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| Antwerp Cafe City route plan at Cabardouche Taproom |
Three sunny days in Antwerp from Thursday 23 April and six friends visited 16 beer cafes / bars / taprooms after travelling from West Berkshire by train via London and Brussels.
Tim devised itineraries for three days before a move to Ghent on Sunday. This was a first visit to Antwerp for some so the idea was to include a variety of establishments to include traditional 'brown' beer cafes, specialist beer bars and brewery taprooms.
Apart from the busy area around
Groenplaats and the
cathedral there were visits to
Havenhuis and
MAS in the docks area on Friday and the 'improved' environments around
KMSKA and
Zuidpark in the Zuid / South district on Saturday.
Tim was able to add Cabardouche Taproom, Cafe Beveren and Quinten Matsijs to his Antwerp tally and this post will only feature these three establishments in any detail.
Some of Tim's favourite Antwerp beer cafes were revisited including De Ware Jacob (bottom left photo with Jeff, Mike, Pat, Tommy and Rich), De Vagant (bottom centre photo with Bart behind the bar), Jazz Cafe de Muze and Paters Vaetje.
Unfortunately, the timing of our visit coincided with a temporary closure of
Oud Arsenaal so it was only possible to get a photo of the historic brown cafe's exterior. With Tim's plan for the first pub of the trip stymied, we headed instead to
De Kroon van Hopland a corner brown cafe that is another of his favourites.
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| L to R: Tommy, Mike, Tim, Rich & Pat |
De Kroon appears to be under recent new ownership but the original furniture and decor remains and the barman was happy to take our photo holding up the delayed first beer of the trip,
De Koninck Bolleke, brewed in the city. (Jeff had travelled on a later train and arrived at De Kroon, for his first Bolleke, after the photo above was taken.)
Cabardouche Taproom
On Saturday morning, with Rich on his way back from Breda after
Waterakkers Parkrun (no local Belgian park run) and Tommy heading to Rotterdam for a Feyenoord v Groningen football match, only four of the group reached
Cabardouche taproom initially.
Situated at Engelselei 254 in the multicultural
Borgerhout district, we found a table inside the Taproom underneath a railway arch. There is a mix of seating options with a raised level on the inner side and big windows facing the street. It was nice to see plenty of (real) greenery and hear some funky music playing.
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| Flat white coffee |
We were impressed by the industrious lone staff member who served us excellent (
Caffenation) coffees and later beers while also attending to customers enjoying the sunshine outside.
A blackboard lists the current draught beers. The first beer we enjoyed here was Cabardouche Blonde Stoot (left, 5% ABV) with a minimum 33cl serving for €4.50. Tim's second beer was the brewery's Woeste Angela (right, 5% ABV), pleasantly sweet and costing €5 for 25cl.
As with the
Speciale Belge taproom in Antwerp first visited in March 2026, Cabardouche taproom is also an independent Antwerp brewery taproom that Tim now recommends and will surely return to on future trips.
Cafe Beveren
At Vlasmarkt 2,
Cafe Beveren enjoys a corner setting with views towards the river Scheldt.
On Saturday afternoon, after lunch of Croque Monsieur etc at Entrepot du Congo and a walk across Zuidpark to reach Scheldekaai Zuid 'linear park' by the river Scheldt, we were able to find a table inside Cafe Beveren next to the impressive 1937
Decap Jazz Organ. The decor is retro with photos and cartoons of Elvis Presley and others on the walls.
The jukebox was playing except when money was placed in the slot for the Jazz Organ to play a single tune. However, the fun was only just beginning as a hen party group arrived, recognisable by their white rimmed sunglasses, and some got up to dance on the furniture to the tune of 'You're the one that I want'.
Meanwhile our group had beers to drink from the limited beer list that includes draught
Corsendonk Kriek Belgique (3% ABV). Cafe Beveren is usually only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This is a popular bar with locals and you may find it too busy or noisy at times so be prepared to revisit at a quieter time for the special experience of hearing and seeing the Jazz Organ playing (bring one euro coins for the slot).
Quinten Matsijs
At Moriaanstraat 17,
Quentin Matsijs, a traditional family-run restaurant bar, was busy on Saturday but a reservation was made for 8pm in person and we spent the intervening time at nearby
Cafe de Kat.
Our group was given a table on the left of the entrance and well spaced from other customers. Three opted for Stoofvlees (Flemish beef stew) cooled with Trappist beer and served with chips or potato croquettes.
The draught beer range includes De Koninck Bolleke, Maredsous Tripel, La Chouffe and
Cherry Chouffe (above). Bottled beers (16) include Duvel, Gouden Carolus and Cornet in addition to Abbey beers (2) Corsendonk and Trappist beers (5) Westmalle, Orval and Chimay. Originally an inn, the building dates back to 1565 and has colourful stained glass windows.
The decor, furniture, atmospheric lighting and personal service make a reservation worthwhile to ensure a beer and a meal in historic surroundings. However, a reservation may not be necessary at quieter times.
We passed Cafe de Welkom near the junction of Oudburg and Drongenhof but this is simply a taproom for Gent's Dok Brewing Co without catering. 
There is an impressive bound beer menu and we asked the barman to give us a bit more time to study it before taking our order which was professionally served. The draught page (left) includes three exclusive beers at the top. The Abbey beer page warns that they are not Trappist beers and that the abbeys may not exist! There is also the reminder that payment is per table and not per person. There is also a page for beers from Ghent's Brouwerij Artevelde.
Tim's final beers in Ghent were draught Brouwerij Huyghe Paranoia (IPA) dry-hopped with Citra and Mosaic and a bottle of Ter Dolen Armand, dry-hopped with Cascade and named after the co-founder of the brewery Armand Desplenter. 
Jeff had previously set us a task of choosing eight 'Desert Island Discs' and we had a good time taking turns in rounds to present our choices and say a few words about them. 
Perhaps it's not surprising that we are friends when we all enjoy beer, music, travel and can cope with spending four full days together! 
After midnight, it was time to leave and walk back to the hotel just as the Waterhuis was about to close.
Passing near St James' church again we noticed that it was busy at Afsnis at a quarter past midnight. A bar to visit on another trip perhaps!
