ACU Kitchen Punx

Ate a lovely pannacotta dessert at ACU yesterday! I love ACU, due to it's rich history but you it's not a place I would recommend to anyone who's not into anarchism, punk and a liberal worldview.

Went here to have diner before a concert in Tivoli (which is practicaly around the corner). We made a reservation at 6 (when they open). I think this was a smart move, because the place filled up quite quick.

I had a starter (a 'cheese'croquet), main (ricenoodlesoup with grilled veggies and tofu wrapped in nori on the side) and a dessert (the first vegan creme brulee). My girlfriend had a main dish that consisted of three starters and a desert.

Everything was super tasty, and you get served really nice and big portions! You can also choose a range of beers (we took regular tap-beers, but you can also choose local beers, like 'Black Flag' from Oproer brewery).

For all our food, and 2 beers each, we payed a mere 38 euro's, which is really really cheap.

I can reccomend everyone to go here. They also organise concerts, bookclubs and political discussions

We've been here several times (almost every time I visit Utrecht) and was never disappointed! You can get creative and delicious food for not-so-expensive price (8-10 euros)

The menu changes monthly (1 main, 1 oven dish, 1 dish of the day, 4 starters, desserts). Everything is always tasty (except for the oven dish sometimes.. a bit bland or heavy for me; but other people liked them) and the menu changes often so totally worth visiting every time. The menu of the day is slightly cheaper (8 euros) and could be a bit less unique than other super creative menu but still tasty. But most of all the starters were always really creative and tasty! And the desserts are good as well and the tiramisu we had last time was super delicious. I would always go for 3 starters a a main dish (really the best of the best!) or the main dish (not the oven not the dish of the day). If they have vegan mozzarella on the menu, go for it!

Staffs are friendly and the place is charming; nice place to meet up with friends/families or celebrate birthdays. The place is a bit small so better make a reservation! ACU also holds many events (also foodsharing events!) and is a bar/club in the evenings.

Updated from previous review on 2016-04-20

The food and the atmosphere are very good! You should make a reservation in advance or if you're alone you can sit at the bar. They work with volunteers only and they are always very nice. If you have eaten here you can also stay, because they also have music and a lot of other stuff to do! The food is always very good, but if you are late they might run out of a certain dish.

Best vegan spot in Utrecht. Old squat with still that no-nonsense mentality. Food is good and the chefs still surprise me with new inventive menus. Besides that the prices are really good: starter is 4,- and main dish 8-9,50.
In the summer they have a really nicr garden where you can sit.
I do advice to make a reservation though, it can be quite busy. Also they cook everything fresh, but the down side to that is that sometimes they run out of certain dishes. So getting there early can also be a good idea!

I had dinner and enjoyed the fabulous kitchen! Especially the coconut rice is great and also the burrito and fried dumplings.

Food is always great, surprising and affordable. Best vegan food in Utrecht.

This cool bar that serves vegan food is the first veggie place you should check out in Utrecht! Prices are very reasonable and the staff are very genuine and friendly. I had a meal which was simple but felt home cooked in the best of ways.

Delicious food, great prices and super friendly staff! Remember cash, they don't take credit cards.

Good food for a good price. All vegan in a political respectful atmosphere. ACU is much more than a restaurant. It is the Mecca of the vegan and the libertarian philosophies in Utrecht. Don't miss it if you are around. You will meet lovely people and enjoy unteresting conversations. Long life to ACU!!

All-vegan places are pretty rare in the Netherlands, especially when you're outside of Amsterdam or The Hague. This place in Utrecht is EVERYTHING you've ever wanted. It's the cheapest vegan food I've found anywhere around here so far. The setting of the venue is great, too. Anti-racist stuff on the walls, consent posters everywhere. As a feminist, I totally love all of that stuff.

They have a weekly changing menu with three main courses, three starters and a dessert. They have an option that you can pick the three starters as a main. I really recommend this cause it gives you the oppertunity to try different kinds of dishes, and it's the same price (E9,50). They also have a daily menu, which is pretty cheap. I've been there three times now and so far only had delicious food. GO EAT HERE.

ACU is simply the Mecca of the vegan and alternative crowd in Utrecht. Do not miss it! Check their website and previous reviews for more info..

I had dinner in this place tonight, because I already went there once and the volunteers explained me that everything was vegan, they where very friendly.
I had the three starters together- 9 euros-, mushrooms, seitan cutlets,and a kind of pie with mashed potatoes inside and bittersweet spicey sauce, it also comes with a great fresh salad.
All of them were very nice, but If you're only going for one of them, definitely go for the mushrooms! They were delicious. The curry in the mashed potatoes was not very easy to notice, but I ended up eating it without the sauce and used that for the seitan instead... I left the plate empty.

After that I saw someone sitting next to my non-vegan-but-very-pleased friend, eating pineapple/ananas vegan cake, so I was tempted, and my veredict is also positive: For three more euros its the kind of dessert you cant really resist, even if you're too full. It was soft, sweet and tasted delicious.

Also, by the other reviews I was concerned about the time it will take... Not extremely fast, but not long enough to get us wondering where our food was, so I would not say it took too long.

Im sure I will come back!

Were here with one of my non-vegan friends in early June, 2013. Very busy place, people everywhere. Managed to get a seat at the bar with plenty of place to eat. Unfortunately todays special was sold out, the waiter recommended a mixture of all three starters as a full dinner. Very good recommendation. The staff was, although very busy and sometimes not giving you attention enough, very friendly! As soon as a table was free they asked us if we wanted it even though there were people who had arrived after us waiting. The food was very good, considering the kind of place this is. Don't expect 5 star extravagant food, expect good tasty food made with a big heart. If you're in Utrecht, visit this place. If you're in A-dam, visit Utrecht (it's a perfect one-day trip). Beautiful city, and very nice people. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any concert of happenings due to lack of time. But... food wise. As long as you're used to a bit of "punky" atmosphere, you will not be disappointed! I surely wasn't, and will definitely come back if I happen to be in Utrecht again!

This is my favorite vegan/vegetarian food place in the Netherlands. What you get is lots of great food for very little money indeed. It amazes me how a staff of volunteers manage to turn out a new and extremely creative menu every month. The atmosphere is informal, relaxed, a little bit 'alternative', but not as much that you wouldn't want to bring your parents there. Well, depends on your parents maybe.

I also like that your tip goes to charity, they have vegan chocolate milk (hot or cold), and they have a lovely dessert every time (no fruit platters here - vegan cheesecake, apfelstrüdel...)

Fair portions of quite good vegan food for a fair price. The staff is no-nonsense, friendly and often international. Oh, and they also have good beers most of the time.

All I needed tonight was a good vegan meal for me (I've had a long day of work and have a bad cold and definitely don't need to stay out late or fill the time I'm waiting for food by drinking) and the friend I had (dubiously on my part) persuaded to test the waters outside his normal completely non-vegan completely non-'hippy' world. I'd been looking forward to trying out the one listed vegan restaurant in Utrecht for a couple of months to be honest. Loved the punky-ness (reminds me of being 10 years younger), and totally loved the idea they only had a few menu items to choose from even though I know that risks ending up with a soy-focussed, onion-, wheat- or bean-based meal that won't agree with me for the next few days.

Instead... OK so we didn't reserve, but my mildly anarchistic background doesn't let me do that sort of thing. We should have ordered as soon as we walked through the door but we didn't cause I, perhaps mistakenly, got the impression we should wait for a table... so maybe its my fault they ran out of the only dish we both wanted to eat. But they should maybe not have served the same dish to people who came in after us (sorry if I assessed this wrongly but that's what it looked like), and should maybe have just told us earlier to order something new - not after we'd been waiting 3/4 of an hour. The food we did get, when it arrived, was pretty good... but you can't make up for the disappointment of watching 20 people eat the meal you are keen on then being given soy sausages and dumplings and veganaise.

The answer for me is to give up. As a picky vegan I'm never going to have a good meal out. This was better than the time I got steamed mushrooms and boiled mixed veges in Colorado! But I should just assume eating out will always be horrible and look forward to the nights I can cook for myself.

That said... if the sole purpose of your night is a cultural and perhaps slow culinary experience at decent prices, definitely go here!

I had read about this place on Happy Cow before going there. I was visiting a friend who lives in Gouda (20 mins away by train) and works in Utrecht, and she said that this was one of her favorite places to eat in Utrecht. (She is an omnivore, but likes veg food a lot.) The ACU has a charming, quirky interior, is run by friendly punks, and also has a concert hall for concerts and disco evenings. We didn't go to any shows while I was there, but we did hit the restaurant. The food is very reasonably priced -- starters are around 4 to 5 euros and main dishes around 8 to 10 euros. I didn't get anything to drink besides water, but their beer is always 2 or 3 euros and their coffee is about the same. We also didn't have room for dessert after our meal, which is a shame, because the desserts looked great. There is a daily special, but we just ordered of the menu. We split a tofu saté appetizer that was super good. We also split our meals. I got the "Asian fusion" meal of wonton soup with vegetables in broth, spring rolls full of fresh veggies, and jasmine rice with black sesame seeds on top. My friend got the stuffed zucchini (filled with fake ground beef-type stuff) with a tomato sauce and mashed potatoes, and a crisp, fresh green salad with a tasty vinaigrette on the side. The portions were generous and everything tasted great. We felt very comfortable in ACU -- it is a wonderful place for punk and alternative types like us: pleasant surroundings, cool music playing in the restaurant, the possibility of live music, reasonable prices... I hope we'll go there again next time I visit my good friends in Holland, and I recommend it to all of you. Be sure to make reservations beforehand if you can, though. We didn't, and we were told that if any parties who did have reservations came in and there were no tables for them, we would have to move to eat at the bar. That didn't end up happening, but it's worth noting for the future.

When traveling around Europe, I try to visit as many squats as possible. At ACU, my boyfriend and I we're greeted by a friendly british guy. He guided us through the menu to try to find something that suits me and my gluten intolerance. They didn't have much for me, I'm afraid. The starter was a soup, supposed to be a cabbage soup, but it didn't have any cabbage in it? It was just a watery, boullion-like soup with nothing to it. Then, I had raw spring rolls (also a starter). Since I was really hungry and excpecting a huge dish, I was kinda dissapointed by it all. But my boyfriend ate the main dish, some chinese thing, and loved it. So I guess the food can be good, just not the best place for celiacs. At least then - the menu changes every month, though, so I guess it was just bad luck on my part. I loved ACU for so many other reasons, though, so I don't want to put people off from going there. It's a great place, with lots of activity (concerts, DJs).

I fell in love with the ACU the first time I stepped into this place. It's completely run by volunteers, everything they serve is vegan and they try to keep the prices as low as possible. I feel at home there.
Now about the food. They have a month menu with several different starters and main courses to choose from. Normally they have one dessert. It kinda depends on who is cooking, but the dessert differs from "really good" to "awesome!".
The drinks are cheap, mostly organic. They serve Zapatista coffee from Chiapas Mexico to support Zapatista struggle.