You can watch my VLOG videos here: Moonback citytrip to Antwerp Day 1 and Moonback citytrip to Antwerp Day 2
Antwerp is close to the Netherlands, and a short stay in Antwerp already gives you a wonderful holiday feeling with its rich cultural life, a beautiful historic city center, good restaurants, wonderful hotels and a huge choice of shops for the shopaholics. One thing is for sure, it never gets boring when you visit Antwerp.
1. This is Moonback
To the Moon and Back with Moonback. This is Moonback: an honest booking site that helps you find a hotel that is the perfect match for you, in the area where you want to stay. Moonback is founded bij Dutch founder Niels Meijssen, as a result of his LinkedIn post in 2020 that has gone viral.
Moonback started on 16 September 2021 in Antwerp in Belgium. The city is a very popular destination among the Dutch and is therefore an ideal starting point for Moonback.
Lucky winner
In May 2021 you could win a weekend trip to Antwerp on Moonback’s Instagram account and I was one of the lucky winners of the prize. I was so happy with this prize, especially after a year of Covid restrictions and lockdown, I could finally go abroad again. Moonback announced in June 2021 that they would start their booking site in Antwerp and that you can book a city trip with Moonback to this wonderful city from September 2021.
We went with our city trip to Antwerp in August 2021. To start the fun, I received a surprise box from Moonback containing all kinds of travel stuff, such as a Moonbag bag, a canary yellow notebook and a toothbrush.
The price included: an overnight stay in the Lindner Hotel & City Lounge Antwerp including breakfast and also a first class two-way train ticket.
2. Lindner Hotel & City Lounge Antwerp
We stayed a night at the Linder Hotel & City Lounge in the Diamond district at the Lange Kievitstraat 125 in Antwerp. The Lindner hotel is located near the center of Antwerp within walking distance of the beautiful cathedral-like Antwerp Central train station.
We had a luxurious junior suite with a wide balcony and a beautiful view of Antwerp. An amazing room with a harmonious interior with a casual-elegant design. A double bed with a nice soft mattress and lots of different pillows to choose from. A stylish sitting area next to the window with a comfortable long chair where I could relax and go through my travel notes. In the shower a bathtub for a wonderful bubbling bath.
At Lindner Hotel & City Lounge they gave us different vouchers which we were able to return in exchange for: Belgian chocolates, Belgian waffles, Belgian fries and Belgian beer. I will write about these places in my blog below.
Address Lindner Hotel & City Lounge: Lange Kievitstraat 125, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
3. KWAT Antwerp
KWAT is Kebab With A Twist. At KWAT Kebab they have taken the kebab to the next level. The concept behind KWAT kebab is: a delicious midnight snack that turned into a culinary master piece. The kebab is very underrated which is why they wanted to revive it. The kebab is basically the bun, but all the ingredients in it are the twist. Each sandwich is made with natural ingredients and has its own twist.
We had:
- The Pulled Chicken
- The Tuna Steak
- The Pink Shampi
- The Black Pepper
At KWAT kebab you don’t eat a kebab, but a luxurious KWAT.
Address Kwat: Hoogstraat 45, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
4. Neuhaus Chocolates
The original Belgian praline was born at the first Neuhaus Boutique in 1912. Since then, all Neuhaus chocolates has been made entirely in Belgium. We were very curious about these Belgian chocolates, but unfortunately when we got to the shop it was closed on Sunday. When we come back to Antwerp another time, we will taste the Neuhaus Belgian chocolates.
Address Neuhaus: Korte Gasthuisstraat 1, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
5. Belgian Waffles at The Smallest Waffle Shop
The Smallest Waffle Shop in The World is the name of this place with Belgian waffles. When we were looking for the waffle shop, it’s indeed the smallest waffle shop in the world. It was so small, that we could hardly find it! A small waffle stall in the middle of the street.
The Belgian waffles were freshly made for us and we had one with Nutella chocolate and one with whipped cream and Nutella on top of it. Even though it says on their canopy that their waffles don’t need toppings, it makes them extra tasty and it also looks very cheerful. Best Belgian waffles in town!
Address: Meirbrug 1, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
6. Belgian Fries at Fritkot Max
Fritkot Max, which has been around since 1842, is very well known for their Belgian fries, not only by the locals, but also by people from other countries. Many tourists visit Fritkot Max, as do the Dutch and the first thing they ask for is a ‘Patatje Oorlog’ (Potato War). We asked the same thing! A ‘Patatje Oorlog’ usually consists of a portion of fries topped with a dollop of mayonnaise, peanut sauce and freshly chopped onions.
At Fritkot Max they don’t have the ‘Patatje Oorlog’, but what they do have might be even better. A typical Belgian fries combination with warm stew sauce and mayonnaise. This is how they taste best:
Put all your fries on a plate. Sprinkle salt on your fries. Then you slowly put the warm stew sauce on the fries. Finally, put the mayonnaise on top. Enjoy your Belgian fries!
Address Fritkot Max: Groenplaats 12, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
7. Belgian ‘Bolleke Koninck’ beer at Café Den Engel
Café Den Engel was opened around 1903 and is the brown cafe of Antwerp located right next to the city hall. At Cafe Den Engel you can get their Bolleke Koninck, a typical Belgian beer brewed in the city brewery in Antwerp. Bolleke Koninck owes its name to its spherical glass. This has been the iconic beer of Antwerp since 1952. It’s a light and tasty beer that is nice and easy to drink, especially for someone like me who normally doesn’t drink beer.
Address Café Den Engel: Grote Markt 3, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
8. Otomat
At Otomat you can get heavenly pizza and glorious beer. Otomat is a very well known pizza restaurant in Antwerp.
Otomat translated from French means ‘with tomato’ and notomat means ‘without tomato’.
At Otomat they have two different types of pizza:
- The Otomat Pizza with tomato sauce.
- The Notomat Pizzas with white sauce.
The concept of Otomat revolves around sharing, which is why they have also put plates on the table, so that you can put the pizzas in the middle of the table in company and share everything.
Most people know pizza with red tomato sauce, but if you look at the white side, their sour cream pizzas are so unique that people are always surprised. At first you see people doubting sour cream, but when they taste it, it immediately hits the mark, which is really nice.
The Otomat pizzas are typical Belgian pizzas, because they use Duvel yeast in their dough. Duvel is Belgian beer and at Otomat they make their dough fresh every day, always with Duvel. You can’t taste the beer in it, but the dough overall is a really unique Otomat recipe. At Otomat they always combine their pizzas with a beer, that’s why they have a lot of different types of beers.
We tasted four different pizzas, two of them white (Notomat) and two red (Otomat). The pizzas were heart shaped and round and every pizza came with a different Belgian beer.
These are the pizzas we had:
- Notomat ♥: The Give Pears a Chance with blue cheese combined with pear and syrup.
- Otomat: The Ritmo de la Nacho, a Mexican styled pizza with nachos, sour cream and guacamole on top.
- Notomat: The Classic Bianca with extra stracciatella and arugula.
- Otomat ♥: The Indian Madras with chicken, curry madras and mango.
Address Otomat: Van Schoonbekeplein 11, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
