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

Cum Laude

Classical haute cuisine in Leuven's UNESCO listed Great Beguinage, where every lunch and seasonal menu is published with a full plant based twin.

Allergies Not published, ask the kitchen ahead

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

Cum Laude

Classical haute cuisine in Leuven's UNESCO listed Great Beguinage, where every lunch and seasonal menu is published with a full plant based twin.

The essentials, at a glance

Allergies Not published, ask the kitchen ahead

Documented practices
Independently
reviewed
Seasonal cooking
Plant-forward menu

Documented practices

Seasonal cooking Summer figs and raspberries, autumn pear and squash
Plant-forward menu Plant-based menu mirrors meat menu, course for course

Style
Fine dining
Cuisine
French
Fusion
Good to know
Terrace
Garden
Bar
Private dining room
Recognised by
We're Smart Green Guide
Recognised by
We're Smart Green Guide

The delicious details

Cum Laude is the restaurant of the Faculty Club, in the UNESCO listed Great Beguinage of Leuven. Chef Yogi Tabak cooks from a classical haute cuisine base, with flavours he picked up travelling in East Asia.

The kitchen publishes two parallel cards. Each lunch and seasonal menu has a complete plant based counterpart, course for course, so a guest eating plants is never left with the shorter list. A shiitake preparation stands in for the signature oyster, and the same raspberry dessert closes both.

Seasonal produce sets the rhythm and the menus move through the year with it. Cheese comes from Elsen, a cheese ripener in Leuven. There is a terrace and a garden for the warmer months, inside the walled courtyards of the beguinage.

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

Classical French haute cuisine, informed by East Asian travels, offered as an à la carte, a two or three course lunch or a four or five course seasonal menu. Each lunch and seasonal menu publishes a complete plant-based counterpart, course for course, so guests eating plants take a full menu at either service.

The carte runs from oysters and North Sea plaice and sole to Holstein beef fillet, with a two or three course lunch and a four or five course seasonal menu. Dishes name their parts: a signature Geay oyster, Label Rouge salmon, ripened cheeses from Elsen.

The plant based menus mirror these course for course, at lunch and at dinner. Shiitake stands in for the oyster, green asparagus takes the white wine sauce, and aubergine katsu and Hokkaido squash carry the seasonal version.

Cuisine

French
Fusion

Dietary options

Vegetarian options
Vegan-friendly
Impact score
How this restaurant rates
2 - Engaged

Two areas of responsible practice are confirmed here: cooking to the seasons, and a kitchen that treats plants as a full menu rather than a side option.

The menus follow the year and move with what is available, from figs and raspberries in summer to Conference pear and Hokkaido squash as it cools, and independent food press records seasonal influence as the chef's starting point. On the plant side, each lunch and seasonal menu has a complete plant based counterpart, so a guest can take a full menu without animal products at either service.

Cum Laude is listed in the We're Smart Green Guide, which records it as a We're Smart discovery for 2024 for the way the kitchen handles vegetable cooking.

The impact dimensions

Local & direct sourcing

Seasonal cooking✓

Low waste & circular practices

Sustainable animal products

Social impact

Plant-forward menu✓

The menus name Elsen, a cheese ripener in Leuven, and source North Sea plaice and sole. Many signature products originate overseas: a Geay oyster from France, Label Rouge salmon and Wagyu Kobe A5 from Japan.

The menus name two producers: Elsen, a cheese ripener in Leuven, for the cheese course, and North Sea plaice and sole as the regional seafood. Several headline products originate from further afield: a Geay oyster from France, Label Rouge salmon, and Wagyu Kobe A5 from Japan. Local or regional origin therefore covers fewer than a third of the key categories.

Strongest sourcerestaurantcumlaude.be ↗

Menus are published seasonally with visible dish rotation. Recent cards carry summer salad with figs and raspberries alongside Conference pear and Hokkaido squash, with seasonal rotation evidenced across multiple sources.

The restaurant publishes both lunch and seasonal menus with plant-based counterparts, and states that freshness and seasonal products play an important role. Independent coverage describes the chef as working from strong products and seasonal influence.

Dish sets differ materially between sources, evidencing rotation: the current card carries summer salad with fig, raspberry and watermelon radish alongside Conference pear and Hokkaido squash. Other sources document seabass with courgette and borlotti beans, and veal with Dover sole. No fixed year-round card was found.

Strongest sourceculinaireambiance.com ↗

The operating venue, Faculty Club, implements water tapping in place of bottled water, eco toilets, waste sorting and Fairtrade coffee breaks.

Faculty Club, the venue that operates the restaurant, taps its own water in place of bottled water. It provides eco toilets, encourages guest waste sorting, serves Fairtrade coffee for meetings and prints on ecological paper.

The venue holds the Green Key label, which it received in 2012 as one of the first Belgian meeting venues to be certified, and the label is reported as current with a validity date to the end of 2026.

Strongest sourcefacultyclub.be ↗

The menus name a Geay oyster, Label Rouge salmon, Holstein beef fillet, North Sea plaice and sole, and Elsen cheeses, but no named farm, fishmonger or butcher.

The menus name several animal products by origin, breed or mark: a Geay oyster, Label Rouge salmon, Holstein beef fillet, North Sea plaice and sole, and Elsen cheeses from Leuven. Label Rouge is a quality certification rather than an environmental or welfare standard.

No butcher, fishmonger or farm is named. The carte also offers Wagyu Kobe A5 from Japan, a long-distance product with no sustainability qualification.

Strongest sourcerestaurantcumlaude.be ↗

Fairtrade coffee is served at the operating venue's meeting catering, a specific ethical trade commitment.

Faculty Club, the venue that operates the restaurant, states that its coffee breaks are Fairtrade, a specific ethical trade commitment on one commodity.

Strongest sourcefacultyclub.be ↗

Each lunch and seasonal menu is published with a complete plant-based counterpart, course for course. Culinaire Ambiance notes the plant-based menus have their own rhythm and signature dishes.

The We're Smart Green Guide lists the restaurant and notes that every guest should be free to choose a pure plant meal or menu, adding that the chef understands the assets vegetable cuisine holds. The listing names it a We're Smart discovery for 2024. Each lunch and seasonal menu is published with a complete plant-based counterpart, course for course, with a shiitake preparation standing in for the signature oyster and Hokkaido squash, aubergine katsu and artichoke carrying the longer menu.

Independent coverage states that plant-based eating is not treated as a side matter and the plant-based menus have their own rhythm and signature dishes. The carte is led by oysters, lobster, salmon and beef, with the plant-based cards mirroring the omnivore menus rather than replacing them.

Strongest sourceWe're Smart Green Guide ↗

Sourcing signals

✓
Direct named-farm sourcing
✓
Fair-trade commodities

Two producers are named on the menus: Elsen, a cheese ripener in Leuven, for the cheese course, and the Geay oyster for the signature starter.

Faculty Club, the venue that operates the restaurant, states that its coffee breaks are Fairtrade.

Visit & practical info
Address, price, and more
Address
Groot Begijnhof 14, 3000 Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Open in Google Maps ↗
Price
€€€€
Format
Lunch and seasonal menu, formal setting
Hours
Monday12:00–14:00, 18:30–21:00
Tuesday12:00–14:00, 18:30–21:00
Wednesday12:00–14:00, 18:30–21:00
Thursday18:30–21:00
Friday18:30–21:00
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed
Style
Fine dining
Good to know
Terrace
Garden
Bar
Private dining room
Web
restaurantcumlaude.be
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.
This place
Endorsed Meaningful practice across three or more dimensions.
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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