Dining with Natalie: Lust

As a native of culinary melting pot Malaysia and the daughter of a restaurateur, UG student Natalie Voo knows her food. Every other week, she reviews Groningen’s student-friendly dining scene. This time: Lust.

I usually think vegan food goes off the rails when it tries too hard to cosplay as meat. I mean, let’s be real, no amount of wizardry is turning beans and flour into a convincing steak, and that’s totally fine! Why not let veggies be veggies and let their natural charm shine? And with that said… Lust pleasantly surprised me.

Unreal

We ordered the kapsalon, fish and chips, and bitterballen. The kapsalon was unreal, easily my favourite. Like, if someone told me the ‘chicken’ was raised in a free-range coop, I’d believe them. The texture was scandalously close to the real deal, and the seasoning was *chef’s kiss*. Paired with crispy fries and a fresh little salad sidekick, it was one of the best vegan dishes I’ve ever had.

The fish and chips were a bit dry, but then again, so is the real thing. The vegan fish held its own, especially with that dill tartare sauce, tangy, creamy, and just distracting enough to make you forget it never swam in anything but oil.

Now, the bitterballen. I must confess, all bitterballen tastes the same to me – vegan or not – maybe because they all arrive at a temperature last seen on the surface of the Sun, and I always get third-degree burns from my first bitterballen. Texture-wise, these were golden, crispy, and melt-in-your-mouth creamy. Taste-wise? I need a Dutch friend to do a blind test and explain the nuances. I’m clearly not trained for this level of deep-fried diplomacy.

Casual ambience

Lust’s ambience is casual, and a little random. There’s a plush royal-looking armchair chilling in one corner. Just the one, though. Probably a thrift store power move. Service was chill, fast, and friendly enough. 

All in all, Lust is the place for guilt-free guilty pleasures. They’ve cracked the code: if you deep-fry anything long enough, it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s gonna slap. I liked it way more than Rå and really admire their commitment to sustainability. Would I go back? Absolutely. Preferably with a Dutch friend and a fire extinguisher for the bitterballen.

Dutch