De Elfde Gebod

I discovered a very quirky restaurant in Antwerp this weekend. Located right beside the Cathedral of Our Lady, is De Elfde Gebod or “The Eleventh Commandment”. The Restaurant is two stories and has a beautiful view of the cathedral from the second floor. The food is fantastic and it has its own microbrewery (the beer was also delicious). The fun part of the restaurant, is that it is decorated using old church iconography.

Old statues from churches and the cathedral occupy every available space in the building. Beautiful alter panels are mounted on the walls and iron chandeliers and sconces have been repurposed as lighting for the restaurant. There are even panels of stained glass inserted into some of the windows.

The floor of the restaurant is covered in all kinds of materials. There is the original hard wood of the building mixed with sections of tile, mosaics and even a marble staircase that was cut to fit into the restaurant. The decoration continues all the way into the restrooms, where you can enjoy views of the cathedral and street outside as you wait to use one of the itty bitty cubicles.

If you pass the vine-covered building from the street, you would never guess what the interior of the building is hiding. It is definitely worth taking a peek inside and going in for a nice Belgian beer.