Botanico
“Urban Jungle Dining”
The market for rather fine dining for vegans is very limited in Gothenburg, so it’s a nice change to visit a place that offers a fully vegan seven-dish menu with a variety of interesting compositions. Sure, Botanico is not a vegan-only place, but beggars can’t be choosers. How does the urban jungle dining hold up?
Botanico has a reputation of being picky with reservations, so obviously we went with a booking into it. The interesting thing hereby: you need your credit card information for the booking, as Botanico debits you for late cancellations. A first in my experience booking tables. Not too big of a deal, but not a good start and worth mentioning.
When you enter Botanico though, the atmosphere will kick in right away. Everything is dark, lush and green, full with plants. The music is your typical big city restaurant deep house, but I like that kind of stuff. It’s nothing too special and you can find a place like this almost anywhere in the world in bigger cities, but it’s still executed well.
The menu itself prominently displays the menu options, so we opted for the 7-dish vegan menu at a whopping 475 SEK/person.
Starting with Edamame, a classic, the first disappointment kicked in. They were rather cold, dressed in chili salt and drenched in oil. Okay and not the worst, but by far not the best. The second course was mango ceviche with tostadas, and chili mayo, and that was quite the banger. The mix of chili mayo, fresh mango and deep fried tortilla worked great. The journey continued to 4 (!) asparagus broccoli covered in panko, green onion and…mayonnaise? Okay, but nothing more. Then, rice noodle stir fry. Average at best. Some carrots, some cabbage, some more broccoli and cashews in a sauce full of acid flavours. After that, bao buns filled with aubergine and…more mayonnaise. Finally, some dumplings filled with mushrooms on a creamy corn sauce.
They were quite good. And that was it for the main dishes. All of them served in tiny portions barely enough to feed one person, and this was the two-person size. Lastly, we received coconut sorbet with berries. That was quite alright as well, but nothing to die for. All in all quite okay, but we need to talk about the prices. While I have no problem paying for good food, Botanico struggles to justify the price-setting - at least on the vegan side of things. Cheap ingredients, small portions and overpriced drinks prices (94 SEK for a glass of alcohol free (!) champagne) as well as charging for (sparkling) water. It’s just not worth it.
Price:
Vegan 7-dish menu: 475 SEK/person
Water: 42 SEK
Alcohol-free champagne: 94 SEK
Alcohol-free beer: 62 - 68 SEK
The Verdict
Botanico is a mixed bag. While the atmosphere is great, even though nothing you can’t see in any big city, and the service is attentive and fast, the food ends up being a disappointment. Repetitive use of sauces (chili mayo), unbalanced compositions, cheap raw ingredients, tiny portions and a lack of nutrition will leave you hungry even after indulging in all 7 dishes in a row. And that to a price tag that is insultingly high for the quality. Botanico is a one-time experience, but there are many restaurants out there that provide better food to a much more reasonable price.
3/5 Leaves
Pro
Great Atmosphere
Attentive service
Fully vegan menu option available
Con
Dishes are surprisingly repetitive (same ingredients/sauces)
Portion sizes insultingly small
Highly overpriced for the quality (cheap ingredient-dishes)
Water comes with a price tag
Location
Aschebergsgatan 23
Opening Hours
Tu-Th: 17:00 - 00:00
Fr-Sa: 16:00 - 01:00
