Antwerp and Flanders
3rd-5th November 2000
On Friday 3rd November 3000 we three intrepid culinary
explorers set out on our first true PG expedition, seeking out the finest food
and drink in Flanders. After a relaxing crossing on the Shuttle, and a comfy
night at the Plastic Hotel (aka Formule 1 - at PG, we seek out only the finest
hostelries) near Dunkirk, marked mainly by my own snoring efforts (described as one man's
attempt to fell the mighty forests of British Columbia) and the French
menage-a-trois in the next room having a barney, our first port of call across
the border was the Trappist Monastery of Sint Sixtus at Westvleteren, near
Poperinge, after a quick pit stop in the pleasant town of Veurne - I'd highly
recommend that town to anyone, its main square is built in the typical Flemish
style found also in Bruges, Gent, Antwerp and Middelburg, and is lined with
pleasant-looking bars and cafés.
Monastery of Sint Sixtus
This Trappist monastery is probably the least-known of
the five brewing monasteries in Belgium. It is also the smallest, brewing only
as much as is needed to support the monastery, rather than running it for
profit. This is one of my favourite brews, and I tend o stock up on it whenever
possible as it needs to be laid down for at least 6 months 9and preferably for
several years) to develop its full flavour. There used to be a café across the
road from it (called, quite suitably, In the Peace, bearing in mind the
monastery lies on the fringe of the first World War battle site of the Ypres
Salient), but, alas, it appears to have been knocked down - more's the pity!
Much worse was to follow. As we drove into the brewery yard (it's literally a
drive-through monastery - you drive in one gate, a monk fills your boot with
beer - 10 crates maximum, there's a strict quota - and then drive out of the
other gate) disaster struck - they were completely out of beer, and the next
brew was not due for release till the following Tuesday. So, we had to head on
to Ypres (Ieper in Flemish) for some consolation drinks. To avoid future
disappointment I'll phone up to find out what brews are ready - there's a
recorded message on 0032 57 401057.
Ypres
Ypres is a bizarre town. Completely wrecked by shelling
in the First World War, it was rebuilt using old photographs, plans and drawings
during the twenties. The result is a town very much in the old Flemish style,
but the modern brickwork lends it an aura of falseness.
We didn't linger long, but we did get a positive
impression of the place. It had a wonderful market, with awesome food stalls,
including fish stalls, cheese vendors, wonderful butchers and the obligatory
frituur (chippy). Due to the town's connections with the First World War, it
attracts many elderly British visitors, hence most cafés seem to call
themselves tea rooms. Nonetheless, they are as pleasant Belgian cafés as you
will find, and the one we chose - Le Mirroir on the Grote Markt - served up a
good selection of beers and foods, although to call a toasted ham and cheese
sandwich without cheese topping a Croque Monsieur is, in my books, sacrilege.
Niki's Toast Americain (basically a large heap of dead cow which the chef
chopped up but forgot to cook) was enormous, and didn't seem to do him any harm.
The Westmalle Tripel ales were well served, until Olof insisted on dumping the
sediment into his glass. Niki appeared to enjoy his Palm, a lovely brown ale.
Antwerp
Having made our way to Antwerp, found our hotel (the
Ibis, a style-less yet comfortable, inexpensive and well located hotel), and
eventually parked the car, we set out to explore the city. Considering it
suffered badly at the hands of both Allied and German bombers (and V2 rockets)
half a century ago, it's in remarkably good shape. While the main shopping area
is pretty soul-less, the old town is remarkably pleasant. We reached the old
town by way of the marvelous market, with its wonderful array of foodstuffs from
around the globe.
Our first port of call was the Groenplaats, a large
open square bounded by cafés. As most were busy inside, we settled for a seat
on the pavement - although it was chilly, the sun was out, and it was a pleasant
day. We chose Café de Post, on the North side of the square, just in front of
the cathedral. When in Rome...well, we had to go for the local brown ale, de
Koninck, Antwerp's king of beers (if you pardon the pun). Slightly sweet, it is
a delightful session beer - but alas, we had to move on, explore more. Besides,
a drinking session requires being served from time to time, which in de Post was
easier said than done!
After some more sightseeing, including the harbour area and the Grote Markt, I
persuaded everyone it was time to seek out some more beer. We'd stumbled across
a pleasant-looking café just to the North of the Grote Markt, called
't Vlieghend Peerd at Kleine Koraalberg 8-12. Service was exceedingly friendly,
and despite our worst bumbling efforts in Flemish (look, I lived in the
Netherlands for 3 months 7 years ago - languages go rusty, OK?) the guy didn't
lose patience and switch into English - a definite plus point. The beer choice,
while limited, included an interesting selection of Corsendonk beers - not very
typical in non-specialist beer cafés. We had the choice of both the Pater
(dark) and Agnus (blond), in both 0.33l and 0.75l bottles (the latter with
cork). So Olof and I shared a deliciously sweet large bottle of Pater, while
Niki had a Grimbergen abbey ale, which he suspected might have been off - it
certainly had a little bit of a sour after-taste. The snacks were very
reminiscent of Dutch cafés - delicious Bitterballen (sort of deep-fried
meatballs, served with mustard) and Vlammetjes (spicy mini spring rolls served
with a very spicy dip). The ambience in the place was very convivial - the
building had not been tampered with excessively over the centuries, it had a
wonderful oak ceiling, and generally hat the sense of having evolved, rather
than being a contrived "olde worlde" design.
Our next port of call was Cafe den Engel, at
Grote Markt 3 (on the NW corner, to the right of the town hall, on corner of Braderijstraat).
Very reminiscent of an Amsterdam
'brown cafe', it's a very popular place among young and old alike - indeed, the
mix of people in there gave it much of its pleasant, relaxed atmosphere,
something which is hard to find in the UK anymore. The decor was simple but
adequate - wooden chairs and benches, marble tables, lots of varied decorations
on the walls. Beers on tap included
Westmalle Dubbel (which was rich and smooth, much like its bottled brother),
Antoon Blond from the de Koninck brewery (6%, I wasn't overly impressed as I
found it a wee bit bland), and - de Koninck itself.
One
must on any tour of drinking places in Antwerp appears to be de
Vagant,
Reyndersstraat 21, a
comfy, relatively basic jenever bar, one could call it a "gin palace" (not!),
with a restaurant upstairs and a further bar downstairs. What can I say to
describe it? Wahey! It has a huge selection of jenevers, both the fruit
flavoured ones and the plain ones. Upon the recommendations of the staff we
tried the Oud Antwerpse, which was very spicy, and I could easily have stayed for more
of these. But in such a place, one must try several different types. I went for
an older one, a Tien Jaar Oude Hasseltse Jenever, which was superb, smooth, subtle and rich,
though less spicy. Niki and Olof tried the Peren (pear) and Zuir Apel (sour
apple) varieties, and seemed relatively impressed. This was enough as an aperitif,
and we headed off to find some food, though we were to return later to have some
digestifs - Niki a cherry one, and I an apple, which was more sour than ones
I've tried in the past (a good thing, too!)
Dinner was taken at de Stoemppot,
Vlasmarkt 12, just down the road from de Vagant. Stoemp is a Flemish speciality,
mashed potato and vegetables, usually served with meat of some sort. The stoemp
in de Stoemppot on the day was potato and leek. Delicious! Olof and I started
wit the Erwtensoep, a thick pea soup served with slices of Boerenwurst (country
sausage) and delicious croutons. Very pleasant indeed, and heartily warming on a
cold day. This was followed by stoemp, in Olof's case with Boerenwurst, and Niki
and mine with Boerenwurst and Speck - thick, succulent, salty, wonderful
bacon! All in all a fantastic meal - who says that simple things are boring? I'd
happily go back there time and again. And not only because of the cute waitress!
While service was somewhat slow, the place was comfortable and convivial - we
shared our table with an elderly man who drew me into a conversation (it had to
be in French - my Dutch wasn't up to this!) on politics - specifically the
recent successes of Filip Dewinter's Vlaams Blok, which polled one third of
votes in Antwerp in recent elections. Fortunately, the old fellow and I were of
the same opinion - that the VB is an odious body of people. But he seemed
genuinely concerned for the future (having been a lifelong member of the
anti-fascist league). All in all, a very satisfactory, pleasant meal (washed
down with lashings of de Koninck).
Stoemp
has one distinctive downside. Having finished our meal, we could hardly move,
let alone contemplate another drink. So we went for a walk, to try to settle out
stomachs, and in doing so stumbled across a very pleasant looking café, de
Cantaren Koffiehuis in
Haarstraat 14, two streets North of Vlasmarkt. Time for a coffee (to try to get
some life back into Olof - he wanted to go back to bed, and it was only 10.15!).
The place had
very tasteful - an old building with a perfectly blended modern interior on 2 levels
(the upper galleried) with an iron staircase in the middle, with large plate
windows set tastefully into frontage - no doubt in the UK they'd have used UPVC
and wrecked the place! it had a ringing ambience, while the waitresses were so
cute I'd happily go back anyday! Unfortunately the coffee was not enough, so we
went for a long walk to try to get our drinking appetites back. This included
the return to de Vagant for more jenevers, as alluded to above.
Our final port of call was Kulminator, on
Vleminckveld 32-34, a bar allegedly serving more than 500 different beers.
Technically it closed at 1, so we were lucky to get served at 00.58 when we
walked in. But served we were, in this basic, not-very-busy bar with wooden
chairs and large wooden tables. They were out of the very old Westvleteren 12,
so I had to settle for an awesome Chimay Rouge Blauwe Stop 1983, which had a
wonderful rich complexity and smoothness which was totally wasted on me at this
time of night after so many beers! Niki took the Westvleteren Blond 5.8%, which
did not impress me greatly.
Sunday
Well, after a late night Saturday, Sunday was never
going to be an early start. unfortunately, the market on Sundays is not as good
as that on Saturdays - for instance, the Greek food stall had been replaced by a
bicycle vendor. Nothing against bicycles, but this was meant to be a food trip!
We stopped off at an interesting Art Nouveau café close to the Rubens house -
good modern decor, but it all felt a bit contrived. 
Still,
the snacks were good (again, very Dutch), and I found a Westvleteren Blauw (8%)
on the menu - I couldn't remember having one of these before - it was superb,
and I really wished we'd managed to pick some up at the monastery! After this we
had a quick look around the Rubens house, just to show we aren't complete
barbarians. The house is beautiful, pity about the paintings...we also had a
swift look around the city's jive-ass motherf***ing big cathedral, before
returning to culinary pursuits.
Our final port of call was 't Stamineeke
,
Vlasmarkt 23, just up the road from de Stoemppot where we had dinner the night
before. Our guide had indicated this was a place which served up over 100
different beers, but we had not been able to face the place the night before.
When we entered it was deserted, but it soon filled up, so that by 3.30 it was
quite busy - not bad for a Sunday afternoon. We each had a Rochefort 8, another
champion Trappist beer. Sadly the bottles can't have been in stock long, as they
had been shaken up somewhat - the beer was cloudy, the sediment hard to
identify. Still, this did not detract significantly from the flavour. Olof moved
on to a Newton apple-flavoured wheat beer - a bizarre flavour, if ever I tasted
one - and finished with a Hapkin, a beer much in the style of the classic
Duvel,
while I opted for an Orval, thus completing a full house of all five Trappist
breweries. Orval has never been my favourite, and I must say it still isn't,
though this one was more pleasant than I had remembered. maybe I'll have to pick
up a case and lay it down for a few years - they do say it improves
substantially with age.
After this we only had time to pick up a few beers in a
nearby beer shop, and some chocolates, naturally, and then head for Calais. At
Calais, next to Untermenschville (the English beer and wine shops, such as
EastEnders), can be found an excellent wine market, Perardel. The place has an
excellent choice of wines and champagnes (although it does pander a little to
the English, with Blue Nun and Black Tower hidden away in a corner), and I have
never yet met a UM in there (unlike next door, at the Beer and Wine Company).
All the remained to be done was the quick dash to the terminal, and we'd be
stuck back on a train to the Asylum (GB = Greater Broadmoor). or so we thought.
All weekend we'd been joking what a "pity" it would be if the tunnel
flooded and we were stuck in France. Well, no sooner had we checked in than they
announced the suspension of all services as a train had broken down in the
tunnel...we broke down laughing, and settled down to a mediocre meal at the
bistrot in the terminal. Alas, sadly they finally got things going again, and we
were left to entertain ourselves on the Shuttle, trapped with Signor Sottumano
in the car behind us. Does a car really need 2 GB stickers on the windscreen, in
addition to the three on the back? And then we were back in good ol' Blighty...
Click here
for further information on Belgian beers, Trappist monasteires, Antwerp, etc.
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Last Updated on 13 November 2000
One
must on any tour of drinking places in Antwerp appears to be de
Vagant,
Reyndersstraat 21, a
comfy, relatively basic jenever bar, one could call it a "gin palace" (not!),
with a restaurant upstairs and a further bar downstairs. What can I say to
describe it? Wahey! It has a huge selection of jenevers, both the fruit
flavoured ones and the plain ones. Upon the recommendations of the staff we
tried the Oud Antwerpse, which was very spicy, and I could easily have stayed for more
of these. But in such a place, one must try several different types. I went for
an older one, a Tien Jaar Oude Hasseltse Jenever, which was superb, smooth, subtle and rich,
though less spicy. Niki and Olof tried the Peren (pear) and Zuir Apel (sour
apple) varieties, and seemed relatively impressed. This was enough as an aperitif,
and we headed off to find some food, though we were to return later to have some
digestifs - Niki a cherry one, and I an apple, which was more sour than ones
I've tried in the past (a good thing, too!)
Dinner was taken at de Stoemppot,
Vlasmarkt 12, just down the road from de Vagant. Stoemp is a Flemish speciality,
mashed potato and vegetables, usually served with meat of some sort. The stoemp
in de Stoemppot on the day was potato and leek. Delicious! Olof and I started
wit the Erwtensoep, a thick pea soup served with slices of Boerenwurst (country
sausage) and delicious croutons. Very pleasant indeed, and heartily warming on a
cold day. This was followed by stoemp, in Olof's case with Boerenwurst, and Niki
and mine with Boerenwurst and Speck - thick, succulent, salty, wonderful
bacon! All in all a fantastic meal - who says that simple things are boring? I'd
happily go back there time and again. And not only because of the cute waitress!
While service was somewhat slow, the place was comfortable and convivial - we
shared our table with an elderly man who drew me into a conversation (it had to
be in French - my Dutch wasn't up to this!) on politics - specifically the
recent successes of Filip Dewinter's Vlaams Blok, which polled one third of
votes in Antwerp in recent elections. Fortunately, the old fellow and I were of
the same opinion - that the VB is an odious body of people. But he seemed
genuinely concerned for the future (having been a lifelong member of the
anti-fascist league). All in all, a very satisfactory, pleasant meal (washed
down with lashings of de Koninck).
Stoemp
has one distinctive downside. Having finished our meal, we could hardly move,
let alone contemplate another drink. So we went for a walk, to try to settle out
stomachs, and in doing so stumbled across a very pleasant looking café, de
Cantaren Koffiehuis in
Haarstraat 14, two streets North of Vlasmarkt. Time for a coffee (to try to get
some life back into Olof - he wanted to go back to bed, and it was only 10.15!).
The place had
very tasteful - an old building with a perfectly blended modern interior on 2 levels
(the upper galleried) with an iron staircase in the middle, with large plate
windows set tastefully into frontage - no doubt in the UK they'd have used UPVC
and wrecked the place! it had a ringing ambience, while the waitresses were so
cute I'd happily go back anyday! Unfortunately the coffee was not enough, so we
went for a long walk to try to get our drinking appetites back. This included
the return to de Vagant for more jenevers, as alluded to above. 
