Experience

ANTWERP | Maagdenhuis repurposed and now houses social project Restaurant Samenloop

Posted by Timothy on

On 14 February 2025, the non-profit organisation GATAM vzw will open a new catering concept in the Maagdenhuis or Maidens’ House in Antwerp. Restaurant Samenloop serves gastronomic dishes, based on the culinary memories of refugees and newcomers from other countries. 

Davy Schellemans is the first curator to advise on the composition of the menu. ​

​​A new restaurant

With a new catering concept in the Maagdenhuis, GATAM is once again putting their cooking training for vulnerable people with a distance to the labour market in the spotlight. 

Restaurant Samenloop will open on 14 February. As usual, the menu will feature a number of original dishes based on the culinary memories of refugees and newcomers from other countries who learn on the job at GATAM. ​

Davy Schellemans, owner and chef of restaurant Veranda and Café Commercial in the old slaughterhouse neighbourhood of Antwerp North, is the curator of the menu and the first ambassador for Samenloop.

After three months, another chef will follow in his footsteps, and he is already known: Victor Avonds, a young female chef who has already been nominated twice for ‘Lady Chef of the Year‘, will take up the gauntlet (or the whisk) after Davy.

With this rotation concept – both in terms of location and curator-chef – the restaurant wants to continue to be inventive and surprising and respond to the combination of circumstances that the main characters in this story – the people with a distance to the labor market who are following the training – constantly have to deal with.

Tables were borrowed, chairs were bought second-hand and all the tableware and cutlery of the restaurant are a donation from the Kringwinkel Antwerp.

Alderman for Work, Culture, Equal Opportunities and International Solidarity Lien Van de Kelder (Vooruit): “Soon, different stories will come together in the Maagdenhuis. In line with the site’s past: a story of care for the vulnerable, of work, of culture, of equal opportunities and much more. With respect for the story of the Maagdenhuis, we will be writing a new and contemporary story here from Valentine’s Day – could it be at a better time – until the renovation of the site starts in a few years. I am very happy that fifteen people with a distance to the labor market will be working here and that the Maagdenhuis will once again be an open house for the neighborhood. Another fun fact: the tableware for the restaurant is a donation from the Kringwinkel Antwerp, so on top of everything else it will also be a story of circularity. Welcome.”

The Maagdenhuis

The Maagdenhuis is located in a historic building from the 16th and 17th centuries in the Lange Gasthuisstraat (Long Hospice Street). In the past, it served as an orphanage for girls and until last summer it was a museum about the Antwerp foundlings, orphans and poor care through the ages. The care and loan of the core collection and the social story of the site are carefully monitored.

In addition to the social aspect of this temporary use of space, there is also a historical link with the original function of the Maagdenhuis. After all, the orphan girls were taught household tasks there in the past, such as cooking and sewing, so that they could later be employed as maids by families. In this context, the Antwerp catering establishments are the receiving families after this training.

GATAM vzw and Samenloop

GATAM vzw has been working with – and training – people with the greatest distance to the labour market as the core of its mission for more than 25 years. 

It connects people with each other and with the labour market, as well as citizens and communities in the city. This vision fits in seamlessly with the ambition to retain the social aspect of the site in the new use of the Maagdenhuis.​​

​Temporary collaborations with the Antwerp cultural-social field

The City of Antwerp wants to give this centuries-old ‘roof for the vulnerable’ a new purpose. In light of the historical story and with an eye to optimal use of space, the city selected Museum Mayer van den Bergh and the organisations GATAM vzw and Tutti Fratelli vzw to join forces under the same flag. 

In terms of vision, mission and operation, they closely match the message that the city wants to continue to convey on the site of the Maagdenhuis, namely strengthening people in challenging situations.

Practical

  • Samenloop Restaurant.
  • Maagdenhuis, Lange Gasthuisstraat 33, 2000 Antwerp
  • The first dishes will be served from February 14. Reservations can already be made via the new website: https://www.samenloop.be.

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