4 - Recognised
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Vegetables come from a dedicated garden worked by volunteers, from a Salvation Army growing project that doubles as a job training scheme, and from a greenhouse on the site's own roof, alongside named regional producers for beer, wine, soft drinks and baking. The menu follows what those growers have in season.
The café runs off the gas grid, was built almost entirely from reclaimed materials, serves sodas made in house and turns spent coffee grounds into the mushrooms behind its bitterballen. A Stadspas partnership keeps a meal within reach of guests on a limited budget, coffee is bought direct from a Colombian women's growers cooperative, and the café played a leading role in the campaign that moved the Dutch hospitality pension fund to divest entirely from fossil fuels. Every plate is plant-based, so no animal products enter the kitchen at all.
Café de Ceuvel is listed in the 360 Eat Guide and carries the Vegetariërsbond's Lekker Vega Gold mark for a fully plant-based menu.
The impact dimensions
Low waste & circular practices✓
Sustainable animal products
Vegetables from Mijn Stadstuin and 50/50 Green, herbs from the rooftop aquaponics greenhouse, beer from Gulpener and Amsterdam brewers, wine through Vleck, and coffee direct from a Colombian women's cooperative.
Multiple named suppliers provide vegetables from Mijn Stadstuin, an organic garden in Amsterdam West worked by 25 volunteers for the café, and from 50/50 Green, the Salvation Army's organic vegetable garden. Herbs come from an aquaponics greenhouse on the De Ceuvel roof run with Metabolic and Nomad Farmers. Beer is from Gulpener, an independent family brewery in Limburg, and from small Amsterdam brewers. Wine comes through Vleck, an importer working on direct grower relationships. Coffee is traceable to a Colombian women's cooperative through Kaap Koffie. Soft drink syrups come from Saru Soda.
Imported categories (coffee, wine, rum, cocoa) keep this below level 5, although coffee and rum both carry named direct trade arrangements and low impact transport via sailing barge. Independent sources corroborate the picture: I amsterdam cites locally sourced ingredients, COSH records organic and regional ingredients, and Amsterdam Now states the menu revolves around seasons and local suppliers.
The menu shows seasonal rotation with autumn dishes like baked radicchio, lion's mane, roots with kumquats, pear cake, apple and blackberry crumble, and French lentil soup.
Seasonality is stated as a structuring principle and is visible in the current menu, which in September 2026 shows autumn-led items: pear cake, apple and blackberry crumble, baked radicchio, lion's mane, roots with kumquats, and French lentil soup. The café's suppliers page describes 50/50 Green as providing seasonable vegetables, and the kitchen is fed by a dedicated garden and a rooftop greenhouse that tie the card to harvest timing.
Rotation frequency could not yet be substantiated, since no archived menus were available to compare, so the claim that most dishes change with the season is held at the level supported by visible evidence.
Off-grid energy since 2020, coffee delivered by sailing barge in recyclable barrels, oyster mushrooms grown from spent coffee grounds, soft drinks made in house from bulk syrups, and building assembled almost entirely from upcycled materials including 80-year-old Port of Amsterdam mooring posts.
The café has run completely off the gas grid since 2020, with coffee described as carbon-free, carried by sailing barge and delivered in recyclable barrels. Oyster mushroom bitterballen are made from mushrooms cultivated on spent coffee grounds from La Place. Soft drinks are made in house from bulk syrups rather than bought bottled. The structure and furniture were assembled almost entirely from upcycled materials, including 80-year-old mooring posts from the Port of Amsterdam and a reassembled lifeguard pavilion, with benches and tables by the neighbouring makers Logic Works and lamps by Flesj made from recycled bottles.
I amsterdam features the café in its low waste dining guide and cites the composting toilets and locally sourced ingredients. COSH records the off grid energy and the upcycled building. The composting toilets, phytoremediation planting, heat exchangers and water figures belong to the De Ceuvel site rather than to the café business alone.
Not applicable. The kitchen has cooked entirely plant-based since 1 November 2020 and no meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy or egg appears anywhere on the current menu. The Vegetariërsbond confirms the position with the Lekker Vega Gold mark.
The kitchen has cooked entirely plant-based since 1 November 2020, confirmed by the Vegetariërsbond's Lekker Vega Gold mark, which is awarded only where every menu item is fully plant-based. No meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy or egg appears anywhere on the current menu, including snacks, sides and desserts.
Independent sources (I amsterdam, COSH, Amsterdam Now) all describe the kitchen as fully plant-based. The café's own suppliers page has not been updated since the change and still carries historical entries for dairy and meat; these are contradicted by the about page, the live menu, and every recent third-party source.
Stadspas partnership offers discounted meals to guests on limited budgets; vegetables sourced from 50/50 Green, the Salvation Army's organic garden and job training project, and from Mijn Stadstuin, worked by 25 volunteers; coffee direct from a Colombian women's cooperative; leadership role in the Dutch hospitality pension fund's fossil fuel divestment campaign.
The café partners with the Amsterdam Stadspas scheme to offer discounted meals to guests on a limited budget, and states the social side of its work as equal in weight to the ecological one, with the explicit aim of keeping its food reachable across income levels. Vegetables are bought from 50/50 Green, the Salvation Army's organic garden which doubles as a job training project, and from Mijn Stadstuin, worked by 25 volunteers. Coffee is bought direct from a Colombian cooperative of women farmers. Rum arrives through the Tres Hombres fair transport sailing route.
The café also took a leading role in the campaign that moved the Dutch hospitality and catering pension fund to divest entirely from fossil fuels, reported as the first Dutch fund to do so. COSH records the Stadspas partnership independently, and Amsterdam Now corroborates the café's participation in the pension fund campaign.
Every section of the current menu is built on vegetables, pulses, grains and fungi: French lentil soup, Greek mushroom stew, quinoa and chickpea salad, butter bean cream on bread, baked radicchio, lion's mane, cauliflower mousseline, roots with tofu and kumquats, and oyster mushroom bitterballen. No animal protein is present anywhere.
Vegetables are unambiguously the centre of the kitchen's identity and no animal protein is present anywhere. The kitchen has been entirely plant-based since 1 November 2020. Every section of the current menu, soup, salad, bread, starters, main, dessert, is built on vegetables, pulses, grains and fungi. The menu shows consistent commitment to vegetable-led cooking, with dishes like French lentil soup, Greek mushroom stew, quinoa and chickpea salad, baked radicchio, and lion's mane.
The Vegetariërsbond records the café at Gold on the Lekker Vega mark, awarded only where the whole menu is plant-based. I amsterdam lists the café among the city's vegan addresses and describes honest vegan cooking; COSH records 100 per cent plant-based meals from organic and regional ingredients.
Sourcing signals
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Direct named-farm sourcing
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Low-impact beverage program
A greenhouse on the De Ceuvel roof is run with Metabolic and Nomad Farmers, and Mijn Stadstuin in Amsterdam West is a dedicated organic garden worked by 25 volunteers growing vegetables for the café.
The café publishes a dedicated product origin page naming growers and producers: Mijn Stadstuin and 50/50 Green for vegetables, a rooftop aquaponics greenhouse for herbs, Gulpener and small Amsterdam brewers for beer, Kaap Koffie for Colombian direct-trade coffee, Saru Soda for syrups, Vleck for wine, and Taart op de Kaart and Sharp Sharp for baking.
Coffee is bought direct from a Colombian cooperative of women farmers through Kaap Koffie, with beans carried by sailing barge, and rum arrives through the Tres Hombres fair-transport sailing route.
Wine comes through Vleck, an importer specialising in organic and natural wines with direct grower relationships; beer from Gulpener and small Amsterdam brewers; coffee from a Colombian women's cooperative through Kaap Koffie; soft drinks made in house from Saru Soda syrups; and kombucha brewed locally by Leave Your Sword.
