The story
Album is a modern bistro at Vlaamsekaai 6, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium, where Gault&Millau awarded 14 points for 2026. Host Toon Craen and chef Joris Gielen turned an earlier breakfast spot into a neo-bistro, and the Antwerp kitchen now works in the evening and at lunch.
Joris Gielen cooks with Japanese touches. Sea bream sashimi comes with a tangy tamarind smoked dashi, and steak tartare is wrapped in radicchio with fermented rhubarb and pink peppercorns. Barbary duck breast arrives with maitake mushroom tortellini and Timut pepper.
The dining room is minimalist, with hardwood floors, whitewashed brick, several bars and a mezzanine. The lunch menu runs two, three or four courses, and dinner is a five-course menu. A vegetarian menu can be prepared if you tell the kitchen in advance, though there are no vegan options.
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Joris Gielen (ex-Veranda) and Toon Craen (ex-Broer Bretel) successfully managed to transition their eatery from a breakfast spot to a punchy neo-bistro for dinner! But the minimalist Album (hardwood floors, whitewashed bricks, various bars, a mezzanine section) is anything but one of southern Antwerp’s fancy and pretentious restaurants. We indulged in all of the following during our last visit there: sea bream sashimi with a tangy tamarind smoked dashi; swinging steak tartare wrapped up in radicchio, with fermented rhubarb and pink peppercorns; sea bass drunk on a passion fruit cream, sweet Cévennes onions and intensely flavorful lovage; followed by Barbary duck breast with maitake mushroom tortellini, those Japanese “dancing mushrooms,” and Timut pepper. And for the final blow? A fennel, lemon and dill ice cream. // Kiko Zushi
Some restaurants only get better with the years, and that sentiment resonates here as well, in the South of Antwerp. Following a higher score last year, this passionate duo once again confirms its expertise. Host Toon Craen and chef Joris Gielen bring ...
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