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

Brasserie Loeks

A modern brasserie inside Groningen's MartiniPlaza, cooking Groningen and Dutch-grown produce into an all-day card of lunch plates, seasonal soups and pre-performance dinners.

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

Brasserie Loeks

A modern brasserie inside Groningen's MartiniPlaza, cooking Groningen and Dutch-grown produce into an all-day card of lunch plates, seasonal soups and pre-performance dinners.

The essentials, at a glance


Documented practices
Independently
reviewed
Local sourcing
Seasonal cooking
Low waste

Documented practices

Local sourcing Boer & Chef aggregates 50+ regional growers
Seasonal cooking Soup and salad shift seasonally each month
Low waste Head-to-tail cooking minimises product waste

Style
Brasserie
Casual
Cosy
Cuisine
Dutch
International
Good to know
Bar
Wheelchair accessible
Recognised by
Dutch Cuisine
Recognised by
Dutch Cuisine·Charter signed

The delicious details

Brasserie Loeks is the kitchen at the heart of MartiniPlaza, Groningen's largest event venue, working to a clear brief: put products from Groningen soil and the wider Dutch region on the plate. Chef Arjen de Vries builds the menu around what the season and the direct surroundings offer, and the kitchen has cooked to Dutch Cuisine principles since 2023.

The room seats 160 around its own bar, warm and informal, with direct access from the plaza. It fills in the hour before evening performances and sporting events, and works just as well for an unhurried lunch.

Much of the produce arrives through Boer & Chef, the northern short-chain cooperative, and the team visits its growers: biodynamic vegetable farm Bakker Bio in Munnekezijl and asparagus and strawberry grower Meinardi in Sappemeer among them.

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

Brasserie Loeks works a lunch card of carpaccios, croquettes and sandwiches through to three-course dinners built around seasonal vegetables and Dutch regional produce. A rotating soup, a changing salad side, and a daily special from 17:00 keep the menu aligned with what the season and the direct suppliers deliver.

The card runs from open sandwiches at midday through to a three-course dinner before curtain-up. Lunch leans on Groningen beef carpaccio, bread from a local bakery and vegetable croquettes with Groningen mustard, with a vegan hummus plate and a buffalo mozzarella sandwich alongside them.

In the evening vegetables hold their own ground: a red beet tartare with goat cheese and pistachio crumble, a halloumi main with ratatouille and flatbread, and a rotating chef's special that can be prepared vegetarian. Meat and fish stay on the card too, from chicken roulade to red mullet. A soup and a side salad follow the season, and the kitchen asks guests to raise any allergy or dietary need with the team so a dish can be adjusted.

Cuisine

Dutch
International

Dietary options

Vegetarian options
Allergies & intolerances
How this kitchen handles the EU-14 allergens
Handled on request
Public sources point to a working level of allergen accommodation, but no dedicated preparation area — treat this as a starting point and confirm directly.
Always confirm your allergy directly with the restaurant when booking.
Researched from public sources · martiniplaza.nl · not yet confirmed by the restaurant
Impact score
How this restaurant rates
3 - Endorsed

The impact dimensions

Local & direct sourcing

Seasonal cooking

Low waste & circular practices

Sustainable animal products

Social impact

Plant-forward menu

Boer & Chef cooperative aggregates over 50 growers across Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe; two suppliers are named and visited by the kitchen team.

Chef Arjen de Vries states that local purchasing is essential to the kitchen because it raises quality and freshness and supports regional farmers. The restaurant buys through Boer & Chef, a cooperative that links more than fifty growers directly to chefs across northern districts.

Two growers are named and visited in person: Bakker Bio in Munnekezijl, a biodynamic vegetable farm, and Meinardi in Sappemeer, which grows asparagus and strawberries. Groningen beef appears on the lunch carpaccio, bread from a local bakery, and Groningen mustard with the croquettes. Meat, fish, dairy and bakery sourcing beyond these examples carry only regional labelling or none.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Soup and salad shift seasonally; a daily special from 17:00 is built around current produce, with named seasonal intake documented from growers.

Seasonality shapes part of the card rather than decoration. The lunch and dinner lists carry a soup of the season and a changing salad as a side, and the restaurant states that the kitchen is inspired by what the season and the direct suppliers offer. A rotating chef's special from 17:00 is built around seasonal availability.

Seasonal intake is documented rather than only claimed: asparagus and strawberries from Meinardi, and more than 50kg of pumpkins arriving from Bakker Bio in autumn 2024. No archived menu comparison was available to confirm how often the standing dishes change, which holds confidence at medium.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Head-to-tail whole-product cooking is practised across the kitchen; suppliers are chosen for reduced packaging and transport impact.

One concrete practice is described in the food-waste sub-area: whole-product cooking, stated as creative use of the entire product from head to tail rather than only its obvious parts. On packaging, suppliers are described as selected for reducing CO2, limiting plastic packaging and improving logistics, which reflects the suppliers' own practice rather than a named measure on the restaurant's own floor.

No energy measure, composting scheme, surplus-food partner or measured waste target attributable to the restaurant was found. The adjacent Mercure Hotel holds a Green Key certificate, but no certification was confirmed for the restaurant itself.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Beef on the lunch carpaccio is labelled as Groningen beef; all other meat and fish are untraced, with no welfare labels, certifications or fishing methods named.

The animal range is broad and the sourcing signal behind it is thin. Beef on the lunch carpaccio is labelled as Groningen beef, a named region of origin with no named producer. Chicken roulade, veal croquettes, smoked salmon, smoked eel and red mullet all appear without a supplier, a welfare label or a fishing method.

No MSC, ASC, Beter Leven or organic certification is claimed for any animal product. Smoked eel warrants particular note: the European eel is a critically endangered species and no origin or sustainability qualification is given. Smoked salmon, a high-impact commodity, also carries no sustainability credential.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Boer & Chef partnership supports regional farmers through fair returns; coffee roaster SMIT&DORLAS works to internationally recognised sourcing standards.

Social themes appear through the sourcing relationship only. Boer & Chef is a named cooperative whose stated purpose includes fair returns for regional farmers, and the chef frames the partnership as good for the planet and for local farmers. Coffee has come from roaster SMIT&DORLAS since September 2023, described as working to internationally recognised codes of conduct that support farmers worldwide.

Both are supplier-side framings of a purchasing decision already credited under sourcing, and neither is corroborated outside the restaurant's own channels. Nothing was found on employment practice, staff development, or community projects.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Two of five dinner starters are vegetable-led; one of three mains is vegetarian; the rotating special is marked as available vegetarian. Lunch offers three vegetarian options among six savoury items.

Vegetables carry real weight without being the centre of gravity. On the dinner card, two of five starters are vegetable-led (red beet tartare, roasted tomato broth), and one of three fixed mains is vegetarian (halloumi with ratatouille). The rotating chef's special is marked as available vegetarian. Lunch is stronger: three of six savoury items are vegetarian or vegan (hummus with grilled vegetables marked vegan, buffalo mozzarella, vegetable croquettes).

Plant-forward intent is acknowledged through Dutch Cuisine affiliation since 2023 and the stated priority on vegetables and regional produce. Vegetables are not the structural foundation of most dishes, and the vegan offer is limited to a single marked lunch item.

Strongest sourceRestaurant submission

Sourcing signals

✓
Direct named-farm sourcing

Bakker Bio in Munnekezijl (biodynamic vegetables, pumpkins) and Meinardi in Sappemeer (asparagus, strawberries) are visited by the kitchen team and reached through Boer & Chef, the northern short-chain cooperative aggregating over fifty regional suppliers.

Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Leonard Springerlaan 2, 9727 KB Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€
Format
160 seats, lunch and evening, bar, reservations advised
Style
Brasserie
Casual
Cosy
Good to know
Bar
Wheelchair accessible
Web
martiniplaza.nl
Reviewed by My Treats
Last reviewed 26 Aug 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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