Simple is better. I know with all my visits to Michelin starred restaurants this saying doesn’t seem believable… but we’ll have to be honest, no matter how great all those restaurants are the best dishes are always the classic and simple dishes.  A good example would be strawberries with a bit of sugar and lemon juice that has set a while in the fridge, it is very simple but I could keep eating it.

My visit to ‘Fino zuid’ just proved simple is just so good. Fino zuid is a small shop/caterer around the corner of the ‘Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp’ where can either take some of the dishes home or just eat them there at one of the few tables in the shop (I think 5 or 6). Fino zuid is their second eatery, they also have a restaurant in the North of the city of Antwerp. I had already been to the ‘regular’ restaurant 2 weeks ago with my dad, but wanted to wait before writing something until after visiting both places… this way I could somehow compare and see what the whole Fino concept is all about. The food is in both places very nice because of the simplicity that make you feel like in Italy. (BTW the reason why food tasted great in both places is because it gets prepared by the same people 🙂 ) But my preference goes towards Fino zuid, as it is more relaxed and less fuzz… I mean at ‘regular’ Fino you have the real restaurant feel as for ‘Fino zuid’ it feels more like a trattoria where you can just take your own glass of wine (don’t worry if you want they can also serve it 😉 ) and just point at the food you feel like eating…so to my opinion more low profile. Although I’m sure all depends of the occasion for your dinner.

To decide what you want to eat at Fino zuid is very simple you can either give them the full trust and let them decide for you (fix price of 35EUR without the drinks) or you can just walk up to the counter and point to what you fancy eating 🙂  We gave them full trust and had them serve whatever they wanted to give us… this resulted in us being completely full at the end 🙂 so now I was sure it was just like in Italy as I always feel the same when I’m eating at my grandmother or aunt in Italy… I think we almost tried every single thing in their counter (ok, maybe not everything, but a lot of it)… Their melanzane alla Parmigiana was one of my favourites (I had already eaten them at the other Fino restaurant)…

My biggest problem is ‘l’appetito viene mangiando’ so I get more hungry while I’m eating so it could get ugly 😉 Luckily my beautiful fiancée was with me and at some point will give me a certain look that I know what she is actually trying to say is: “don’t you think you had enough?”  🙂  BUT there is still always room for dessert… I’m normally not a fan of Tiramisu, but theirs wasn’t as heavy as it is at lots of restaurants. I do realize I’m always very enthusiastic in my blogposts, but good food just makes me very happy and this happiness unleashes a enormous and unstoppable amount of enthusiasm where I want to convince everybody to try the place themselves… that’s just the way I am 🙂 🙂

A visit to Fino zuid or Fino are definitely places to do if you like good Italian food without too much fuzz…

Restaurant Fino Zuid:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/finozuid

Address: Kasteelstraat 57, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 3 257 01 14

Restaurant Fino:

Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/finorestaurant

Address: Sint-Aldegondiskaai 50, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

Phone n°: +32 (0) 468 17 29 00