Sergio Herman, once three Michelin stars at Oud Sluis, opened Frites Atelier at Korte Gasthuisstraat 32 in 2017. It is not the frituur on the Hoogstraat.
Category: 🍴 Food & Drink
Looking for the tastiest eats and drinks in Antwerp? Our food and drink advice features insider tips and reviews of the best restaurants, cafés, bars, and more.
Domestic: the Burlats’ bakery, from Zurenborg to the old centre
Julien and Sophie Burlat ran the restaurant Dôme for years. Their bakery, Domestic, now has three Antwerp addresses and a €3.90 millefeuille.
Caffènation at Pakt: Antwerp’s coffee pioneer roasts in a builders’ yard
Rob Berghmans opened Caffènation in 2003. He now runs four coffee bars and roasts at Pakt, a Berchem builders’ yard that was nearly knocked down.
Walvis, a wedge-shaped corner café by the Dageraadplaats
Walvis opened in 2016 on a wedge-shaped corner at Walvisstraat 1, by the Dageraadplaats, as the second café from the owners of Vitrin. Its windows run down both sides.
The Chocolate Line: Dominique Persoone’s kitchen in Napoleon’s palace
Dominique Persoone opened The Chocolate Line in the Paleis op de Meir in 2010. The pralines are made in the palace’s 18th-century kitchen, in full view of the till.
Bar Paniek, the Kattendijkdok summer bar that comes down every autumn
Since 2015 the artists’ collective Timecircus has built Bar Paniek each spring in two sheds on the Kattendijkdok, from salvaged wood and old window frames, and taken it down each autumn.
Elixir d’Anvers, still distilled on Haantjeslei after 163 years
Elixir d’Anvers has been made in Antwerp since 1863 from a recipe that was never written down. The Nolet family has owned the distillery since 2008, and the copper stills on Haantjeslei are now a protected monument.
Vitrin: a spritz in the shop window on Marnixplaats
Michiel Thys and Kenny Aernouts opened Vitrin on Marnixplaats in 2011. Fifteen years on, the bar in the shop window still sells the square as its view.
Cuperus: the Frisian tea house that gave Antwerp its first coffee bar
Founded in Friesland in 1823 and in Antwerp since 1931, Cuperus opened what it calls the city’s first coffee bar in 1965. Its owners now run three bars and roast their own beans.
Esco*Bar: a Chilean living room by Antwerp Central
Vicky Calderon Escobar named her café on the Quellinstraat after her second surname and filled it with her father’s Chile. Some fifteen years on, it still serves breakfast and lunch six days a week.