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..

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.

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

What do you think of when I say I Belgium? Belgian chocolate, yes. Belgian beers, yes. Belgian waffles, oh yes! They remind of my childhood when my grandmother treated us them together with a hot chocolate after a long walk in the city or at the seaside.

Waffles come in all shapes and sizes and all of you have them in your own country. But there’s only one perfect waffle: the Brussels Waffle of Desire de Lille. 

This waffle is very light. And it’s also super crispy. Have one with fresh cream or with sugar. And yes, you should be covered in sugar after eating. it’s meant to be like that. You can take away at the corner of Schoenmarkt or you can sit down a little further in Schrijnwerkersstraat.

Don’t be scared by the amount of grandmothers sitting here enjoying their waffle (or pancakes or other delicious stuff). After all, it’s the grandmothers who know best, right?