Coolinairy

I’m going to be straightforward: I did not pick this restaurant. Not because I have something against it: it’s just too far away from where I stay in Antwerp. This place is close to my friend’s work and he heard a couple of good things about it. So this was his pick for his birthday. I also had to rewrite the title of this post three times because I can’t seem to remember the name of the restaurant. Was it David or was it Damiano? A Google search confirmed it was our good friend Daniel.
This place is located next to a park and the high concentration of Teslas and Porsche Cayennes on the nearest parking lot already gave me an idea of which clientele this restaurants caters to. It could be a good thing or a bad thing, but I thrive on hope. We directly entered the garden of the restaurant. It was quite romantic so I was disappointed that the evening ended without wedding proposals. Maybe I do live my life through the exciting events of other people? In hindsight, it was the peak of the heatwave that we experienced in Belgium so as my body thermoregulation was already fighting for its life (and my life), I do realize that the atmosphere wasn’t romantic enough for a proposal. Oh yeah, I was talking about food so… the outside of the restaurant felt very cozy and intimate!

For my “apéro” I went for their eyecatching lazy red cheeks mocktail. Yeah it’s a pretty mocktail but the eyecatching part was actually the price: (de volle) 18 euros! It had all of the components though: it had the sour, the fresh and the very sweet. If you don’t have a sweet tooth like I do: stay away from this. It was decent but not ‘”18 euros good.” The raspberry tasted like it was made from a storebought raspberry syrup.

For our entrée, we shared a platter of shrimp after we attacked our bread with Isigny butter and a bit of salt. The bread was good: an airy, chewy loaf with a good crust. The shrimp normally comes in a portion of six, but the waiter was nice enough to bump it to 8 for the 4 of us. The presentation as pictured below was very inviting. I picked a shrimp by the tail as my palate was welcomed by a satisfying crunch. I love how I can feel the breadcrumbs shatter in my mouth. But that was it, the party was all in the crunch. The flavor was like an afterparty where too little people showed up so it unvoluntarily turned into a kickback. I love kickbacks, but after a party like that it feels like a bummer. Luckily we had the sauce, I think it was a remoulade, and a slice of lemon to keep the kickback going.

Onto the main dish: my friends were all going for a pizza, but that day just felt like seafood weather to me. So after eternally hesitating between the lobster ravioli or the shrimp linguine, the waiter tactfully convinced me to go for the latter (by telling me the shrimp linguine had the bigger portion). Pictured below my linguine. The pasta was a good al dente and the sauce was simple but very rich in flavor with a very faint hint of spice. I think they could’ve stopped here because the shrimp was… rubbery. After taking a bite, I was wondering: if I threw one of the shrimps on the ground, would it bounce back? It is a pity. Especially for the “schappelijke” price of 37 euros. Don’t get me wrong, I still finished my plate. I just think that at this price point, there is little room for mistakes like overcooking your protein.

There are plenty of dessert options, but we all simultaneously agreed that we were going for the panna cotta. We got tempted because we saw how it got served on the other tables in these huge wine glasses. Whenever I’m faced with a panna cotta, I always go for some of the coulis first. The coulis was vibrant and punchy, the typical perfect sour kick. Now for the actual panna… ehm, the flavor was okay but it didn’t hold its shape very well. A spoonful of panna cotta, is usually standing up straight and only covered by a duvet of coulis, but this one was just falling under its own weight. Maybe from the weight of unmet expectations? Again, I still finished my glass but you might have noticed that when something isn’t extraordinary that I don’t have much to say. It’s a panna cotta by definition and that’s it. The glass only looks like that on the picture because it’s frozen.

The service was decent. Our waiter was cold initially, but I guess he just needed to warm up, which was relatively easy in a heatwave. We received our food after reasonable time periods. There was just a bottle of water that took longer to wait on, but that was about it. The toilet was clean so I bumped up their score with 0,5 for Place&Setting.

What can one say. I finished my plates and if my friend wanted to go there again for his birthday I wouldn’t object. It just won’t be my initiative to go there on my own. I however define a clear dichotomy between flavor and price/quality ratio: most of the negative sides were technical mistakes. Flavor has always been okay, but the dishes are priced as if they were something extraordinary.

My friends and I just split the bill in four. For a mocktail, some bread and butter, 3 courses and bottle of water per person, my share of the bill was around 75 euros.

Food 6/10
Place & Setting 4/5
Service 3,5/5
Price/Quality Ratio 2/5

Total score: 15,5/25 => 12,4/20

I think this restaurant is catering to SUV drivers in the suburbs of Antwerp like Brasschaat or Schoten whose definition of being in Antwerp is spending more than 5 minutes on the Ring. They like going out to eat, but don’t want to mix with the plebs of people living in Antwerp. Driving to the fancy Zuid is too much of a hassle so this restaurant is the perfect compromise. Especially with the huge parking lot to park their huge SUVs, (Sport Utility Vehicle) despite the fact that some of them don’t practice any sports. But hey… the food gets a pass.

Just in case you also forgot the name of the restaurant: David Il Divino, Beukenlaan 12, 2020 Antwerpen