Vegan
International
Indonesian

Vegan restaurant est. since 2004. Motto is "eat, read, think." Features Japanese table style with library. Open Mon 8:00am-8:00pm, Wed-Sun 8:00am-8:00pm.


Venue map for Socrates
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18 Reviews

First Review by CassieN

Florian2410

Points +96

Vegetarian
16 Sep 2024

Good food, friendly staff

Liked one of their Nasi Gorengs. Many options on the menu. Would go back.

Updated from previous review on 2024-09-16

FedenRoorda

Points +4690

Vegan
11 Aug 2024

Delicious curry

I came here once for dinner and ordered the curry, which was very tasty. It’s a quiet restaurant with a vintage feel. Staff is friendly and helpfull.

Menu could be more clear and understandable for tourists maybe.

theNumberOfTheBeast

Points +4929

Vegan
05 Jun 2024

THE HOLY GRAIL OF VEGANISM

FABULOUS! FANTASTIC! FENOMINAL!

So happy in my choice to return to Medan to try again to visit Socrates as it was a Tuesday, their day off, on my last visit. Well worth it! Right in the middle of town, this is the first actually vegan restaurant in Medan for 19 years and is a vegan owned operation.

I spent a good two hours chilling here and am looking forward to going back. The owner and I talked at length about vegan activism and the biggest challenge facing vegans today, the corruption of the term vegan to reflect ONLY dietary choices and not the total dispensing and boycotting of all animal exploitation.

To repeat for the millionth time. We both understood refreshingly, that:

NO OPTION SOLD BY A MURDER-KITCHEN IS VEGAN OR FRIENDLY TO ANIMALS.

Murder kitchens never add vegan options because they care about vegans. This is not for us, this is for them. This is for the customers whom vegans would have previously taken to a vegan restaurant.

While they think it's hilarious they can murder our friends and take our money to give us second-rate, diseased and contaminated foods; the main motivation is to keep their meat-customers. Especially to keep them from discovering how delicious and easy it is to eat vegan food.

Selling death is their business. Any vegan complicit in their economy is culpable of every same cruelty inflicted on animals. That's why it's so horrifying that HappyCow allows meat restaurants to list on this website. It's harmful to vegans, it's harmful to vegan businesses and it's harmful to animals. Dining in a murder-morgue is not a vegan activity. Bringing your meat-mouth company to eat vegan food, is the only vegan choice.

It's not good enough to be the .03% of the human population, we must grow that number at every opportunity, immediately and at any cost with utmost urgency-- and whatever we do, we must consider veganism a practice beyond eating, a total boycott of the animal abuse industry as ideated and always intended to be.

Food was amazing. And loved the name. Imagine if Socrates, the founder of Western Philosophy and Ethics had been a pushover and kept his mouth shut? Let's not forget this is the man, who in Plato's Republic called meat-mouths m*therfuскеrs!!

"Indeed it does not shrink, or so it imagines, from intercourse with mother or with anything else at all, man or god or beast. It murders any one at all, and eats any meat at all, without restraint."


Vegans! Support Vegans!

Tiggy

05 Jun 2024

So…what you’re saying is…even if I eat a vegan option at a carnist restaurant…I’m… not really reducing the amount of slaughter…because they don’t really sell any less flesh…and in fact…they just want me there so I don’t take their a friend who might be one of their flesh-eating customers to a vegan restaurant somewhere else…? I’m actually….HELPING them sell murdered animal?!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 🥹😟😳😨😔😱

theNumberOfTheBeast

05 Jun 2024

Heads up, this is how the death machines and their vile operators defeat veganism. Corrupting it into a diet/lifestyle and not a formal protest and total boycott. Just shows you, it doesn't take brains to eat "like a vegan", but apparently to read the definition and behave as an actual vegan, ya gotta be freakin' Socrates!

Pandawan

Points +643

Vegan
07 May 2024

Excellent! Loved it.

Food was absolutely outstanding. Ambience could be really good, on a busier night.
Loved the ‘library’ setting amongst the National Geographics etc.

Got really annoyed that, despite asking the owner for dishes to be served separately, and checking to ensure he was clear in that, we were completely ignored and they came out together.

Pros: Range on offer, Taste

Cons: Owner wonders about not being useful, Ignored request of dishes to be sent out.

LauraR2912

Points +483

Vegan
17 Nov 2023

Great food.

I ordered what was recommended to me which was a curry with tofu and rice. Far too much food for lunchtime but very tasty.
Lovely place.

Updated from previous review on 2023-11-17

SquirrelDi

Points +5125

Vegan
31 Aug 2023

Eat, read, and relax

Delicious authentic asian food, amazing hosts and super cool space. Loved everything, from the deco to the book shelves, the super friendly service and the tastiest food so far in North Sumatra. All vegan :)

Updated from previous review on 2023-08-31

burrolaut

Points +86

Vegan
30 Jun 2023

So glad I found it

Loved it everybite. Local food and all vegan. I will be back

keelyryan

Points +80

Vegan
31 Aug 2022

Gem of a place

First meal in Indonesia was here, the woman serving us recommended a few of dishes as we hadn't a clue where to start and all the food was mouth wateringly good. Beautiful premise, we took a stroll around to look at the books and art. Go there, stay there a while, and enjoy!

Pros: Great food, Great price , Great service

VadimJustus

Points +47

Vegan
24 Aug 2022

Nice and tasty

Friendly owner and very tasty food.

Pros: All vegan

Julie.Rylie

Points +162

Vegan
26 Mar 2020

Beautiful restaurant

This restaurant is absolutely beautiful. It is covered with dozens of books everywhere; beautiful wooden tables made of tropical massive wood; Buddhas; a room for those who prefer to eat on cushions and lower tables; lots of Picasso paintings. Very well decorated.

The food is very tasty (although pricy to sumatra but very affordable for european standards).

The owner is a sweetheart that made us feel at home; got us the nexg day in the morning to a typical market and a bit sightseeing. We are planning on going here regularly.

Pros: The place is amazingly beautiful, The food is very good , The staff is very friendly

Cons: A bit expensive but worth every penny

MaylaNebeská

Points +1966

Vegan
29 Feb 2020

Best in Medan

Nice and stylish restaurant with friendly owner and staff. Asian and italian dishes (pasta) in the menu. Food is not “indonesian” spicy.

mirandastorm@bigpond.

Points +20

Vegan
21 Oct 2019

Vegan saviour hidden in Medan

A beautiful restaurant hidden in the crazy city of Medan. Fully vegan and curated with intention. Unfortunately English isn't spoken too well but it didn't take away from the experience.

Pros: Entirely vegan, Beautiful vibe, Great flavours

Cons: Small portions, A little to oily, Not alot of vegetables

Travisfruity

Points +19

Vegan
08 Aug 2019

Beautiful Gem in the midst of a wild city

My favourite place to eat in Medan for sure! They have got many different kinds of dishes on their menu, and it all tastes amazing. I am very glad that I was able to find this place and it is perfect for going somewhere alone, to chill and read a book. But also if you want to meet some friends and share a couple of items off the menu. The staff are so friendly and the owner is a big G! Long Live Socrates.

Pros: Excellent food, Beautiful vibe, Friendly Staff

Cons: That there aren't 2 Socrates around

Albez415

Points +47

Vegan
03 May 2017

Worth a visit

Amazing space, friendly staff, good Indonesian/Chinese/Thai food, reasonable price.

Roevin46

Points +235

Vegan
23 Apr 2017

Nice change

The food was good and a welcome change from what I have been eating. The restaurant is nice, clean and cozy but on this visit it was quite warm - a little too much for me. The staff were friendly enough but spoke very little to no english. had 2 main dishes (falafel and tempeh with mushroom I think), 2 desserts (banana fritter) and the total was IDR 139000 including the 10% tax. I'm not an overly big eater but I was still a little hungry afterwards.

Pros: Nice decour, Good food, Free wifi

Cons: Not the cheapest, Not much english spoken, Not the largest portions

AnaBick

Points +347

Vegan
23 Jan 2017

Good splurge

Atmosphere: homely and slightly darkened. Very friendly staff – one person spoke exceptionally excellent English. Those who don’t are very friendly and have a good sense of humour. The menu is illustrated so you can order by pointing. There is a bookshelf with some socially-conscious English language books for sale. Beautiful paintings and other artworks and a statue of the Buddha.

Food we ate: Satay skewers: seared mock chicken with a complex flavour served with an ample serving of peanut satay sauce which tasted fresh and homemade with herby spicy deliciousness. Came with garnish of Indonesian pickles. We also ordered fried tempeh squares with lettuce and a garnish of chilis. It looked like it would taste very spicy but was in fact sweet and savoury. Fresh fruit juices genuinely come without sugar if requested. Best to order fruits that are in season. Many items on the menu weren’t available but there was still a very good range of options. The desserts listed (tiramisu and some chia seed thing) were not available so we were offered a chocolate cupcake and a slice of chocolate cake. These tasted much like they would in Australia – perfectly tasty (and also 100% vegan!) but nothing amazing.

Cost: two mains, two desserts, one fresh juice and four glasses of filtered water cost 172,000r – so a bit expensive but good for a splurge.

Portion sizes: a bit smaller than usual.

Pros: Great food , Nice staff , Romantic atmosphere

Cons: Price , Some items on menu not available

Heiko

Points +35

Vegan
12 Dec 2016

Tolles Restaurant

Das Restaurant hat verschiedene Bereiche auf zwei Ebenen, teils auch mit niedrigen Tischen und Sitzkissen.
Die Gerichte die ich bis jetzt hatte waren sehr lecker.
Preislich im gehobenen Bereich, jedoch ist die Auswahl an reinen veganen Restaurants in Medan noch nicht groß.

Pros: Essen gut, Schöne Räumlichkeiten, Personal spricht teils Englisch

Cons: Nicht zentral gelegen

CassieN

Points +146

Vegan
10 Feb 2014

Simply Wonderful!

I fell in love with this place the minute I arrived: The smell of food was incredible, books on philosophy, health, spiritualism and a great deal more subjects lining the walls, warm and friendly greetings from the staff and a lovely atmosphere. The food was sensational, the menu is extensive (pictures of dishes included). We were a party of 3 - one vegan, one vegetarian and one meat eater - we all couldnt get enough! Our meat eating friend was stunned out how good the food was and kept ordering more. Ive been back here 2 times since and on every occasion the food was delicious. Couldnt recommend it enough! PS they have amazing vegan ice cream in the freezer for eat in or take out!

Pros: Delicious Food, Amazing Library of Books, Friendly Staff




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