On Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October, the City of Antwerp is organizing the eighth edition of the culinary festival Smaakmeesters or Taste Masters, in different parts of the city. Around a hundred Antwerp catering and specialty shops will allow visitors to taste their mastery for an entire weekend and the city center will once again be filled with fun culinary animations, such as cooking demonstrations, culinary walks and blind tastings. 

New this year are the photo treasure hunt, a culinary painter’s market for the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp or KMSKA, an exhibition in the M HKA and cinema will screen Cartoon’s culinary films especially for the occasion.

This year again, more than 100 catering and specialty shops provide a varied and extensive range, from typical Flemish dishes to exotic delicacies, from coffees to cocktails. 

Brasseries and restaurants, coffee bars, wine and cocktail bars, bakeries and patissiers, chocolatiers, ice cream parlors and tearooms are all participating, despite the acute staff shortage in the hospitality industry and the extra effort that this requires from them. For a weekend they serve tastings and suggestions in their shop. In addition to the city center, foodies can also visit ‘t Eilandje and ‘t Zuid (The South).

Alderman for Small Businesses and Tourism Koen Kennis (N-VA): “Smaakmeesters is to the culinary festivals in Flanders what Tomorrowland is to the music festivals: it pioneers and innovates, it sets the tone, it brings the best of the best, and … you can see stars there. Our chefs are excellent ambassadors for the city, we should not underestimate what they do for the image of Antwerp”.

A bold marketing-driven exaggeration. 

Cooking demonstrations, blind tastings and culinary walks

Ten Smaakmeesters give free cooking demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday at the Groenplaats, where visitors will also find the information point of this festival. The chefs hand out their preparations in small portions to the spectators.

Established restaurant Sir Anthony Van Dyck is once again offering blind tastings, in which participants taste delicious snacks in a completely darkened pop-up restaurant, in the shadow of the Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS).

Another permanent feature are the culinary walks in different parts of the city, where two experienced guides show people around every day and pass by various participating catering and specialty shops.

New this year

Visitors who prefer to walk on their own can undertake a real photo hunt. The treasure hunt, which can be found in the Smaakmeesters brochure, is located in ‘t Zuid and is made for young and old.

Sunday

On Sunday 2 October, the artistic exhibitors of Lambermontmartre in ‘t Zuid will hold a special Taste Masters edition of their well-known painters’ market, with the best food painters, just before the newly opened KMSKA.

In the conservatory of the M HKA, Sint-Lucas art school exhibits student Susanna Buonocore, her talented mother Malvina and Scoby Club. Visitors will discover here how you can not only cook deliciously with turmeric, avocado or beetroot, but also color textiles using different techniques.

Film buffs can visit the Cartoon’s cinema in the city center, where they program a few films especially for the occasion in the context of gastronomy.

More information and the full program can be found at www.smaakmeesters.be.

Taste Masters Deluxe

On Sunday 2 October, the City of Antwerp is organizing Smaakmeesters Deluxe, an exclusive event with limited places, where top chef Dennis Broeckx offers guests a delicious three-course menu in the unique setting of Antwerp Opera House. Participants also get an exclusive tour backstage in the opera house.

This obviously already sold out

Shopping Sunday and other activities

This year, Smaakmeesters also coincides with the monthly Shopping Sunday, the Weekend of the Customer and Antwerp Fashion Weekend. The city therefore expects a pleasant crowd during this first weekend of October.

Free transportation

During the entire weekend you can commute for free within the center of Antwerp. 

Electric tuk-tuks and Poppy shared scooters will be provided, with which the city wants to encourage its visitors to move sustainably.

More information

• Programme 1 October.
• Programme 2 October.
• Participating food shops.