Black or white? Here, you don’t have to choose. Twenty years ago, Tom and Isabelle Vercammen (an architect and interior designer, respectively) made a dramatic career pivot, swapping the drawing board for the deli counter. First in Antwerp’s De Wilde Zee neighborhood, then for the past eight years on bustling Theaterplein. What’s on the shelves? Italian olive oil, Spanish tapenade, Portuguese tinned goods and French rillettes. As for the display case, it’s enough to stop you in your tracks: tangy provolone, focaccia still warm from the oven, meltingly soft lamb-stuffed eggplant, cacio e pepe, ravioli filled with the season’s first asparagus, duck confit and velvety asparagus soup. The result? Good luck leaving empty-handed. · Mina Perlemousse

The hidden gem: Plump artichokes grown in Italy’s heartland, preserved in oil and quartered with the stem still attached (€29.95 per kilo).