2 - Engaged
i
Het Concerthuis has confirmed practice in two areas of responsible cooking: how it sources the animal products it serves, and the plant led shape of its menu.
The animal products carry their sourcing on the menu itself. The pork is organic in both the katsu and the pulled pork sandwich, the eggs are organic, the cheese is named as organic Terschellinger from the Dutch island of Terschelling, and every milk coffee is made with organic milk.
The menu is plant led by design. Vegetables, legumes and plant proteins are the substance of most dishes, from charred hispi cabbage with miso and peanut hummus to seitan katsu, veggie pad thai and a vegan rendang, and vegan choices are marked in every section from breakfast to late night snacks. Meat dishes are few: a pork katsu, a pulled pork sandwich and a meat version of the snack platter sit alongside roughly 17 vegan or vegan optional items. The kitchen's own description of itself puts vegetarian, vegan and gluten free cooking first.
The impact dimensions
Sustainable animal products
Named producers include organic Terschellinger cheese and Simon Lévelt tea supplier; Baxbier brewery is local to Groningen.
The restaurant names one food producer on the March 2026 menu: organic Terschellinger cheese used in the snack platter and cheese cubes. The coffee and tea list names Simon Lévelt as the supplier of dried teas. On the beverage side, the bottled beer list is built largely on named Dutch microbreweries, including Baxbier which brews in Groningen itself.
On the food side no farm, grower, butcher or greengrocer is named for the produce, the pork, or the eggs, and local or regional sourcing is not presented as a value of the kitchen on the website. The level sits at demonstrable named producer references without consistent local origin across key food categories.
Monthly updated bottled beer series and a regularly changing pie selection show menu revision during the year.
The menu documents are versioned by month: the current food menu is marked March 2026 in its third version, and the bottled beer list February 2026. The menu describes the pie selection as regularly changing and one bottled beer series as monthly changing. No dish names a seasonal ingredient, and seasonality is not presented as a guiding principle on the website or in the menu. The seasonal engagement sits at occasional rotation without stated intent.
Organic pork, organic eggs and organic Terschellinger cheese named on the menu; one dairy producer is named and traceable.
Animal products are few on the menu and each is qualified. The March 2026 food menu describes the pork katsu as slow cooked organic pork and the Carolina reuben as organic pulled pork. The breakfast quesadilla and gado gado loaded fries are made with organic egg. Both the snack platter and the late night cheese cubes are organic Terschellinger cheese, a named Dutch dairy producer from the island of Terschelling. The coffee and tea list states that all milk coffees are made with organic cow milk.
Evidence is attached to the animal products themselves rather than a general organic claim. One category, dairy, carries a named traceable producer. No fish or seafood appears on the current menu. No certifier is named for any of these products and no butcher or farm is identified for the pork or the eggs, which places this at partial traceability rather than full.
Independently documented wheelchair access, step free routes, accessible toilet with a 150 cm turning circle, guide dogs and personal assistance on request.
Toegankelijk Groningen, an independent regional accessibility organisation, documents the venue in detail: a wheelchair accessible building with ramp access, an accessible main entrance plus an alternative entrance, an accessible toilet with a turning circle of more than 150 cm, a lowered basin and wheelchair operable taps, step free routes to the tables, a terrace reached through a door of more than 80 cm, personal assistance on request and guide dogs accommodated. The same listing records the venue as open to groups, families, seniors, students and LGBTQIA+ guests.
The concept itself is social, built on shared plates, board games and group bookings for 40 to 90 guests. No employment practice, training or development programme, named charity, community project or partner organisation is published, which keeps this at documented accessibility and inclusion provision rather than named social commitment.
Roughly 17 of 29 menu items are vegan or vegan optional; meat appears in only three dishes: pork katsu, Carolina reuben and meat snack platter.
The March 2026 food menu marks vegan dishes with V and vegan optional dishes with (V). Across the whole card of roughly 29 items, about 17 are vegan or vegan optional and three contain meat. The main food section runs nine plant dishes against one meat dish. Vegetables and plant proteins carry the substance: charred hispi cabbage with miso and peanut hummus, seitan katsu, kimchi pancake, veggie pad thai, gado gado loaded fries, a vegan rendang made in house and a spicy Thai pea soup.
Sandwiches, salad, snacks and late night dishes follow the same pattern, with a green falafel made in house, a glazed tofu banh mi, madras cauliflower bites and garlic olives. The restaurant's own positioning states that the kitchen is as much about vegetarian, vegan and gluten free cooking as about good meat. Plants are clearly dominant. The kitchen presents itself as a world influenced food sharing bar that also serves meat, rather than placing vegetables at the centre of its identity, which places this at level 4 rather than level 5.
Sourcing signals
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Low-impact beverage program
Vegan rendang, green falafel, homemade BBQ sauce, radler and iced tea made in house; coffee is a custom blend roasted by an external roastery.
Bottled beer list built on named Dutch microbreweries including Baxbier of Groningen; dried teas are the organic range of Simon Lévelt; radler and iced tea made in house; two organic natural ciders on the cider list.
