Antwerp 2022 - Het Steen area

Het Steen, a medieval stone fortress is an Antwerp landmark on the banks of the river Scheldt. A statue of Lange Wapper, a Flemish folklore giant, stands at the entrance to Het Steen. Free pedestrian ferries cross the river from a nearby quay to Linkeroever.

Suikerrui (Sugar street) is a broad straight street that runs inland from the riverside road towards the Grote Markt and the Cathedral of Our Lady.

Het Steen and Brasserie Stadscafe - viewed from Cafe Pardaf

Brasserie Stadscafe is on the northern corner and Cafe Pardaf is on the southern corner of this junction.

Cafe Pardaf

Cafe Pardaf

An earlier recommendation from John and Sue Thirlaway, led to Cafe Pardaf being chosen as the rendezvous for Friday evening (1 July). The interior features a stylish curved bar, stage lighting over large windows facing the river and contemporary furniture. 

There is a pinball machine and the stairs to the upstairs toilets are accessed under the Stella Artois sign. Cafe Pardaf is one of the bars that formed the Antwerp Craft Beer Route on 28 November 2019, immediately before Billie's Craft Beer Festival.

Simon and Tim were first to arrive and chose a table on the Suikerrui pavement giving views of the river and Het Steen. The thick beer menu binder includes 11 beers on tap, and bottled beers divided into styles starting with 'IPA & hops'. The 'in the spotlight' section included Black is Beautiful, a stout from Bristol's Left Handed Giant. Tim's ZinneBir, from Brasserie de la Senne, came in a bottle with a new '20 years' label design for the 'The Brussels People's Ale' (5.8% ABV / 33cl / 3.80 euros).

The remaining 'usual suspects' would join us and our group of six needed two tables. It was comfortable sitting outside Cafe Pardaf on a warm evening watching the sun set and the moon rise. 

Reader, I may have drunk one too many strong Belgian beers at Cafe Pardaf and will not be tempted by the Troubadour Magma Triple Spiked Brett (9.8% ABV) again! 

Cafe Pardaf is recommended for its location, range of beers and good service. Twilight on a warm evening is an especially good time to visit.

Paters Vaetje

Previously visited, photographed (above) and featured in Belgian Beer Trip 2017 blog post, Paters Vaetje, Blauwmoezelstraat 1, near the cathedral, was the second rendezvous on Thursday 30 June (after 'T Half Souke). It had been raining and the tables inside were the only ones occupied this year. 

There was a free table near the entrance door and a Bolleke De Koninck was a good local beer to start with while I waited for the 'usual suspects' to arrive. Music playing included Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale.

There was time to peruse the beer menu and pick out the next beers to enjoy. Pages 2 and 4 (not pictured) feature 10 Trappist beers, 11 Blond beers, 6 IPAs, 4 Oude Bruine beers (including Duchesse de Bourgogne (6.2%, 4.5 euros) and Rodenbach Grand Cru (6%, 4.7 euros), Oesterstout and 2 Gueuzes. The Antwerp beer section (page 1) includes several beers from Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie, including Seefbier, Cadix and Bootjesbier.

Having ordered Zeezuiper, from Scheldebrouwerij, I would convince Andrew, Richard (both pictured) and Keith to do the same. Simon's Eurostar train was delayed but Dave would join us later. We considered moving to an upstairs table for more space but decided against.

I later enjoyed Strandgaper golden ale from Scheldebrouwerij. Note that this bottle still had the old label design but all the brewery's beers now have colourful new labels and the branded glasses feature the crab design. 

Scheldebrouwerij had a stand at Bierpassie Weekend in Groeneplaats this year.

Cafe Den Engel

Den Engel is one of the iconic cafes featured in Regula Ysewijn's Belgian Cafe Culture book. It is on the northern corner of the Grote Markt and can be seen on the left of the photo above, behind the illuminated Brabo fountain. 

On this visit, I took another photo of Den Engel but have yet to visit. Another reason to revisit Antwerp in 2023!

For more Antwerp background material please see Antwerp - The Usual Suspects 2022 and other linked posts from there.

Antwerp - Comic Murals & Beer Passion - Saturday 29 June 2019

Waking view from Hotel Rubenshof bedroom

Blue skies and high temperatures in Antwerp for the second day of the 20th BierPassie Weekend.

22 Beeldhouwersstraat - listed building

The Beer Passion Festival in Groeneplaats opens at 1pm so there was time for a leisurely walk north from Antwerp Zuid to the historic centre, keeping to the shady side of the street.

As Steve was having a lie in it was nice to wander at my own pace, stopping to take photos en route. Unfortunately it was 15 minutes before 11am opening time when I passed Coffee & Vinyl at Volkstraat 45.

At the junction of Kloosterstraat and Goedhoopstraat you can find the comic mural (stripmuur) Nero by Marc Sleen (1922-2016).

There is also a mural on a junction box showing a Stripmurenroute with the location of other comic murals in Antwerp. To find the other murals on the route could be a project for a future visit to Antwerp.

Kloosterstraat is a good street for finding interior decor and antiques shops.

2 Kloosterstraat - looking south

Continuing along Oever and Hoogstraat I reached the sun drenched Grote Markt.

Den Hopsack

Regaining the shade, I walked to 24 Grote Pieter Potstraat to find Den Hopsack.

Den Hopsack is mentioned in Joe Stange & Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgium as 'a mellow music club serving 50+ beers including De Ranke and Senne'.
There were flyers in the window for a free gig by Lise at 8pm and art by Peter Callens.

As the bar does not open until 8pm I took a photo through the window to record the interior. It looks like a place worth revisiting on a future trip.

Now it was time to look for more classic cafe bars featured in Regula Ysewijn's book Belgian Cafe Culture.

Den Engel (left) and Den Bengel (right)

Cafe Den Engel,  Grote Markt 3, had seats outside in the full glare of the sun.
Regula Ysewijn writes 'Cafe Den Engel (the angel) ... is housed in a guildhall called 'White Angel'. ... The large guild houses on the Grote Markt were reconstructed in the 19th century in neo-renaissance and neo-gothic style to recreate its former glory. The original guild houses were demolished in the 18th century to enlarge the Grote Markt. ... In 1903 it became Cafe Den Engel. The interior with the wooden wall panelling and mirrors is from the same period.'

I was reluctant to sit inside with a coffee so continued into Braderijstraat and noticed that (rhyming) Cafe De Stengel (the stalk) is situated nearby!

Conscience - Jan Bosschaert (panorama)

Wandering down the narrow twisting cobbled street of Oude Beurs involved passing a group on a walking tour and finding another comic mural, at the junction of Wolstraat and Moriaanstraatje.

At the next corner is Cafe de Kat, Wolstraat 22. Again I had arrived at a suitable coffee place 15 minutes too early as opening time here is 12 noon. Regula Ysewijn writes 'The story of De Kat starts around 1912 with first landlady Aurelia who gave the cafe its name. Apart from the tables all other interior dates from those early years. All the elements: the bar, the piano and mirrored wall panelling were designed to match and have the same inlaid wooden detail.'

With over an hour to wait until the opening of BierPassie at Groenplaats,  I retraced my steps as far as Caffe Mundi, Oude Beurs 24, where it was a relief to finally sit at an outside table in the shade and enjoy a flat white coffee.

Back at Groenplaats, the railings would be parted to allow entry at 1pm.

My first 20cl taster was Botanik from the Gouden Carolus Indulgence range which is only available in 75cl bottles. I was keen to try this beer after visiting Het Anker brewery in Mechelen with Simon on 23 March earlier this year. This 8.5% ABV special blonde beer was brewed using barley, wheat and Belgian hops. The ageing process for Botanik included two weeks with four natural botanicals - elderflower, angelica root, cloves and rosemary.
An advantage of this festival is the chance to taste a beer from a large bottle without needing friends to share it with.

Richard, Graham, Tim, Simon and Steve

Friends soon arrived and we were able to find a rare shady spot although it was standing room only.

We were standing near the Brouwerij Huyghe bar where several Delirium beers were served as well as some new limited edition beers - Paranoia and JI.PA.

Paranoia (5.6% ABV) was developed for the French market. I tried JI.PA (6.8% ABV / 45 IBU) but it was not a favourite. However, Keith Moore picked Delirium Black (Oak aged 2019), a 2 jetons (4 euros) 20 cl pour, as his favourite beer of the festival.

We had time for a few more beers before going to De Groote Witte Arend for lunch at 2.30pm.

However, instead of lunching there I went to Aura Brasserie, Hoogstraat 34, an old favourite, for a lunch of omelette, salad and bread accompanied by a 25cl bottle of St Feuillien Grisette Blanche Bio.

A few draught beers are also available at Aura Brasserie which only opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and often features live music in the evenings.

By the time I rejoined the others in the courtyard at De Groote Witte Arend, they were only midway through their substantial meals.

Draught Brasserie de la Senne Taras Boulba was the 4.5% ABV blonde beer I enjoyed here (25cl glass for 3.5 euro).

We finally departed just before 5pm and headed to nearby Pelgrom at 15 Pelgrimstraat which Steve and I had previously visited on Thursday.

As hoped, the cellars here were reasonably cool although we could not sit in the main cellar area facing the bar this time.

With a range of 24 draught Belgian beers to choose from we were happy to stay here until 7.45pm and sample a few of them. It stayed cool but the noise levels rose when another group joined our table. My favourite beer on this occasion was Troubadour Magma a 9% ABV Tripel IPA (45 IBU) by Brouwerij The Musketeers.

Another Antwerp tradition for our group is a visit to De Vagant at nearby Reyndersstraat 25 for Jenever shots. I accompanied the group there but drank a cup of coffee instead of flavoured Jenever.
The barman was interested to hear our opinion about Brexit and we reassured him that we look forward to remaining in the EU.

An hour later we were back at Groenplaats to spend the last of our beer tokens at BierPassie.
Saisons are my current favourite Belgian beer style and it was a treat to have a glass of chilled Saison d'Erpe-Mere served from a 75cl bottle. This Saison does not use any herbs or spices to create its fruity and spicy profile (7.5% ABV, IBU 35).

There was a lively atmosphere at the beer festival and the Dixieland Street Band did a final circuit before we caught the tram (underground) from Groenplaats to Antwerp Centraal station.

(photo: Steve Kelly)

From here it was a 500 metre walk north past Chinatown to reach Beerlovers Bar, Rotterdamstraat 105.

It was very generous of Simon to pay for our drinks here!

With 12 draught beers available from the tap wall, I chose Embrace the Haze a Double New England IPA by 't Duo costing Simon 4.80 euros (25cl) and served in a stemmed glass branded with the bar's pentangle logo. Cheers!
Beerlovers Bar is a verified venue on Untappd (beerloversbar) so it is possible to use the app to keep track of what beers are on tap etc.. My Untappd (timofnewbury) checkin for this beer also mentioned the 'tinny soundsystem' and was reposted on my Twitter account (@timofnewbury).

L to R: Simon, Steve, Graham, Richard & Keith

We had started off sitting inside at a big table near the entrance doorway but moved outside to a pavement table for our second beers (with Simon still paying the tab).

My glass at the empty seat in the photo now contained Golden Tricky by 't Verzet, a 7.5% ABV, 40 IBU pale ale with tropical flavours from Australian Ella hops.
Around midnight we departed and Steve and I were able to catch a tram back to the stop near Hotel Rubenshof while Simon and the others (less Graham) headed to Dageraadplaats. Graham was staying on in Antwerp while Steve and I would next meet up with the others in Brussels on Sunday.