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Boon Food Identity independently reviewed
Food Identity How restaurants source, cook and care. Independently reviewed

Boon

A vegetarian lunch bar opposite the Gravensteen in Ghent, where every salad is built around a bean and the menu turns with the seasons.

Allergies Not published, ask the kitchen ahead Gluten-free options

Food Identity How restaurants source, cook and care. Independently reviewed

Boon

A vegetarian lunch bar opposite the Gravensteen in Ghent, where every salad is built around a bean and the menu turns with the seasons.

The essentials, at a glance

Allergies Not published, ask the kitchen ahead Gluten-free options

Documented practices
Independently
reviewed
Seasonal cooking
Social impact
Plant-forward menu

Documented practices

Seasonal cooking Menu rebuilt every three months with the seasons
Social impact Hartelijke Plek member, pay-forward meal scheme
Plant-forward menu Vegetarian menu built around vegetables and pulses

Style
Café
Casual
Cosy
Trendy
Cuisine
Mediterranean
Good to know
Terrace
Garden
Dog-friendly
Child-friendly
Recognised by
We're Smart Green Guide
Recognised by
We're Smart Green Guide

The delicious details

Boon is a vegetarian lunch bar in Ghent's Patershol, set in the former Veneziana ice cream parlour across from the Gravensteen. Sara Van Damme opened it in 2017 after 18 years teaching primary school, and she still builds every salad herself.

One rule runs the kitchen: every salad carries a bean, from chickpeas and white beans worked into hummus to runner and kidney beans. Vegetables set the direction and the card is rewritten each season, so autumn reads differently from summer.

The room keeps the art deco detail of the building, with a courtyard behind it for warmer days. Boon is also a Hartelijke Plek, one of a network of Ghent addresses where anyone is welcome and guests can leave a voucher to cover a meal for someone who needs one.

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

Boon is a vegetarian lunch bar serving salads built around a bean, daily soups with sourdough, quiches and grain bowls. The menu changes seasonally, with pulses and grains as the structural base and vegan dishes on the regular card. Coffee, tea and natural wines run through the day.

Lunch is salads first: a rotating set of vegetable salads, each one carrying a bean, alongside daily soup with sourdough bread, quiches and grain bowls. Breakfast runs until half past eleven, with granola, fruit and spreads.

Pulses and grains do much of the work on the plate, with quinoa, couscous, buckwheat, black rice and lentils set against roasted and grilled vegetables. Bean spreads and hummus are made in house, the soup is cooked fresh each day, and the cakes and tarts are baked on site.

Vegan dishes sit on the regular card rather than appearing on request, and gluten free options are available. Coffee, tea and wine are served through the day.

Cuisine

Mediterranean

Dietary options

Vegetarian options
Vegan-friendly
Gluten-free options
Impact score
How this restaurant rates
3 - Endorsed

Boon has confirmed practice in three areas of responsible cooking: a seasonal kitchen, a vegetable led menu, and a social commitment in its own neighbourhood.

The card is rewritten on a seasonal cycle, with vegetables in season setting the direction, so the autumn salads differ from the summer ones. The menu itself is vegetarian and built on vegetables and pulses rather than treating them as a side, with vegan dishes on the regular list and a bean worked into every salad. Boon is a Hartelijke Plek, part of the Enchanté network of addresses that stay open to everyone and hold vouchers so a guest can pay forward a meal or a drink for someone who cannot.

Boon is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide, the guide dedicated to vegetable led cooking.

The impact dimensions

Local & direct sourcing

Seasonal cooking

Social impact✓

Plant-forward menu✓

The kitchen states it buys as locally as possible and names Square Melon, a Ghent-based produce wholesaler, as its supplier.

Local purchasing is positioned as a value of the kitchen. The owner states that the business tries to buy as locally as possible, and one supplier is named: Square Melon, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler in central Ghent with a fresh market at Sint-Jacobs. Knowing suppliers personally is described as part of how the business buys.

Square Melon serves restaurateurs and caterers from central Ghent. The named supplier is a wholesaler rather than a grower or farm, and no share of produce of local or regional origin is documented across any key category.

Strongest sourcesquare-melon.be ↗

The menu is rebuilt on a seasonal cycle, with vegetables in season guiding each rotation.

The menu is rewritten on a seasonal cycle. The owner states that all salads change with the season, with the house BOON salad kept year round, and the restaurant's own site carries a named autumn menu. A supplier profile describes the menu rotating every three months with vegetables in season as the guiding principle, and names autumn vegetables as a favourite for their range.

That evidences a regular seasonal rotation covering most of the salad menu at least quarterly. The evidence is the owner's own account plus a commercially linked supplier profile, with no independent corroboration, which is why the score sits at three.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Boon is a Hartelijke Plek, a network member that welcomes anyone and holds vouchers so guests can pay forward meals for those who cannot afford them.

Boon is listed by Enchanté vzw as a Hartelijke Plek, a named network of businesses that commit to welcoming anyone without judgement and to holding heart shaped vouchers so a guest can pay forward a meal or a drink for someone who cannot afford one. Enchanté publishes the listing itself against the Geldmunt 6 address, which makes the commitment verifiable outside the restaurant's own channels.

The organisation's volunteers visit participating businesses to keep the vouchers in stock, so the arrangement is ongoing rather than a single event. One named and verifiable social commitment in community engagement supports level three.

Strongest sourceenchantevzw.be ↗

The restaurant is vegetarian with vegan dishes on the regular menu, built on vegetables and pulses, with every salad carrying a bean.

Vegetables are the structural basis of the menu rather than an accompaniment. The business is presented as a vegetarian lunch bar: vegetable salads, vegetable soups, quiches, and grain and pulse salads on quinoa, couscous, buckwheat, black rice and lentils, with every salad carrying a bean, from chickpeas and white beans worked into hummus to runner and kidney beans.

Vegan dishes sit on the regular card and are listed as available by the Ghent city tourism service. The We're Smart Green Guide, the partner guide dedicated to vegetable led cooking, carries a listing for the restaurant. Animal protein is minimal and optional, appearing only as bacon or ham in catering quiches.

Strongest sourceWe're Smart Green Guide ↗

Sourcing signals

✓
In-house preparation

The owner states that all salads are created by her with no second cook in the kitchen, with bean spreads and hummus, the daily soup, salads and dressings, and cakes and tarts baked on site all made in house.

Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Geldmunt 6, 9000 Gent, Gent, Belgium
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€
Format
Lunch only, Monday to Friday 9:30-16:00, walk-ins welcome
Hours
Monday09:30–16:00
Tuesday09:30–16:00
Wednesday09:30–16:00
Thursday09:30–16:00
Friday09:30–16:00
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed
Style
Café
Casual
Cosy
Trendy
Good to know
Terrace
Garden
Dog-friendly
Child-friendly
Web
boon.gent
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 07 Oct 2026
Reserve To website
Link copied
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 an impact score 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.
This place
Recognised Strong practice across four or more dimensions, with independent corroboration.
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.

Scores of four or five 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
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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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