The café De Gouden Vis was once a fishmonger’s shop just a few steps from Mechelen’s fish market square. But the fish market has long gone and De Gouden Vis is now a café.
It’s a relaxed, bohemian place with Art Nouveau details, bicycles parked in the hallway and faded posters peeling off the wall. It reminds some people of a Dutch brown café.
The beer menu lists more than 70 beers, alcoholic and not, including the local brews Gouden Carolus and Maneblusser.
You might even, if you are lucky, find a place to sit on the tiny waterfront terrace shaded by an old vine.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
