Antwerp - February 2025

 

Antwerp Central station looks spectacular from inside and outside! Our arrival on Sunday 2 February 2025 only required a short walk west on De Keyserlei, passing Bier Central and several diamond jewellery specialists, and then south near the Opera to reach YAYS aparthotel, just past a convenient Lidl supermarket.xx

The new YAYS aparthotel has no reception with guests using a PIN number to enter the hotel and pre-advised room and is recommended. 

This post will focus on bars visited for the first time and will mainly be useful for anyone staying near the central station or visiting any of the excellent art and photo galleries in the Zuid district. 

Antwerpen-Centraal

Unfortunately De Kroon van Hopland (previously visited) and De Hovenier (marked for a visit) were both closed so three less recognised cafe bars were visited in the evenings.

Cafe de Klok was the largest cafe bar of these and our custom seemed to be tolerated here without much of a welcome. There were only a few customers in the last hour before closing. The sizeable room has tall windows with curtains, a wooden central bar and bench seating with red leather cushioning. The overhead fluorescent lighting might be the bar's worst feature. The Belgian pop music from the jukebox tonight wasn't really appreciated either!

There's a picture of the bar's exterior with Stella Artois branding, in the pages of the bound menu.

There's a decent selection of beers including local options like De Koninck Bolleke on draught and Seefbier in bottles. Prices were reasonable with all six Trappist beers priced under €5.

The bottle of Hopus (€4.70) was correctly served, with a branded shot glass for the sediment from the bottle, although it's left to the drinker to perform 'the theatre of the pour'.

An earlier visit to In de Stad Aalst, before a good meal at Restaurant Sinbad, was a completely different experience.

The small space with a short bar was busy with regulars but we found a table near the front window. A chandelier and many small framed photos of customers on a side wall are reflected in the window. The floor tiles were a traditional floral design. Other decoration included traditional Tripel Karmeliet and Stella Artois signs. The barman simply pointed at a small list of beers, on a wall just past the bar, when asked for a menu.

It was hard to go wrong with a keenly priced Westmalle Tripel here! You have to like music played loudly to relax here and the varied selection included some rock classics including Peggy Sue and Love Potion Number 9.

Like De Hovenier, In de Stad Aalst is one of the cafes included in the 'More great cafes' section at the end of Regula Ysewijn's book 'Belgian Cafe Culture'.

There are two bars next to each other on Kipdorbrug at the junction with Italielei / Frankreiklei. On two occasions one would be open while the other was closed. On Sunday night, Tante Lies was in darkness but De Kleine Opera was open.

This was another lively bar, with local drinkers. The dimly lit interior featured games machines and  neon lighting.

When my chosen beer was not available it was no hardship to accept Westmalle Tripel (€4.50) as an alternative! A new customer was made to feel welcome here but an antiseptic smell did not encourage lingering for long.

Het Zuid

                                            KMSKA                                             MHKAFE (Keith Haring)                 M HKA (Panamarenko)                                                                          

A Visit Antwerpen post mentions 'Het Zuid has been setting the tone in cultural and creative terms in Antwerp for decades. Just a five-minute walk apart, you'll find three top museums ... The Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA) ... Fotomuseum Antwerpen (FOMU) ... and the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA). 

Having previously visited KMSKA in 2024, this year we visited MHK A where a temporary Panamarenko - Journey to the Stars exhibit included a spaceship model. 

Absorbing culture is thirsty work and while in the Het Zuid neighbourhood we visited L'Entrepot du Congo which overlooks the new Zuidpark, a green area that was previously docks and then a car park. 

A locally brewed De Koninck Bolleke (€3.50) always makes a good first beer of the day in Antwerp! The large high-ceilinged room has black and white floor tiles and traditional cafe furniture with marble topped tables. At a nearby table, a customer had brought his cat on a lead inside while he quickly drank a cup of coffee. 

The range of bottled beers includes Nello's Blond and Nello's Tripel brewed by Brouwerij De Arend in Hoboken, Antwerp, four Super 8 beers, Gordon Scotch Xmas and Guinness.

View north from steps of the Vlinderpaleis, Bolivarplaats, Antwerp Zuid

When every table in Cafe Hopper, on the southern end of Leopold de Waelplaats, was taken on a Monday afternoon, we walked south to the Palace of Justice 'Vlinderpaleis' at Bolivarplaats.  After climbing the steps we had a good view back towards Antwerp along Amerikalei. 

By the time we returned, Cafe Hopper was still full so we went across the road to Wijnbistro Patine, next to Chatleroi which had not yet opened.

Patine has a nice rustic atmosphere with natural wood shelves. A bottle of Seefbier brewed by Antwerpse Brouw Co (€4.20) made a good local choice. The bar's menu has daily special offers including draught Stella Artois for €1.85 on Mondays and house wine for €2.95 on Wednesdays.

In February, Chatleroi, the black cat themed bar, opens at 4pm on weekdays and we had no problem finding a table soon afterwards! From March 2025, weekday opening is 3pm.

There's a mix of high and low marble topped tables, with basic stools to sit on. The illuminated Vedett sign behind the bar reads 'Rock and Roll never dies'. Appropriately, there's plenty of interesting rock and blues music being played including Dire Straits - Wild West End and Tom Waits - Downtown Train. Draught beers include the estimable Tripel d'Anvers brewed by De Koninck in Antwerp served in a stemmed glass that features buildings in the city.

Chouffe in the cafe at Middelheim Museum

We returned to Het Zuid the next afternoon after a visit to the open air sculpture park at Middelheim Museum where the cafe is also recommended. On this occasion there was a table free at Cafe Hopper, previously visited in 2024, after a visit to KMSKA, and recommended for its coffee, beer and music selection.

Other revisited bars

De Ware Jacob                                   De Vagant

A few favourite Antwerp bars were revisited on this trip including De Ware Jacob (for draught Avec Les Bons Voeux) and De Vagant (for draught Cherry Chouffe) which were as enjoyable as ever. It is always reassuring to find places like this where the owner has a familiar face and runs an establishment to be proud of in an effortless way.

Only visited previously in 2019, it was nice to revisit Beerlovers Bar (for draught Brouwerij St Bernardus Tripel and a bottle of Huisbrouwerij Wapper Saison Wapper) and find that it was better than remembered. Both service and prices were good. Perhaps the secret is to visit on a quiet Monday! 

This visit coincided with a meal at nearby Little Tibet Cafe (Tibetan art cafe, Rotterdamstraat 88) which is simply furnished and serves dishes from a limited menu. The substantial noodle based dishes are recommended and good value. A few beers are available.

Friends have enjoyed beer and food at Bier Central and a first visit was made as it was close to the aparthotel. It proved to be a pleasant place to sit down and take a leisurely look at the 'Beer Encylopaedia' menu, where beer prices are higher than average. On this occasion there was no need to order anything but perhaps another time?

Tim has made many visits to Antwerp and these have been documented by posts in Beer Europe over the years. The web version of Beer Europe includes a search field. 

Some recent Antwerp posts include:

Antwerp First visits June 2024 - beereurope.blogspot.com/2024/07/AntwerpFV2024.html 

Antwerp Revisits June 2024 - beereurope.blogspot.com/2024/07/antwerp-2024-revisits.html 

Antwerp Spring 2024 - beereurope.blogspot.com/2024/03/antwerp-spring-2024.html

Belgian Beer Trip 2017 - Day 3

The 18th Antwerp Beer Passion / Bierpassie Weekend opened at 5pm on Friday 23 June, 2017.

Sint Andries stroll
 
After breakfast, with seven hours until the festival opens, Dave / Bod and I set off from Bogaardestraat for Antwerp's Museum of Contemporary Art, M HKA. We headed south west, towards the Sint Andries neighbourhood.

We passed a building featuring interesting brickwork and an art nouveau style balcony at the angled corner of Waalse Kaai and Timmerwerfstraat.

We arrived too early for the museum opening at 11am so sat at a table outside Nick's cafe, Waalse Kaai, and ordered a coffee, which was kindly served before their usual opening time. This is a plesant spot with a wide cobbled street lined by trees and the bonus of a classic blue Renault van parked nearby.

The main museum entrance leads into a large room lined with shelves for books and displays including old camera and film related items.

A long table with assorted chairs allows further study of the large format catalogue and other books at leisure.

We ventured further inside to the free section of the museum where 'Olympia' a film of the Berlin Olympic stadium by David Claerbout proved fascinating. Software imitates a camera, moving at a constant slow speed, recording the view of the stadium's exterior and grounds during elevated circumnavigations.

There are two approaches to M HKAFE, the rooftop cafe bar, either by lift, for museum visitors who have paid for admission or from a separate external entrance and several flights of stairs, in our case.

I enjoyed a glass of De Koninck 'Wild Jo' from the bar and we sat outside in the sunshine. A 33cl bottle of this fresh tasting beer cost 4 euros. The bottled beer is fermented with wild yeasts and is named after Joseph van den Bogaert, who ensured the survival of the brewery after WW1.

Seating is also available in a greenhouse but we guessed it would be far too hot in there! An untitled Keith Haring mural painted in 1987 adorns the interior of the M HKAFE. An inspiration for the mural was the work of Tanzania born artist George Lilanga.

Although it was closed for renovation, we passed Antwerp's main art gallery, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts on the way back to the city centre.

Howevere, some sculptures remain on display outside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. 

Our next stop was at Coffee and Vinyl, Volkstraat 45, where the presence of a red De Koninck caravan outside indicated that beer was also available.

We had a look around the shop which has a huge selection of vinyl records with art displayed on the walls. The Temple of I and I by Thievery Corporation was one of the music tracks played on the sound system.

There were various bottles of beer in a fridge behind the counter and it was nice to be able to sit at the front of the store with a glass of chilled Duvel Tripel Hop Citra (9.5% ABV). Since 2007, Duvel have innovated by introducing a third hop to the Saaz-Saaz and Styrian Golding hops. From a contest in 2016, Citra was chosen as the permanent third hop in preference to Mosaic, Amarillo, Sorachi Ace, Equinox and HBC291. The Citra hop from the Yakima Valley, Washington, is also used at the dry hopping stage.

Before leaving, a trial of the Wild Jo electrical test of hand coordination skills, with a bottle opener as a ring, proved irresistible. My skills were found to be limited, I blame the effect of the strong beer!

Across the road at Volkstraat 40 stands the ornately decorated Rudolf Steiner School building.

Shortly before reaching Groenplaats, the site of the Beer Passion Weekend festival, we walked down Korte Gasthuisstraat and passed an older building signed as Goossens. Antwerp certainly has a lot of interesting buildings sandwiched between less interesting examples. 

Bierpassie Weekend XVIII - Friday opening

By now it was 5pm and the beer festival had started so it was time to pay 5 euros for a tasting glass and programme and buy some 20cl beer tokens at 2 euro each. We exchanged our first tokens at the Delirium bar with Dave choosing Mongozo Banana while my choice was Mongozo Mango. 

At the bar, Martin spotted my Danske Ølentusiaster (Danish beer enthusiasts) cap, a gift from my Danish brother-in-law. With a Danish parent himself, Martin was probably better qualified to wear my cap!

Boulevard Brewing Co Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale was spotted on draught at the Duvel Moortgat bar. My first bottle of this beer proved delicious in 2016 and the draught version was also refreshingly compatible. Tank 7 was a rare example of a non-Belgian beer on sale at the festival.

Keith, John and Andrew (the latter two wearing festival t-shirts from previous years) arrived at the festival to join our table.

Keith Moore lives in Langen, near Frankfurt airport. He kindly shared out a large bottle of the Black IPA, brewed under his supervision at Rheinhessen Brau, Mainz-Ebersheim, for the second CraftBeerMesse in Mainz in November 2016.

The extra label tag for the bottle gives details of the hops used. Cheers Keith!

Leffe blonde is easily obtainable in the UK but there was an opportunity to taste Leffe Royale, hopped with Cascade, from the high counter of the Leffe bar. A further bonus was two sticks of cheese to go with it. Leffe Royale (7.5% ABV) is also available with hops from Australia (Ella), Argentina (Mapuche) and England (Whitbread Golding).

We had been sharing our table with a friendly Belgian couple and when it was time for them to go they agreed to pose with a spare copy of Ullage, the West Berkshire CAMRA magazine, for later perusal.

L to R: John, Mark, Keith, Simon, Dave / Bod, Andrew & Richard

Now there was space for our group of eight to sit down on the table.

Musical entertainment was provided by a jazz band who stopped to perform at various points around the festival. 

My last beer at the festival's first day was Waterloo Recolte. This seasonal beer is brewed at the Mont-Saint-Jean farm, the 'English hospital' of the battle of Waterloo. The Belgian Beer Tourism website describes the 6% ABV summer beer as falling between a white beer and a blonde. The brand has the tagline 'The Beer of Bravery!'.

An Orval nightcap

However, this would not be my last beer of the night as Mark, Dave, Simon and I returned to the hostel bar for a beer before it closed at 1am. Here it was possible to enjoy a 33cl bottle of Orval with its distinctive fruity and bitter taste, for 3 euros after Hostelling International discount applied.  

Twitter links:
@m_hka Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen - Musée d'Art Contemporain d'Anvers - Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp