Zest in Leipzig worth the trip
Posted on 12 / 12 / 2012Just to correct some information in the main review, Zest is now closed on Tuesdays at the time we visited (December 2012). They have a simpler day-time menu from 11am to 6pm and a full, evening menu after 6pm.
We were only in Leipzig for one day and partly made the trip so we could try Zest. We were only able to visit for the day-time menu, but it was great. Lots of options that look relatively good on the menu but are fantastic and subtle when we got them. My partner and I are both vegan and really the menu is almost 100% vegan. (The website indicates that the only non-vegan items are well-marked cheeses, but I didn't see any non-vegan cheeses . . .)
I had a focaccia with seitan and a side of vegan potato salad (German-style, and a very impressive version of the tradtional), while my partner had a great burger (one of the best vegan burgers I've tried anywhere) with light, delicious curly fries. For dessert I had a soya fudge chocolate brownie (decadent and delicious) and my partner had the brazil-nut carrot cake with marzipan icing. It was a a fantastic, relaxed experience and a highlight of our time in Leipzig. I would definitely go back just to eat there and would love to try there evening menu.
It's about 4km from the city centre in a very interesting area of Leipzig with easy public transit connections (tram).
We spend a lot of time in Berlin and there are some great vegan food experiences there (Mano Verde, Lucky Leek, Vaust, etc.), but Zest is right up there I think in terms of culinary excellence (though a bit more laid back in style and atmosphere). Definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in Leipzig.
Pros: great food, diverse, creative menu, relaxed neighbourhood atmosphereCons: distance from city centre
The people who run this place went through a lot unhappy times until they finally opened this place. They had to work hard to get a fine reputition and still don't earn as much as they should for all their strain to run a decent restaurant different from the average!!!
You shouldn't bring down the whole thing just because you happened once beeing served by a moody waitress. And by the way who cares about your opinion on punk anyways???
I was always served decently and have the deepest respect for them holding on to their believes, even though it's much more work then they probably expected!
Agreed. After being served by the same waitress, I hardly found that it ruined my experience. While I share the view that service is an important part of the overall experience, this waitress was hardly inept. Service was competent, if cold, and as I said in my own review, I felt she warmed up with some effort. In any event, with food like this, I'd sit through incompetent service as well...
Wow! Harsh words for a waitress who a) is simply not American, and will therefore behave differently, and b) is simply shy, maybe especially so when speaking a language that isn't her mother tongue. True, she doesn't smile a lot. She is quiet, shy, efficient. That alone doesn't make her unfriendly in my book. Unfriendly is the above review, if I may say so.