Earlier this week, the VENUEZ Hospitality Awards 2016 were granted at the Grand Casino in Knokke-Heist, from best cocktail bar and most original restaurant concept to smartest design and Rookie of the Year. With no less than 6 out of 14 awards, the Antwerp hospitality scene was the big winner!
Congratulations to all winners, and those from Antwerp in particular!
Antwerp’s winners of the Venuez Hospitality Awards 2016
- Culinary talent: Dimitri Proost of Dim Dining, where he serves delicate and creative Japanese cuisine with a Western touch.
- Best coffee concept: Butcher’s Coffee, a no-nonsense coffee bar where you’re served the perfect coffee. The jury was full of praise about the interior as well, which refers to the butcher’s store that this place once used to be.
- Best bar concept: Bar Burbure a.k.a. the cocktail bar where Milan, Manhattan and London come together in the upscale South of Antwerp. Sommelier Jurgen Lijcops calls his place “not just another cocktail bar” and the jury fully agreed with that.
- Best cocktail bar: Bijou, where good products are at the basis of every cocktail, which makes the bar a valuable asset to the Belgian cocktail scene.
- Best bartender: Didier Van den Broeck from Dogma, also known as “the crazy bartender”. On the bar’s website, Didier describes himself as “always ready to show you a good time. Loud, fast, fucked in the head.” So go check that out for yourself… :-)
- Entrepreneur of the year: John Verept, owner of RAS, Restaurant Aan de Stroom. In an outstanding setting in terms of architecture, interior decoration, art and design, lunching or dining at RAS goes beyond food. It’s a total experience: while your taste buds are being pampered, you get carried along by the timeless flow of the water… John is also the driving force behind Café Victor at BOZAR Brussels.
Have you already been to one of these award-winning places? What did you think?