broer bretel antwerp belgium caffenation cafe espresso bar sprudge

Affogato is not on the menu at Broer Bretel, but you can still have one there. Just tell the barista thatโ€™s what you want. Then exit the shop, walk three doors to the leftโ€”to Cremerie Germaineโ€”and buy your favorite flavor of gelato in a cup. Retrace your steps, place the acquisition on the bar, and watch as the cold mounds get baptized by a shot (or two) of espresso.

So it went one afternoon late in 2016, although the practiceโ€”customers bringing in goods purchased at point A to enhance their consumption experience at point Bโ€”is not unique to the Antwerp cafe that Toon Craen and his brother opened six years ago in February. This cross-fertilization economyโ€”probably most often takingย the form of a bagged lunch being unpacked at a watering holeโ€”can be observed across Belgiumโ€™s largest city. (As Bert van Wassenhove, owner of the outside-sandwich-welcoming Caffรจnation Amsterdam, once told Sprudge: โ€œWhen we go to our pubs in Antwerp and they donโ€™t serve food, we are going to grab pizza from the neighbors and have it with our beersโ€”thatโ€™s no problem.โ€)

broer bretel antwerp belgium caffenation cafe espresso bar sprudge
Toon Craen of Broer Bretel

The spirit of helping out a friendโ€”or a friendlyย businessโ€”seems inevitable at Broer Bretel:ย Broerย is Flemish for โ€œbrother,โ€ and bretelย means โ€œsuspenders.โ€ It’sย an accessory that Craenโ€™s grandfather always wore, and it was he who coupled the two words when speaking toย Craen and his three brothers.

โ€œWhen it was our birthday, we would pass by [our grandfatherโ€™s]. He would take [his suspenders] off and give them to us,โ€ Craen explains. The transfer of the straps signified that โ€œthen we were the broer bretel, which means the ‘brother suspenders’โ€”the king of the day.โ€

broer bretel antwerp belgium caffenation cafe espresso bar sprudge

advert but first coffee cookbook now available

 

But neither the happy-to-fraternize gelateria Cremerie Germaine, norย a lot of other local businesses, existed when Broer Bretel set up shop in the northern port-surrounded neighborhood known as โ€œthe little island,โ€ Hetย Eilandje.

โ€œThere was nothing. It was kind of a shabby place,โ€ recalls Craen. That nothingness inspired his older brother, who back then would passย through the area on a daily commute to the train station. So firstborn said to the second: โ€œHey, brother, we should start a coffee business because thereโ€™s not enough coffee businesses in Antwerp.โ€

broer bretel antwerp belgium caffenation cafe espresso bar sprudge

Although guest micro-roasters do make cameos at Broer Bretel, it is the ever-reliable output of Antwerpโ€™s Caffรจnation that gives raison dโ€™รชtre to the two-group La Marzoccoย Linea Classic, Marco Re-circulating font brewer, two Anfim Super Caimano grinders, and a Mazzer Robur grinder. Incidentally, Craen attended university near Caffรจnationโ€™s cafe, drank his first espresso there, and was briefly an employee.

That the New York Times has recommended Broer Bretelโ€”not once but twiceโ€”โ€œwas the ultimate compliment,โ€ even though Craen says the publicity did not really attract new customers. Thatย happened more organically, as shiny apartment buildings and chain restaurants began appearing (sometimes controversially) in the shadows of the nearby MAS and Red Star Line museums.

โ€œI had to wait for like three years for a regular customer base,โ€ he admits. โ€œNow it feels like an established place. We have a nice mix of people, like firemen and policemen, and also a richer crowd,โ€ Craenย adds, referring to some of his boat-owning regulars who live part-time in the city.

broer bretel antwerp belgium caffenation cafe espresso bar sprudge

Come who may, the secondhand furniture, retro wallpaper, tacked-up Polaroids, and shelves of multilingual books encourage visitors to linger. With his co-founder having moved to Australia, another brother doing graphic design, and the third still a student, Craen has for some time been running the barย solo. However, that will soon change: This spring, he and a chef friend will embark on a dining venture that will offer coffee, wine, homemade cold cuts, and cured meat all under one roof.

โ€œHeโ€™s going to be in the kitchen and Iโ€™ll just be making the coffee,โ€ Craen saysย of the prospective business brotherhood. โ€œItโ€™s something weโ€™re missing in Antwerp, I thinkโ€”you have restaurants, but none of them serve good coffee, and we have good coffee places, but none of them serves good food.โ€

broer bretel antwerp belgium caffenation cafe espresso bar sprudge

Meanwhile, he plans to keep managing Broer Bretelโ€”his โ€œbabyโ€โ€”and to hire a replacement for everyday barista duties. That individual might someday become a kind of surrogate sibling and, by extension, king or queen of the cafe.

Broer Bretel is located at Nassaustraat 7, Antwerp. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read moreย Karina Hof on Sprudge.ย 

banner advertising the book new rules of coffee