Bar Misera

Bistro spirit, marble tables and French songs… Add plates stamped with the house logo (a four-legged fish), silver cutlery and candles – real ones. Opened in 2025, Bar Misera has become the bistro of this otherwise impersonal neighbourhood and one of Antwerp’s places to be. The “as we go” menu blends French inspirations, Flemish classics and produce from the North Sea. It starts with drinks and adds “something with that” to the main dishes, including an extraordinary seasonal tomato salad or fries with mayonnaise. Simple, unfussy and good. Behind the place is chef Nicolas Misera, a man with stars in his eyes and in his blood. His father became Belgium’s youngest Michelin-starred chef at 21, in 1969. Nicolas, meanwhile, worked his way through the restaurant world, earning a star at Carcasse in Koksijde and at AirRepublic in Cadzand. In 2022, he hung up his apron and opened Misera near the Tim Van Laere Gallery. Six months later, Michelin awarded him a star he hadn’t really been seeking. “That’s when he realised he had it in him,” says his partner, Yasmin Weyn, who runs the dining room. An obvious next step. The couple began dreaming of a simpler, more modest place: a brasserie and wine bar. “Somewhere we would want to go ourselves, where the atmosphere would be more relaxed.” At Bar Misera, they have two chefs, as well as Trésor Vets, formerly sommelier at The Jane – the city’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant – who serves the wines, some by the glass. You can linger for hours, getting pleasantly carried away by the bottles. Nicolas and Yasmin, who live in the historic centre, also host private dinners in their own living room. A model that will probably change next year when they move – although nothing is certain. That’s just how they are. They even take their guests on the road with “Misera on Holiday”. In September, they headed south to Maison Salix in the south of France, with flea-market hunting, market strolls and Nicolas cooking every meal. Much to everyone’s delight.