermented in house and offered as functional pairings. Fermentation and rye miso appear repeatedly across courses; desserts lean on fruit-derived sweetness (sea buckthorn, citrus, blood orange) rather than refined sugar. Whole ingredients and scratch preparation are the kitchen's default, with sourdough bread on the savoury side.

Allergies handling
Notice Advance notice

Notify at booking for allergies; the plant-based kitchen structurally excludes milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, and molluscs, though gluten, soy, and tree nuts appear in some courses.

What the restaurant explicitly accommodates
Shellfish
Fish
Molluscs
Milk
Eggs
Impact score
How this restaurant rates
4 - Recognised

Kasvio has shown sustained engagement across four areas of responsible practice, earning a four planet rating.

In sourcing, the kitchen works with organic growers across the Netherlands and Europe, forages at a local food forest, and has run thematic weeks built around Ark of Taste legumes in collaboration with Boonzaak. Seasonal rotation is part of how the kitchen works: the tasting menus turn over every two to two and a half months, and the dishes reflect what is in season at the time.

On waste and circularity, gas cooking equipment has been replaced with electric run on green power, kombuchas are fermented in house, foraging shortens supply chains, and the dining room was rebuilt around reclaimed railway sleepers and tables cut from fallen trees outside the city. Because the menu is entirely plant based, no animal products are served at all, which places vegetables at the unambiguous centre of the kitchen.

The restaurant is listed on the We're Smart Green Guide, a dedicated guide to vegetable forward cooking, and chef Mari Pitkänen is a member of the Slow Food Professionals Community in the Netherlands.

The impact dimensions
Local & direct sourcing✓
Seasonal cooking✓
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products✓
n/a
Social impact✓
Plant-forward menu✓

Kasvio sources seasonal vegetables from organic farmers and forages at a local food forest, with bread supplied by a nearby bakery.

Kasvio sources seasonal vegetables from organic farmers and forages at a local food forest near Utrecht. Bread is supplied by a nearby bakery, and a thematic collaboration with Boonzaak around Ark of Taste legumes is documented via Slow Food.

European legumes, grains, and seeds extend the geographic footprint beyond the immediate region. The kitchen positions local and direct sourcing as a stated value, with at least one named touchpoint (Boonzaak).

Strongest sourceSlow Food ↗

The tasting menu rotates every two to two and a half months, showcasing seasonal ingredients including winter rhubarb, chicory, blood orange, kumquat, asparagus, and ramson.

We're Smart Green Guide and the restaurant's own pages confirm that the tasting menu rotates every two to two and a half months, faster than the rubric's quarterly threshold for level 3. The current menu carries clearly seasonal ingredients (winter rhubarb, chicory coffee, blood orange, kumquat, asparagus, ramson). Seasonality is communicated as a guiding principle on the about-us page and is corroborated by partner-vouched editorial coverage.

Strongest sourceWe're Smart Green Guide ↗

Gas cooking equipment was replaced with energy-efficient electric; kombuchas ferment in house; the dining space was built around reclaimed railway sleepers and fallen timber.

Several concrete practices are named on the restaurant's own pages and corroborated by Vegetariers.nl editorial coverage: gas cooking equipment was replaced with energy-efficient electric run on green power during the 2025 renovation; waste streams are recycled; kombuchas are fermented in house; foraging brings ingredients in without intermediated transport. The interior was rebuilt around circular choices (reclaimed railway sleepers as flooring, tables cut from fallen trees outside Utrecht).

Strongest sourcekasvio.nl ↗

Not applicable — the kitchen is entirely plant-based.

Not applicable. The restaurant is fully plant based; no meat, poultry, fish, or seafood appears on any menu including specials. The kitchen states explicitly that the menu is always entirely plant based.

Strongest sourcekasvio.nl ↗

Chef Mari Pitkänen is a member of the Slow Food Professionals Community in the Netherlands and has collaborated on Ark of Taste legume menu weeks.

Mari Pitkänen is a member of the Slow Food Professionals Community in the Netherlands and has collaborated with another Slow Food Professional (Boonzaak) on a bean-focused menu week tied to the Ark of Taste programme.

Strongest sourceSlow Food ↗

Every dish on all tasting menus is entirely plant-based, composed without meat, fish, dairy, or eggs.

Kasvio is fully plant based. Every dish on every tasting menu (three, four, and five course formats) is composed without meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy, or eggs.

The restaurant publicly positions itself this way; We're Smart Green Guide profiles it as a vegan kitchen with a strong Nordic taste profile. The menu does not include token plant-based options on an otherwise mixed menu, but is structurally vegetable led at every course.

Strongest sourceWe're Smart Green Guide ↗
Sourcing signals
✓
In-house preparation
✓
Low-impact beverage program

Kombuchas are fermented in house. The kitchen prepares dishes from whole ingredients using scratch-cooking methods including foraged greens, ramson oil, and rye miso, whilst bread is supplied by a nearby bakery.

Organic wines from Europe, local craft beers, non-alcoholic and low-alcohol fermentations, and in-house kombuchas form the beverage programme.

Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Wittevrouwenstraat 22, 3512CT Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€€
Format
Tasting menus; advance notice requested
Hours
MondayClosed
TuesdayClosed
Wednesday18:00–22:30
Thursday18:00–22:30
Friday18:00–22:30
Saturday18:00–22:30
Sunday18:00–22:30
Style
Fine dining
Web
kasvio.nl
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 15 May 2026
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How we score
The My Treats impact scale

Every restaurant is assessed against SEERO, our six-dimension sustainability framework — covering sourcing, seasonality, waste, animal products, social impact, and plant-forward cooking. Each finding is weighted by how strongly it is corroborated. The combined result is translated into a planet rating from 1 to 5.

The five levels

SEERO is an acronym for Starting, Engaged, Endorsed, Recognised, Outstanding:

Starting First verified signals of sustainable practice.
Engaged Credible practice across two dimensions.
Endorsed Meaningful practice across three or more dimensions.
Recognised Strong practice across four or more dimensions, with independent corroboration.
This place
Outstanding Top-tier practice, confirmed by recognised third-party audit.

How a level is reached. Each level needs two things together: a minimum number of dimensions covered, and a minimum overall strength of evidence across them. A dimension only counts once its evidence is specific and substantiated — a passing mention doesn't qualify. Meeting only one of the two keeps a restaurant a level lower.

Ratings of four or five planets require human validation and, at the top tier, an external audit. Scores are based on publicly available evidence and restaurant submissions at the time of assessment.

Full methodology→
Impact dimension
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How this dimension works
—
How evidence is weighted
Self-declared Stated by the restaurant on its website, menu or in a submission. Plausible, but not yet independently corroborated.
Researched Found through independent research; one credible third-party source backs the claim.
Vouched Corroborated across more than one independent source. Some gaps may remain.
Audited Fully corroborated across independent sources or by a recognised third-party certification.
What the sourcing checkmarks mean
✓ Full check — independently verified: corroborated across more than one source, or audited / third-party certified (vouched or audited).
✓ Light check — self-declared or from a single source. Not yet independently verified.
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