To do: Mercado Antwerp

Mercado in Antwerp: Belgium’s first covered food hall. The location? The former post office on the Groenplaats: super central, incredibly atmospheric and packed with delicious food. FavorFlav’s Renée went there and is here to bring you up to speed.

The former post office on the Groenplaats seems almost as though it was built to become a food hall. Where you used to stand at one of the counters to send a package, people now jostle at one of the thirteen stalls for a portion of buttermilk fried chicken or an Instagram-worthy bubble waffle. In the middle of the hall, there are no bored people waiting for their number to be called, but long folding tables filled with food, drinks and hungry diners.

Since opening in October (2016), it has been packed day in, day out. Once you’ve managed to secure a table, the great ‘who’s staying seated and who’s going to get the beer and food’ ritual can begin; duly noted. Of course, I didn’t order something at every stall – even I have my limits – but what I ate was delicious and definitely worth trying:

Crunchy falafel

At Yalla Yalla Beirut Streetfood, a stall run by two Lebanese-Flemish sisters, you can get sandwiches with genuinely the crunchiest falafel ever. The picture-perfect flatbreads in the display case also make a strong case for themselves, but – bearing in mind everything else you can eat here – don’t give in too quickly. Better safe than sorry.

From head to tail

If you cross the street diagonally, you’ll end up at The Seafood Bar, the stall run by Antwerp-famous Philippe Hawinkel (including The Oyster Stall and Plateau Royal). Here, the stress of choice increases, because what do you order when you’re standing in front of a display case full of fresh whelks, lobsters, Normandy oysters and house-cured herring? In the end, I didn’t get beyond a huge portion of fried anchovies, because: fried and anchovies. For a brief moment, I imagined myself at a market in Indonesia, although a glass of Stella quickly helped me out of that dream.

Take away

Before heading home, stop by Lighthouse for an artisanal shrimp croquette to eat out of hand – and okay, one more beer then – and don’t forget to pick up one of those creamy balls of burrata at Bufala. Of course, you can make something delicious with it, but we simply ate it as it was; with toasted bread and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Finally, gin lovers should quickly head upstairs for a visit to Gintermezzo: a pop-up where, until the end of this year, you can exclusively get gin made in Belze. A great Christmas gift, if you ask me.

Image: Renée Conradi