Dining with Natalie: Rå

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: Rå.

Look, full disclosure – I’m a carnivore through and through. I love food too much to put restrictions on myself, and I firmly believe that fat is the secret ingredient to good cooking (usually in the form of butter or animal fat). That being said, I know Groningen is basically a veggie wonderland, so I promised myself I’d dip my toes into the world of plants.

Confused

We went all in and ordered the Creamy California Bowl, Thai Temptation Bowl, broccoli soup, banana cake, Glossy Greens Juice, and Banana Blow Smoothie (yes, that’s really the name). The juice was refreshing and clean. The smoothie was a decadent, dessert-like treat without being obnoxiously sweet. The banana cake was pretty solid, at least for a vegan banana bread. Now, the broccoli soup was a pleasant surprise: creamy, spiced well, and a win in my book.

The Creamy California Bowl was hands down my favorite. It had layers of flavors, a nice crunch from the nachos, and was bright and vibrant, basically a food Instagrammer’s dream. The Thai Temptation Bowl, though? Yeah, no. First of all, there were zero Thai flavors. Teriyaki is Japanese, and even then, the tofu was more very salty charcoal than sweet-salty umami bomb. The whole bowl just felt… confused. Honestly, this could have been a slam dunk if they leaned into an actual Asian noodle salad—like a Thai Yum Woon Sen, which could easily be vegan but still be bursting with flavour.

Great concept

Service was super friendly and efficient. Ambience was simple, clean, and cozy, no complaints there. I love the concept of Rå, and the Creamy California Bowl showed me that vegan food can be exciting. But with a little more food science and global inspiration, I think their cuisine could be so much more than just ‘good for a vegan place’.

Dutch