A taste of a place - Antwerp, Belgium

Here's the 2nd in (what will hopefully be!) a series of guest blogs from our good friend Lily de Ceuster. Lily is a resident of the beautiful city of Antwerp, which we were lucky to visit several years ago. We can happily confirm there's so much more to this city than all those diamonds...!!!

French Fries or FRITJES

If you say Belgium…you say French Fries. Don’t ever let anyone tell you it’s French, it’s definitely a Belgian thing. (Why they’re called French Fries in English is a mystery. Some say it started in de War when English soldiers where surrounded by French speaking Belgian soldiers and therefore called them French Fries. But it seems there are lot of other explanations.) But you can not visit Belgium and not eat FRITJES!

What makes the Belgian Fries so unique is definitely the taste of the potato and off course the way we prepare them.

There are a few important rules.

- You take a good potato (we do it with a Bintje, typical flemish potato)- You cut them by hand- Then fry them at 140° for about 6 minutes, they can not turn brown!- Make sure you let them rest and cool off for at least half an hour- Then you fry them short at 180° to make them a little bit brown and crispy

Most of the time you find little spots where they only serve French Fries. For most of the locals it’s a takeaway meal. You eat them at home but sometimes, especially in Antwerp you find places that are a little bit bigger and they set a few tables so you can eat them in de Frituur (that’s the name of every little place where they sell French fries)

So, if you don’t know where to go just ask for a “Frituur”

You better ask for a small one as even that is huge! They have lots of choice in fresh meat and vegan snacks and sauces to go with the fries and you definitely eat them with mayonnaise!For about 6€ you can have your fries with some meat!

Because the French Fries are so popular we even have a “Michelin-version” of them and you can find them in Antwerp in “Frites Ateliers”

The famous Dutch Chef Sergio Herman went on a journey to search fort he perfect French Fries. They taste a little bit different and are a bit more expensive but delicious.

Just taste the one with stew! Delicious! You have to pay about 9€ for a meal.

Waffles

After the French Fries it’s time for dessert and off course that’s a lovely Belgian Waffle. There’s really only one place to go in Antwerp and that’s the famous “Désiré de Lille” at the “Schrijnwerkersstraat 16, 2000 Antwerp”.

And we understand it’s hard to make a choice but actually it’s very simple. You can only ask for a Brussels Waffle with cream. That’s your best choice and for only 5,50€ you will have, as the locals call it, “the flavour of the city”.

Fine Dining

Come hungry, leave happy

There are over a thousand places in Antwerp where you can go for nice dining and as it is a modern city things change fast but one place we adore for a nice, special dinner, most of the time for a special occasion as it is not really cheap.  Restaurant “Graanmarkt 13” and that’s also the address of the restaurant.

Cheff Seppe Nobels is famous in Belgium for being a vegetables chef but don’t let that scare you. You will eat vegetables as you have never eaten before.

Lunch is 35€ (2-course) and dinner is 45€ (3-course). You just choose meat or fish and you’ll find lovely vegetable dishes to share.

The perfect fine dining in Antwerp with lots of locals!!