After a long day of sightseeing in Antwerp and unexpected torrential downpours, we rallied for the evening. Since we hadn’t eaten too long before, we decided our first stop would be for cocktails at a place cleverly named, Sips Cocktailbar.
Sips is owned by Manuel Wouters. Manuel offers an impressive menu of cocktails to his patrons. For many years, Manuel worked on the Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s most luxurious cruise ship. There, he made cocktails for the rich and famous and decided to create a cocktail bar equally elegant and intimate. Sips boasts a menu of over one thousand cocktail recipes that the staff can skillfully whip up without a manual. They use only the best liquors and with room for only about 30 inside, they keep the cocktails coming. This is a good place to go if you want to one, taste the best cocktail you’ve ever had, and two, pay the price. Cocktails here start at €12- not outrageous for how delicious they are. I recommend the Lavender Margarita.
Sips Cocktailbar, Gillisplaats 8, 2000 Antwerpen
After Sips, we made our way to dinner in Antwerp. We wandered the streets awhile before finally deciding on a place that appealed to our senses. The menu was not in English and no one in there seemed to be a tourist- in my opinion, both great signs. Café Shilling is a modern brasserie with an eclectic atmosphere. Book shelves line the walls with rare artifacts and vintage albums. The ceiling is tin on one end and made of old door frames on the other. Great beer on tap, a good wine list, and excellent food. The menu is not in English, but the waitresses are friendly and will help you decipher the menu. We all ordered specials, and I cannot begin to tell you what they were called, but not a morsel of food was left on our plates.
Café Shilling, Earl of Egmont Street 60, 2000 Antwerpen
Now that we were full, the party could begin. We didn’t have a set itinerary for the evening, we just wanted to enjoy a few drinks, meet a few locals, and have a few laughs. You will be happy to know, we succeeded. After eating far too much, we continued onto Bar Neptune (since closed). Bar Neptune was basically a retro hole in the wall on the Marnixplaats- a roundabout with a buzzing nightlife.
Everyone here was in their twenties and looking to have a good time. The bar is small with a long turquoise formica countertop that curves much like you would imagine a 1950s American diner. The back wall is panelled in wood and made cozy with the addition of a few sofas and a very abstract work of art overhead. The front section is basically empty with a few school style chairs. It reminded me a lot of a very well planned basement party back in 6th grade.
Besides the decor, the beats were bumpin’. The owner was behind the bar with his best friend. They curated a well crafted playlist of songs you just want to groove to. The drink menu was equally creative with my favorite being the Red De-Light. A concoction of muddled strawberries, gin, and plenty of other goodness. If you don’t like cocktails, they have plenty of beer and wine as well.
After one drink, I assumed we would move on… but the longer we stayed, the more we drank, and the more things got “weird”. When the moms arrived, I knew we were in for an interesting evening. Backup: My friend began chatting with a group of women we collectively called “The Moms”. Sadly inaccurate seeing that only one of the ladies was in fact a “mom”. They began chatting up a storm, like moms tend to do, and one drink turned into three. Before we knew it, what we meant to be a quiet night turned into an exciting affair. Taking the bartender’s suggestion, we ditched the moms for a nearby posh new Antwerp spot, Plein Publiek.
Bar Neptune, Marnixplaats 10, 2000 Antwerpen
Disclaimer: Plein Publiek has only been open four months in Antwerp. Sadly, I found out today, Plein Publiek is temporarily closed due to a number of venue and insurance concerns. They are optimistic they will be able to reopen this spring. That said, Plein Publiek is a fabulous venue. It is a greenhouse style building, built in the center of a square of apartment buildings. To get in, you go through a small non-suggestive alleyway. Afterwards, you have to go to a coin machine to get tokens for your drinks. The bartenders do not accept cash. The DJ was great but the space was very crowded with very few people dancing. We did our best to get the crowd going and had fun on our own. The venue itself is worth visiting, and if evenings aren’t your thing, I hear they do brunch too.
Plein Publiek, Van Craesbeeckstraat 29, 2000 Antwerpen
We stopped by another Antwerp spot worth mentioning, The Dirty Rabbit. The Dirty Rabbit is a bar that is constantly winning awards for it’s concept and bartenders. The menu is made up of small plates to share with inventive sexual innuendos for names like “The Suck on My Dirty Salty Balls”. Yeah. In addition to a suggestive menu, there is a stripper pole in the backroom where a DJ generally mixes beats while the world class bartenders pour whatever you desire. The atmosphere here is on point, the only reason we decided to leave is because it was before 10 pm, we were too hungry for small plates, and didn’t have quite enough tequila shots for the stripper pole.
The Dirty Rabbit, Gentplaats 1, 2000 Antwerpen
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