There is a true revelation in the city center of our beautiful city. It’s called the Gelato Factory.

A small ice cream business on the south gives everybody that passes a wonderful refreshment. Even people who don’t like ice cream have difficulties resisting the abundance of the creamy delicacies. The owner Herman Tackaerts really enjoys his passion of ice cream making…

Now summer is coming again! I try not to pass every day or I will weigh 100 kg in a couple of months. Try the mint flavor!

In Antwerp we have many good ice cream sellers but the Gelato Factory is definitely different. It looks like the real Italian stuff and that’s a great specialty…

And they sell also great espresso’s!

I often go to café/restaurant K. Zeppos. The name comes from a Belgian tv-programme for kids: Kapitein Zeppos. It played in the years 1964 till 1968 and was very successful.

When you enter the café you see a very big picture of the actor that played Kapitein Zeppos (Senne Rouffaer).

K. Zeppos is a very ‘practical’ café/restaurant. It’s in the middle of the city, but not in the heat of the tourist-zone. It has an enormous terrace on a big square in summer and in winter it is very comfortable inside. Good atmosphere, nice food for an okay price. It’s not cheap, but also not very expensive. Only their tea is way too expensive. That’s why I never drink tea in the K. Zeppos.

It’s a perfect meeting-place for little groups. If I want to see a bunch of my friends we think easily of K.Zeppos. Especially if some people have to eat. You can eat classic Belgian food, but they have also meals from all over the world. And it’s no smoking… It’s a good place where I like to come from time to time..

In the heart of the Zurenborg area, there’s an amazing square called ‘Dageraadplaats’. It’s a meeting point for everyone who lives in the area and far beyond. It’s always buzzing with activity, and at night a starry sky is lit (you’ll have to see it to believe it!)

The square is completely surrounded by bars and restaurants which all have great qualities – a mediocre bar wouldn’t survive in this critical area- however the ‘king’ of them all would be ‘Het Zeezicht’.

It’s what we Belgians call a classic ‘brown bar’, which means it’s furnished with mirrors, sansevierias and dark wooden tables and paneling. However, the deeper meaning of it is that everybody’s welcome here: from the big group of young hipsters to the older men sitting lonely at a table, deep into thought. This bar is so popular it even has their own cigarette lighters and a bicycle-team!

They serve a wide range of local beers, and also some very tasty snacks (try their Feta Croque Monsieur!). In the summer this bar has a gigantic terrace, which usually spreads out through the night, conquering most of the ‘Dageraadplaats’.

Criée isn’t just a food store, but actually a market hall roofing Antwerp’s best butchers and a gourmet supermarket.

I always had a hard time finding a butcher in Antwerp, there aren’t too many, until I discovered this place! It’s like in the Middle Ages where all the craftsmen of the same trade are located in the same street. You wonder how all the different butchers don’t drink each others blood (no pun intended), but they all have there own specialty. So for a dinner party, this is where I buy good quality poultry, lamb or game. And don’t be shy to ask advice how to prepare the meat, these are the real specialists! The shops also have a real crafty feel to them.

So whenever you feel like going to a market, and rain is pouring down (which happens quite often in Antwerp) be sure to make a stop at Criée.

When this bar/restaurant opened about 3 years ago, it was exactly what the neighbourhood needed: a cosy, relaxed, non-smoking place where you can grab a bite, read the newspaper and chat up with friends.

Everyday there’s a new menu with about 5 dishes: a couple of classics, pasta, a vegetarian dish and something oriental. Tasty, honest, not too pricy, almost like how your mother would make it, but with a surprising twist to it! As a late-night snack, you can always grab spaghetti or a fresh bowl of soup.

As for drinks, you’ll have a hard time making your choice: a couple of local beers on tap, as well as a monthly special, great wine and cava. A must-try is ‘roomer’: a flowery liquor that will enlighten your senses. For great karma, drink an organic tea or fruit juice.

The owner always carefully picks the music, a great way to discover new things. He’s even started a graphic novel collection.

This place can be very relaxing as well as really crowded. Either way, I always feel right at home here!

Belgium is known for the beer, chocolate and…? Right! Fries! Everywhere you go, you’ll be in the direct reach of a ‘frituur’: it’s a snack bar where they sell the famous fries (we bake ‘em twice, that’s the tasty secret!) and meaty snacks. And the most notorious of them all would be ‘Frituur N°1′, in the heart of the old city centre.

It’s not the slightly overpriced (but really good!) fries that make Frituur N°1 famous, but the flamboyant lady whom takes your order, called Maria. She’s faster than lightning, and you’ll better learn some Dutch to get you into her liking. ‘E klentje mè mayonaise en ne gebakken cervela*’ should do the trick. However, she has a heart of gold. In fact, she’s so popular she has her own Facebook fan page.

The great thing is that Frituur N°1 is open all through the night, so be sure to pass by after you had one too many of those also famous Belgian beers. You’ll thank Maria in the morning.

* A small package of fries with mayonnaise and a baked garlic sausage

You won’t have much trouble finding ‘Bakkerij Goossens’, because there’s always a long line of people waiting outside this authentic bakery. Belgium has a rich tradition of baking bread, and this is about the finest bread you can find in Antwerp (and probably far beyond!).

They still bake bread the traditional way: hand kneaded and a long rising time, you can really taste the difference! Their specialty is ‘roggeverdommeke’: a dark, wheaty crispy bread stuffed with fat sweet raisins. And if you’re in for a smaller snack, you should try one of the ‘boterkoeken’: buttery french rolls stuffed with chocolate, cream or other heavenly treats.

It’s actually not really needed to advertise their awesome products, because I bet not many of you can resist walking past this old-fashioned looking bakery, showing all the goods in the shop’s window.

When you walk through the Handelsstraat or the Dambruggestraat, then you might think you’re in Morocco or Turkey instead of in Antwerp North. A lot of atmosphere on the street, colorful shops, lots of vegetable stands, the smell of fresh fish … very lively and also very lovely.

The Sint-Gummarusstraat, close to the Sint-Jansplein, has the same mood. I regularly get a haircut here, for only 10 euro but every time a great service. They even put a burning candle in your ears to burn your ear hair, only if you want that of course.

I find it very difficult to walk or cycle through this street without stopping at this little Turkish bakery. The smell just lures me inside, every time. The freshly baked bread, the typical Turkish sweets … it all smells and looks delicious. My tip: buy a piece of pizza, it only costs 1,60 euro! Eat it outside, enjoy the street life and while you’re at it, buy some fresh fruit in the neighboring store, owned by the same family. And when you’re finished eating, you can think about how to spend the money you saved here, isn’t that nice?

After having been the barwoman in café De Welkom, Femke decided to do something completely different. A few steps away from Park Spoor Noord (see the article) she opened a new place and she called it ZUM. In a fastly changing neighbourhood, ZUM for me is the ideal place for breakfast or lunch. I like the personal details here: the little chocolate balls you can add to your cappuccino, the cool postcards on the wall, the homemade muffins and pies, the smiling faces of the people serving you …

If I need a place to spend a lazy afternoon (like the day after a wild party), I come here and order the antiox Arizona iced tea and a blueberry muffin. If I’m not meeting friends, I bring a book and install myself for a good read. ZUM has free wifi so sometimes I even get some work done.

If you’re hungry try the “bokes”. Slices of freshly baked bread with all kinds of toppings, the yummie Belgian way to eat bread. Be careful, if you don’t keep an eye to the beautiful clock hanging on the wall, you might end up spending the whole afternoon here.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
ZUM | Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Breakfast&Lunch) | Main meal from € 10
Viaduct Dam 1 | Eilandje | +323450336
Tue – Sun 09:00 – 20:00

We take our French fries seriously. First of all, they are not a French but a Belgian invention. And secondly, they nowhere taste better than here. The secret: we bake them twice. If we want to eat fries, we go to a “frituur”. For dinner or late at night before we go home after a party or a night of heavy drinking at the bar. They always taste good.

My favourite frituur is De Smulpaep, run by two young guys who take their job very seriously. One of them is a French chef who puts his experience in top restaurants in France and Switzerland into practice in a deep fryer. Pretty uncommon.

We don’t just eat fries, we also order snacks on the side. And the homemade snacks are always the best. When I see a freshly made cheese or shrimp croquette lying behind the counter, I just can’t resist. The tartar sauce here is unbelievable. Almost haute cuisine and for only 9 euros you have a very decent meal here, a drink included.

De Smulpaep is located halfway between my work and my home. Very tempting!

Details about this spot (Show on map)
De Smulpaep | Snacks, Restaurants (Fries) | Fries,snacks & drink € 9
Varkensmarkt 2 | Meir
Tue – Fri 11:30 – 14:00 & 16:30 – 00:00, Sun – Mon 16:30 – 23:00