The Best Italian Food in Antwerp
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The best Italian food in Antwerp, according to the experts: 50 Top Italy, the Michelin Guide, and Le Fooding have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Materia comes out on top, and the good stuff runs deepest in Antwerpen.
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Cannolo and De SmaakNatie hold the next two places. The Michelin Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Le Fooding next.
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Rank 1. Materia
Italian
You push through a curtain off the gravel path and land in an all-black room lit like a film set, which turns out to be a fine-dining Italian restaurant in Antwerp doing something genuinely unfamiliar: contemporary Italian cooking stripped of every cliché. The tasting menu is the move, built around obsessive sourcing and a kitchen that treats playfulness as a technique. It placed in the 50 Top Italy global rankings, which is quite a thing for a room this far from Rome.
The awards
- 50 Top Italy 50 Top Italy: #38 · The Best Italian Restaurants In The World
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 2. Cannolo
Sicilian
The awards
- Le Fooding Le Fooding: Le Fooding Guide
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Rank 2. De SmaakNatie
Italian
The awards
- Le Fooding Le Fooding: Le Fooding Guide
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Rank 2. Mario
Italian
The awards
- Le Fooding Le Fooding: Le Fooding Guide
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Rank 5. Le Pristine
Contemporary Italian
Sergio Herman's Italian-leaning restaurant sits in Antwerp's fashion district, where a cocktail bar runs along the front and an open kitchen anchors the dining room at the back. The vibe skips the red-checkered tablecloth clichés entirely, landing somewhere between American diner cool and Tuscan ease. The kitchen pairs Italian instincts with Belgian coastal ingredients, the kind of pairing that quietly makes more sense than it has any right to.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
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Rank 5. Pazzo
Modern Italian
A terrace across the street and a wine bar upstairs: Pazzo spreads out like it owns the neighbourhood, which, after this many years on Oudeleeuwenrui, it more or less does. The kitchen splits its loyalties evenly between Italy and France, cycling through market-driven plates that treat the main ingredient as the point rather than the occasion. The wine list is taken seriously, and the upstairs bar has enough personality to justify a second visit on its own.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 5. Upton
Modern Italian
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
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Rank 8. Le John
Modern Italian
Le John is a neo-bistro in Antwerp's Zuid with a Modern European menu that leans Italian and a dining room lit just dimly enough to forgive anything. Groups of friends settle in over Sicilian wine while couples claim the corners and conduct whole conversations through eye contact. The kitchen backs it up with a peppery steak and fries, pumpkin tortellini, and olive oil gelato.
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: Where To Eat & Drink In Antwerp