Special report - Brussels, Antwerp: the avant-garde

Brussels, Antwerp: the avant-garde
Belgium: practical guide and good addresses

Belgium: practical guide and good addresses

By The Editor -

Published on 18/07/2013

Identity card

Currency: the euro.

Area code: +32.

How to get there

Paris-Brussels: A Thalys leaves Paris-Gare du Nord every half-hour or so for Brussels-Midi, making 24 trains a day. Journey time: 1 h 22. Catering service in Comfort 1 and private use of the Le Salon area (4 seats).

Brussels-Antwerp: three or four trains per hour. Journey time around forty minutes.

Antwerp-Paris: 11 Thalys trains a day connect Antwerpen-Central and Paris-Gare du Nord.Journey time: 2 hrs 02 mins.

For more information

In Paris

Belgium Flanders & Brussels Tourist Office

6, rue Euler. 75 008 Paris (closed to the public).
Tel.: 01 56 89 14 42
Email : info@tbfb.org
Internet: www.visitflanders.fr

In Brussels

Toerisme Vlaanderen

Grasmarkt 61. 1000 Brussels.
Phone: +32 (0)2 504 03 00
Internet: www.toerismevlaanderen.be
(Meet in Flanders department)
Tel.: +32 (0)2 504 04 35
Internet: www.meetinflanders.com

In Antwerp

Antwerp Tourism & Convention

Grote Markt 15. 2000 Antwerpen
Tel.: +32 (0)3 232 01 03
Email : visit@stad.antwerpen.be
Internet: www.visitantwerpen.be
(MICE department)
Tel.: +32 (0)3 338 81 81
Email : meeting@stad.antwerpen.be

Reception

Ovation Global DMC

Avenue de Tervueren 300. 1150 Brussels.
Tel.: +32 (0)2 739 30 22
Email : hugo.slimbrouck@ovationdmc.com
Internet: ovationdmc.com/belgium

In Brussels

Hotels

Royal Windsor Hotel

It's one of the city's best-known hotels, and at one time played host to showbiz celebrities from the Stones to Johnny Hallyday. But above all, it's incredibly well located, just a minute's walk from the Grand-Place. This famous square can be admired from the terrace of a prodigious 400 m²The Grand Place suite can be hired for cocktails or product presentations. Created in 2011, it has created quite a buzz. For the rest, the Royal Windsor offers 267 very elegant rooms, including 16 suites from which the Royal Suite stands out, a truly royal suite with its dining room, study, lounge, bar and even private sauna. 15 meeting rooms for up to 470 people.

Rue Duquesnoy 5
Tel.: +32 (0)2 505 55 55
Email : resa.royalwindsor@warwickhotels.com
Internet: www.warwickhotels.com

The Hotel

Everything is clean, precise and bright... The tower of the former Hilton has been replaced by The Hotel, part of which is still unfinished. The view of Brussels from the rooms is exceptional. In a small token of appreciation, the management has provided guests with a long view in each of the rooms, allowing them to see the landscape even more closely. Another plus: the hotel is located on the highly prestigious Boulevard de Waterloo, where all the international fashion labels line up. 403 rooms and 18 suites. 11 meeting rooms (for up to 400 people).

Boulevard de Waterloo 38
Tel.: +32 (0)2 504 33 35
Email : info@thehotel.be
Internet: www.thehotel-brussels.be

Hotel Bloom

It's young, fresh and colourful. At aperitif time, with the bar opening directly onto the street, between rounds of beer and bursts of laughter, you feel more like you're in the latest trendy bistro than in a hotel bar. And that's just as well. Everything else is the same, from the lobby, where a discreet perfume is diffused, to the rooms, all identical and yet all different. By what prodigy? The management asked young artists from art schools around the world to paint the wall that serves as the headboard. With complete freedom. The result is more or less successful depending on the room, which you can choose on a tablet when you check in or make your reservation. The Bloom is the arty place to be. 305 rooms, 12 meeting rooms (for up to 350 people).

Rue Royale 250
Tel.: +32 (0)2 220 66 11
Email : info@hotelbloom.com
Internet: www.hotelbloom.com and www.facebook.com/hotelbloom

Restaurants

Belga Queen

Designed by Belgian-Portuguese interior architect Antoine Pinto, Belga Queen is housed in a former bank. A perfect kitchen in a decor that reinterprets the surrealism that is omnipresent in Brussels in a contemporary way. It's obviously one of today's musts.

Rue Fossé-aux-Loups 32
Tel.: +32 (0)2 217 21 87
Email : info.brussels@belgaqueen.be
Internet: www.belgaqueen.be

Kwint

Very top-of-the-range and breathtaking decor with a tortuous abstract sculpture dominating the entire room. Just below the Palais des Congrès.

Mont des arts 1
Tel.: +32 (0)2 505 95 95
Email : info@kwintbrussels.com
Internet: www.kwintbrussels.com

Cospaia

In the fashion district of Brussels, just opposite The Hotel, this restaurant - one room white, the other black - is the talk of the town. The food is sumptuous, but the service is... let's say a little reserved. Which is very rare in Belgium, and that's a shame.

Captain Crespel 1
Tel.: +32 (0)2 513 03 03
Email : info@cospaia.be
Internet: www.cospaia.be

Places for private hire

Alex & Alex

Chocolate and champagne tasting in exceptional locations, including 4 de la Grand Place. Project manager: Charles-Eric Vilain XIIII.

Rue de la paille 32
Tel.: 32 476 61 23 45
Email : charles-eric@alex-alex.eu
Internet: www.alex-alex.eu

Zaabär (chocolatier)

Chaussée de Charleroi 125
Tel.: +32 (0)2 533 95 80
Email : info@zaabar.be
Internet: www.zaabar.com

Mmmmh (cooking class)

Chaussée de Charleroi 92
Tel.: +32 (0)2 534 23 40Email : info@mmmmh.be
Internet: www.mmmmh.be

Belgian Comic Strip Centre (and Brasserie Horta)

Rue des Sables 20
Tel.: +32 (0)2 219 19 80
Email : visit@cbbd.be
Internet: www.cbbd.be

Villa Empain

The ground floor and first floor can be used privately for cocktails for up to 600 people. Seated dinner
and projection for up to 200 people.

Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 67
Tel.: +32 (0)2 627 52 30
Email : info@boghossianfoundation.be
Internet: www.villaempain.com

Hotel Solvay

This major work by Victor Horta can be reserved for prestigious events.

Avenue Louise 224
Tel.: +32 (0)2 640 56 45
Email : info@hotelsolvay.be
Internet: www.hotelsolvay.be

In Antwerp

Hotels

Lindner Hotel

Unpretentious, but recent, young and very comfortable, this four-star hotel has the advantage of direct access to the station. Some of its 173 rooms overlook the diamond district.
Oh, the beautiful last-minute gifts...

Lange Kievitstraat 125
Phone: + 32 (0)3 227 77 00
Email : info.antwerpen@lindnerhotels.be
Internet: www.lindnerhotels.be

Restaurants

Zuiderterras

Directly on the Scheldt, this spectacular restaurant, designed by bOb Van Reeth, specialises in seafood.

Ernest Van Dijckkaai 37.
Tel.: + 32 (0)3 234 12 75
Email : info@zuiderterras.be
Internet: www.zuiderterras.be

Horta

With a name like that, you'd expect this restaurant to be totally Art Nouveau. However, apart from the iron beams and a few elements salvaged from old buildings once constructed by the master, there is very little of the famous Belgian school of architecture. The decor is resolutely contemporary and the menu, both Belgian and French, very generous. Salle des fêtes on the first floor (500 people for seated dinners, up to 1,000 for cocktails).

Hopland 2
Tel.: +32 (0)3 203 56 61
Email : info@grandcafehorta.be
Internet: www.grandcafehorta.be

Places for private hire

AMUZ (Saint Augustin church)

This former church, which has retained all its decorative features, is no longer used for worship. As a result, it can be completely privatised without committing the slightest sacrilege. It's very unexpected,
all the same...

Kammenstraat 81
Tel.: + 32 (0)3 202 46 69
Email : klaartje.heiremans@amuz.be
Internet: www.amuz.be

The sacristy of the chaplains of Notre Dame Cathedral

Built between 1352 and 1521, it can be hired out for cocktails, a sit-down dinner or a product presentation.

Groenplaats 21
Tel.: +32 (0)3 213 99 70
Email. : I.evens@dekathedraal.be
Internet: www.dekathedraal.be

Museum aan de Stroom (MAS)

A superb tower-museum built by Willem Jan Neutelings featuring ethnographic, maritime and folk art collections. It is located in the trendy Eilandje district, and its top floor can be rented for private use.

Hanzestedenplaats 1
Phone: + 32 (0)3 338 44 00
Email : mas@stad.antwerpen.be
Internet: www.mas.be

Felix Pakhuis (Felix warehouse)

A sublime warehouse-gallery overlooking the marina. Fully privatizable.

Godefriduskaai 30
Tel.: +32 (0)3 203 03 30
Email : events@felixpakhuis.nu
Internet: www.felixpakhuis.nu

Paleis op de Meir (Palace of Meir)

For a very exclusive dinner in a slightly baroque room in a palace that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, William 1^erand then to the Belgian Royal Household. On the ground floor is the boutique of Dominique Persoone, one of Belgium's most talented - and craziest - chocolatiers.

Meir 50
Tel.: +32 (0)3 206 21 21
Email : info@paleisopdemeir.be
Internet: www.paleisopdemeir.be