Newshot Article title: City Walk Guide | Antwerp, Where Fashion Lives in Everyday Life
Body: My trip this summer was originally supposed to end in Florence, but an unexpected turn of events meant I no longer had to work, so I took the opportunity to use my international flight change voucher and added a leg to Antwerp. My reason for visiting Antwerp was as strange as my reason for Italy—because this place has hosted several World Gymnastics Championships (what kind of strange reason is that, but it really is mine).
Back to the point: the real reason Antwerp is famous is, of course, Rubens and fashion designers. Hearing about it is one thing, but only after actually arriving here could I feel how deeply art and fashion have permeated this city. My last stop celebrating summer in Europe was this city where art and fashion blend perfectly.
Food and Drink
Unlike my previous travelogues on Rome and Florence, this time I'll start with food and drink. Antwerp was the last stop of my trip in Europe, so my tolerance for Western food was about to reach its limit. In Antwerp I ate a great many Asian meals, and two of them are worth recommending.
Satay, Antwerp
This was the first place I ate at after arriving in Antwerp. Since I had hardly had a single Asian meal in Italy, I naturally had fairly high expectations for it. As it turned out, Google Map really didn't lie to me—the food here is very much on point. Many of its dishes have a sweet-and-sour profile, and mango and lemon often appear as accompanying fruits, giving it an authentic Southeast Asian flavor; I really liked the texture of the rice—not the kind where every grain is distinct after washing, but clumped together yet still fairly firm and chewy; the drinks were also very good, with a full spice flavor that instantly brings back memories of Southeast Asia's tropical vibes.
I strongly recommend choosing a seat at the bar by the window. In front of the shop is a fairly narrow little road, but it is one of the tram lines. Sitting at the bar with a mojito, watching the trams go by and people in everyday yet stylish clothes bustling along the street, enjoying the long daylight hours unique to a European summer—this is one of the most memorable scenes of my summer, and I hope you get to have it too.
Master Ni Sichuan Restaurant
The only Chinese meal of my two weeks in Europe came from here. By the end of my trip in Antwerp, I was so exhausted I was close to falling ill, and I urgently needed a Chinese meal to get some strength back. After casually flipping through a few guides, this Chinese restaurant near Antwerp Central Station became my destination.
The two dishes I ordered were the classic kung pao chicken and dry-fried green beans. What surprised me somewhat was that this Sichuan restaurant used a lot of Sichuan peppercorn, but the saltiness was not very strong—it seemed closer to the taste of old-school Sichuan cuisine. The dry-fried green beans were clearly prepared on the "light" side, with the beans still retaining a strong original flavor; the kung pao chicken had less sugar and salt than what we generally eat in China, so the chicken's own flavor stood out more. Since I was already showing signs of getting sick and my appetite had clearly diminished a lot, these two dishes did not feel greasy to me and even had a slightly appetite-stimulating effect. Although food abroad is not as varied in flavor as in China, the oil and salt are no less than at home—by comparison, this Chinese meal at Master Ni even counts as "light," and I think it's very suitable for a change of taste while traveling abroad.
That said, I should also point out that the great taboo of traveling abroad is comparing everything to home, so when eating any Chinese food, never think about how authentic it will be—just treat it as a meal for a change of taste. Otherwise, whether the food is good or bad will be entirely determined by your mindset.
Of course, European food remained the focus of my eating in Antwerp.
Elfde Gebod Cathedral
This is the most hyped网红 pork chop restaurant in Antwerp, bar none—you can see it in the vlogs of almost every fashion blogger who comes here to shoot videos. This pork chop place is near Antwerp Cathedral, easy to find, and if you come on an evening during peak tourist season, remember to book in advance on IG. The signature dish—the pork chop—is really huge; one portion is enough for two people. The pork chop I ordered had a sweet-and-sour profile, with a very thick sauce that had fully marinated into the meat. The pork chop cuts fairly tender but still has a good chew. I also paired it with bread; dipping the bread in the sauce and eating it with the pork better stimulates the human palate's response to the sugar-and-fat combination.
For someone like me who isn't that into pork chops, this place is at a level that makes you willing to give it a try every so often. If you're worried the pork chop is too rich, pair it with a fruity beer—it will taste much more refreshing. Since Antwerp Cathedral is a place almost every visitor to Antwerp goes to, choosing the pork chop at Elfde Gebod Cathedral as your main meal is only logical.
Frites Atelier Antwerp
The legendary Michelin fries make their appearance. To be honest, I'm no food critic, and I didn't find anything stunning about these fries. But from what I observed, this shop only starts frying (or re-frying) after you order, so everyone basically gets a fresh batch—which naturally means they won't taste bad. Also, the shop has a rich variety of dipping sauces; when ordering, each person can choose how many sauces they want, and the staff will give you a corresponding number of small bowls to fill yourself, which is a really nice touch. The fries are indeed a large portion, and eating them alone still feels a bit rich to me, so in the end I ordered a beer to cut the grease. That said, Belgian beer is consistently good—as long as you order it at a decent restaurant, it tastes pretty good.
ANDY ROASTERS
I really like this specialty coffee shop. It's not far from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, and it's where I had breakfast on the morning I went to the museum. Xiaohongshu says this shop has a strong POPEYE vibe, and after going in, I found it really does—it really looks like a Japanese Cityboy-style coffee shop. The shop displays a large number of vinyl records, books and magazines, and even has a dedicated DJ turntable station.
I went on a Thursday morning local time. Although it was an ordinary workday, there were still quite a few people in the shop, with most seats taken. The coffee bean selection here ranges from dark to light roasts, and there's everything from Americano to pour-over to cold brew—quite rare on my trip through Europe. I really liked the milk coffee and cold brew made with the shop's light-roast beans; you can already smell a distinct fruity aroma. If you buy beans, the staff will also give you beans with the most suitable production date based on when you plan to use them—very thoughtful.
Art and Religion
Mention Antwerp and you have to mention Rubens. Although Rubens was born in Germany, Antwerp is his true "hometown." Today, most of Rubens's works are kept at the Prado Museum in Madrid, and his main footholds in Antwerp are only two places: the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and Antwerp Cathedral (also called the Cathedral of Our Lady). I went to these two places to see Rubens, but only after arriving did I discover that these places are far more than just Rubens.
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts began as something like a painters' guild, and it was not until 1810, when Napoleon formally ordered the founding of the Antwerp Museum, that the Royal Museum of Fine Arts was officially established. The museum's main collection figures include Rubens, James Ensor, and Rik Wouters. However, what truly made me feel "stunned" in this museum was not these artworks but the way the museum displays them. I found that in many exhibition halls, all four walls display period paintings by famous masters, yet on the floor of the halls are placed many modern sculptures and artworks, and even many fashion design works. In almost every larger exhibition hall, this is the display approach I'm describing.
We all know Antwerp produces designers and that its modern art is very strong, but what's unexpected is that modern artworks would share the same space as these classic masterworks. Among the many art museums and galleries I've seen, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp is one of the museums I think does the concept of "art fusion" best and most intuitively. Art from different eras and different schools is not meant to be separated; when you fuse them together, that is when art truly blends into life.
Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp
As a landmark of Antwerp, Antwerp Cathedral is a strikingly conspicuous presence in the city. Most churches in Europe have suffered destruction, and Antwerp Cathedral is no exception. Besides experiencing the common fires, the cathedral also suffered the iconoclastic movement in the Netherlands region, which destroyed many artworks from the 14th to 16th centuries inside the church—this is the main reason why the church's main artworks today are all works from after the 16th century.
Article title: City Walk Guide | Antwerp: Fashion Is in Everyday Life
The interior of the church is vast, with plenty to see. There are four important Rubens works here: The Elevation of the Cross, The Descent from the Cross, The Assumption of the Virgin, and The Resurrection of Christ. Appreciating religious paintings inside a church carries a special sense of the sacred, just as Buddha statues in temples always feel more powerful than those in museums.
The church building itself is not to be missed either, especially the stained glass windows, which I love very much. These windows come from different periods in history, so the themes depicted and the colors used all differ. Yet it seems to be precisely these differences that make the windows look more complex and more breathtaking.
Like the stained glass, the pulpit and the choir stalls are also well worth attention. The sculptures on the pulpit are exquisite in themselves; even as ordinary works of art, they have much to commend them. The choir stalls, by comparison, are more visually striking. Standing in the middle, my mind conjured scenes of choirs from many films; even if none of them was actually shot on location here, the memory is still easily evoked—perhaps that is the charm of art.
Apart from Sundays, the church is not usually crowded, and visitors can find plenty of places to sit and rest. You can arrive around ten in the morning; visiting plus resting can be arranged for about two hours in total, and then set off for grilled pork ribs—a perfect half-day trip in Antwerp complete.
Fashion and Life
Besides Rubens, Antwerp's other major keyword is the Antwerp Six. The glory of the Six drove the prosperity of Antwerp's art and design industry, and they also gave rise to many world-famous designers and fashion stores. Although I have some say when it comes to dressing, what left a deep impression on me here was not any specific designer, store, or brand, but rather the atmosphere of fashion integrated into life that I felt here.
I visited a large number of designer brand stores and multi-brand boutiques, all concentrated in one area of the city center, making them easy to browse. Designer stores inevitably carry many rather exaggerated styles that don't look "everyday," yet plenty of people on the street wear them. Moreover, when many people enter a store, the staff or the designer themselves will focus on introducing the concept behind the brand or the design of individual pieces—the needs they want to meet or the viewpoints they want to express. Multi-brand boutiques, by contrast, are characterized by a clear theme. Many boutiques in Antwerp don't simply gather brands together but select pieces according to the store's own concept, so walking into each store I could feel a different yet distinct atmosphere—something I don't experience in many boutiques back in China.
Designer stores and boutiques are already interesting enough, but Antwerp's fashion goes far beyond that. The vintage stores here also stand out: low prices and unconventional styles. Vintage is now a kind of popular fashion, so many people go to vintage stores specifically to hunt for rare pieces or classic items from a particular batch, and over time vintage seems to have become something with a barrier to entry on the Chinese internet. Here, though, the customers in vintage stores all look like ordinary people; they come simply to buy clothes—clothes they will actually wear in daily life. Few obsess over finding rare pieces; they pay only for what looks good. Such a relaxed vintage atmosphere is hard to find in China. Also, a friendly warning: Antwerp's vintage stores are practically out to rob you—if you've got your wallet ready, get a sack ready too.
So you see, fashion here permeates people's lives. Even the skateboard kids on the street in tank tops and basketball shorts have an outfit with a fit that is both proper and casual. Seeing how they dress gives a sense of upward vitality, and that vitality has nothing to do with color—who says black, white, and gray can't be worn with vibrant energy?
But there is one brand in Antwerp that must be mentioned—Arte. This brand can be called the representative of Antwerp's lifestyle fashion. Founded in 2009, it matured in 2010 and became a calling card for Antwerp. Arte's clothing styles are the kind that are plain yet full of clever design touches, very suitable for everyday wear. As for its characteristics, two cannot be ignored: first, it incorporates a large amount of music, street culture, and youth community elements, often using small areas of bold graffiti or color as important accents on the clothes; second, because it insists on local design, many pieces are printed with "@Antwerp," giving them a strong local flavor. Besides wearing it yourself, it also makes a great souvenir.
Thinking About Urban Development Through Antwerp
The city is a fascinating concept. Whether it's humanity's early move from settlements to city-states, or the urbanization that has now nearly peaked, the word "city" has deeply participated in and run through our lives. I once thought that urban development only needed to preserve its own style and character; now I think urban development must also inspire people's passion for life. Megacities and ordinary small cities are the same: if they cannot inspire people's passion for living there, they are nothing but empty shells.
Antwerp is not large, and I stayed here only four or five days, yet every day walking the streets, everywhere I looked was boundless vitality. Art, culture, and fashion in this city are ultimately transformed into the temperament of the people, into an atmosphere you can feel even in the air. So a good city is not a matter of size, nor simply of whether it has cultural depth; the key is whether its urban development has its own temperament, its own "aesthetic intelligence," and whether it can break free from the mindset of construction performance metrics and uniformity. If you feel you're "barely alive," then hurry to a place full of living people to revive yourself. All it takes is a plane ticket to send yourself to Antwerp. Don't hesitate—set off toward happiness.
Follow SSPAI on Xiaohongshu and experience a wonderful digital life 🍃
A simple, easy-to-use, focused writing app, presented to you by SSPAI 🚀