Sir Anthony Van Dijck

A Courtyard Table in Antwerp's Old City

Antwerp's medieval core concentrates a particular kind of dining room: high ceilings, stone archways, and a civic seriousness that feels inherited rather than designed. Oude Koornmarkt, the old grain market street running through the city's historic district, carries that register clearly. Sir Anthony Van Dijck sits in a merchant's courtyard off this street, and the physical environment does a good deal of the work before a dish arrives. Approaching through a narrow passage into an open courtyard, with the building's heritage stonework visible on multiple sides, the setting locates the meal inside Antwerp's trading history as much as its culinary present.

That sense of place is not incidental to why regulars return. In a city where Antwerp's serious dining tier has increasingly shifted toward contemporary tasting menus, venues like Zilte at the top of the MAS museum and Hertog Jan at Botanic with its Modern Flemish ambition, Sir Anthony Van Dijck holds a different position. It functions more as a restaurant for regulars than a restaurant of the moment, which is precisely what its repeat clientele values.

What the Regulars Come Back For

The pattern of loyalty at this kind of address follows a recognisable logic in Belgian dining culture. Belgium's classic restaurant tradition, particularly in Flemish cities, has long valued continuity over reinvention. The country's broader culinary reputation rests as much on precision within established forms as on innovation, and restaurants that sustain a consistent kitchen over years accumulate a specific kind of credibility. 't Fornuis operates in a comparable register on the European-Flemish side, offering classic cuisine to a clientele that returns for reliability rather than surprise.

At Sir Anthony Van Dijck, the appeal to regulars is tied to the physical experience of the space as much as the plate. A historic courtyard setting in a city as architecturally dense as Antwerp creates a natural anchor for anniversary dinners, business meals, and the kind of occasion that benefits from a room with weight. These are not guests who need to be surprised; they are guests who have chosen the address deliberately, usually more than once.

That behavioral pattern matters when reading the menu context. Dishes here tend to lean into Belgian and Flemish culinary lineage rather than chase international trend cycles. Across Belgium's serious restaurant tier, from Hof van Cleve in Kruishoutem to Boury in Roeselare, the strongest houses share a commitment to sourcing and technique that references local tradition without being confined by it. Sir Anthony Van Dijck occupies a more classical position within that spectrum, which suits the expectations of a regular clientele that arrived knowing what it wanted.

Where It Sits in Antwerp's Dining Geography

Antwerp's restaurant scene in the upper price brackets has diversified considerably over the past decade. The €€€€ tier now includes approaches as different as the creative Japanese precision of DIM Dining and the French traditional register of Bistrot du Nord. Within that spread, Sir Anthony Van Dijck's historic setting and Flemish-leaning kitchen give it a distinct positional identity: it is neither a destination for avant-garde technique nor a casual neighbourhood table. It occupies the middle register where setting, occasion, and culinary tradition converge.

That positioning connects it to a broader pattern in Belgian fine dining, where the geography of serious cooking extends well beyond the major cities. Restaurants like Willem Hiele in Oudenburg, Bartholomeus in Heist, and Castor in Beveren demonstrate that serious cooking in Belgium operates across a wide territorial spread, not just in the capital. Antwerp's own upper tier, which you can survey fully in our full Antwerp restaurants guide, has enough range that every address in it occupies a distinct niche. Sir Anthony Van Dijck's niche is the heritage address with a loyal local constituency.

Planning Your Visit

Oude Koornmarkt 16 sits in the heart of Antwerp's old city, walkable from the Grote Markt and well within reach of the central station by tram. The courtyard setting is sheltered, which makes it a viable year-round address, though the outdoor dimensions of the space are likely more appealing in warmer months. Given the occasion-driven profile of the restaurant's regulars, booking ahead is advisable, particularly for weekend evenings and holiday periods when the city's hotel population adds pressure to central dining reservations.

For visitors building a wider Belgian dining itinerary, reference points outside Antwerp include Bozar Restaurant in Brussels, L'air du temps in Liernu, d'Eugénie à Emilie in Baudour, De Jonkman in Sint-Kruis, and La Durée in Izegem, each representing a different strand of what Belgian cooking looks like at a serious level. For comparison across cooking traditions, Le Bernardin in New York City and Atomix in New York City offer useful reference points for what sustained excellence looks like in different cultural registers.