My guide to Antwerp

Europe's MOST underrated city

It’s only human instinct to fully shut down when someone repeatedly bangs on about the various culinary and architectural virtues of a city you ‘must’ visit.

Antwerp sadly fell victim to this, along with bloody Utrecht (I know it’s great, it’s just been PR’d to death by my husband, naff mug gifts n’ all), and the longing to go dried up somewhere between the diamond history and the ‘cool shops’ (didn’t trust the umpire).

Then an invitation dropped to review the new Botanic Sanctuary in Antwerp. I was interested in the couple behind it – former nurse Maryse Odeurs and property mogul Eric De Vocht (the benign sort, as far as research goes). What may sound like tale as old as time – ‘flush shaker breathes new life into decaying heritage building’ – was actually the tip of the ice berg. De Vocht’s ambitions far exceeded a vanity project. He’s bought the streets surrounding Antwerp’s first fully-fledged (substantial) luxury hotel, slotting florists, butchers and the various trappings of artisanal, agriculturally-inclined urban life. He’s pulled in various Michelin stars across his restaurants (not in the ‘buy it in’ Dubai sense. His presence is so potent, (owning several large buildings and hotels) it’s altering the very fabric of the city, without ripping out its soul (he’s Belgian).

Because Antwerp’s soul is pretty special.

It’s a jarring thwack of cutting edge architecture (thanks Axel Vervoordt) next to chocolate-tin sketches of Flemish Renaissance, Baroque guild houses and markets with rhythms dating back to Medieval times. It’s the stench of strong coffee and sweet, just-baked pastries; of beer on rowdy, sticky glazed tables; of scented candles propping up design studios alongside brooding electronic jazz; of no-nonsense beef cheek in lowly-lit restaurants, where rhythms hark back to the brasserie heyday of the early 20th century. It’s a delicious mix of new and old that doesn’t feel as vignettey as the likes of Berlin, Lisbon and Copenhagen, just charming, cool and surprisingly unsung.

It’s also ludicrously cheap. Unimaginably so for what it offers.

Antwerp punches well above its weight in culture, fashion, food, design, and yet, where £900 a night will barely secure a double bed or bottled water in Paris, you’ll be sinking into seriously plush lodgings in Antwerp (smugly, with boxes of Flemish chocolate).

What’s more, it’s a pump-out-2000-words/ scoff-a-few-baguettes breeze to reach by Eurostar, though if you’re impatient, the plane barely takes off before they announce landing. The lantern-lit courtyards and terraces in summer are chic in that Northern European sense - low key, wafer-thin wine glass coterie with a dab of old school glamour and a refreshing absence of intense plastic surgery (my chief/obsessive observation while high end hotel hopping for work).

I could rattle on about this city till the koes come home, but that technique didn’t work on me, so I’ll keep things short and chic for you.

Here’s my compact guide to Antwerp (the best city break I’ve had in years), enjoy!

Stay

Botanic Sanctuary: A sprawling, Babylonesque hotel respun from a 13th century monastery (later a hospital). It lives up to its stars (all 5, Antwerp’s first) with a spa suspended in the tree canopy, three Michelin starred restaurants and lavishly restrained rooms that cleverly reference the building’s ecclesiastical past.

Hotel Julien: This old town boutique hotel played a seminal role in firing up the city’s designer hotel scene. It’s a pared down, masculine interior design proposition with midnight blue linens, low-slung furniture and dark lacquered woods. A small-but-mighty spa sits in the original cellar and the lounge and courtyard are glossy-mag worthy spots to linger in. While there’s no restaurant for lunch or dinner, the breakfasts hits the hip, designer pastry spot, the burgundy bar is small and sexy, and there’s one of Europe’s best collection of restaurants right on the hotel’s doorstep.

August: August is a reimagined Augustinian convent – the monastic calm referenced through the restrained, monochrome interiors. It’s Hotel Julien’s sister hotel, (the crumpled, earthy linens and slick Nordic furniture’s a giveaway) though lies 15 minutes across town in the pedestrianised Green Quarter. The spa punches above its weight (no pool), but it’s the restaurant that the hotel’s rightly proud of, with Nick Bril (chef at nearby knockout restaurant, The Jane) curating its menu.

Restaurants

Ciro’s: A brassy, white tablecloth’d Belgian institution where the food is as nostalgic as the warm service and foil-wrapped chocolates with the bill. No frills Flemish flair, without any whiff of modernity - heaven.

Osaka: a welcome break from the rich Flemish menus, Osaka’s menu harmonises like a dream with that distinctly Antwerpian raw, undressed architecture. And true to the city’s form, an easy-going atmosphere accompanies the elevated plates – spanking fresh sushi, oysters, shrimp toast – and the cracking wine bar makes it a great spot to linger in.

Henry’s Bar & Bistro: The beating heart of five star boutique hotel, Botanic Sanctuary, this plush watering hole-cum-bistro feels a ‘treaty’ spot without any of the stiff formalities. The bar is richly dressed in velvets and modern art, while the restaurant (more of a garden house) spills onto the terrace, where benches are framed by a tangle of jasmine and palms. Food wise, it’s all haute spins on bistro classics - your fois gras and steak frite (great wine too).

Restaurant Veranda: specialising in vegetarian and seafood plates, this Old Meat District restaurant shifts with the seasons and blithely ignores the fads. Its industrial interiors and courtyard penned in by those mottled, distinctly Northern European walls is the clean canvas keeping the spotlight on the food – scrumptious plates of baked celeriac with ham and asparagus with ham - basics done remarkably well for the menu prices.

Coffee, pastries, lingering spots