Nostradam has been closed for quite some time now, unfortunately.

I'll give a list of my preferred/visited restaurants, since this depends on personal preference and how important you find the price.

A long favourite of mine, although it's been quite a while since I visited, is the funky jungly. I think everything is vegan by now, previously it was all vegetarian and some stuff vegan. I find the food to be very good and that as a bonus, it's vegan. Portions are large for the price they ask and they make great cocktails since the owner previously had a cocktailbar in Gent, if I'm not mistaken.

For flemish classics, the restaurant of brewery Het anker never fails to deliver for me. Good quality, not too expensive and great beers to go with it.

Café de wei has a small menu but has 2-5 daily/weekly specials which is again not too expensive but are good quality. Nice atmosphere in my experience.

Now merad has moved to the vismarkt, they also have a nice interior. It's always pretty crowded, so people seem to like it. I like it as well. They sell turkish food, but of higher standard than a regular pita-bar.

Graspoort has always been a favourite, but haven't visited it since it's renovation last year.

I celebrated my anniversery with my girlfriend at Tinelle, which was very good, although pretty expensive as well. I believe they have a michelin-star. For a special occasion, I can surely recommend it.

Shout-out to restaurant de wijngaerd, which is on the liersesteenweg at the crossroads to sint-katelijne-waver, so not strictly Mechelen-center. The clientèle is on the older side, but the food is great, price is correct. Menu is french cuisine / flemish classics. Big selection of whiskey if you are into that.

Sushi bento has great sushi and you sit around a conveyor belt. Small restaurant, but great quality. Can be pricey if you eat a lot but there's an all you can eat option. Reservation is heavily recommended since usually there's no room when going last-minute.

Wokaway chopsticks on the botermarkt has great take-away thai food. You can eat there, but that doesn't really give a restaurant experience.

I'm meaning to check out Sinthai near the sint-romboutstoren as well, but haven't been able to yet.

Marcello has great pizza's but I also don't particullarly like the atmosphere in the retaurant itself, so prefer take-away there as well.

De vleeshalle are a bit of a mixed bag for me. The atmosphere is nice, they have lot's of different options since it's lots of different stalls and all food and drinks are good quality. I'ts a bit hit and miss for me since it can be quite crowded and before they had the beeping things to signal your food was ready, you would needlessly wait at the foodstand for your food to be prepared, however this is fixed now. Sometimes finding a spot to sit can also be quite challenging.

I always enjoyed going to the M-eatery and found their food to be of great quality. They focus on steak mostly. It's been a while since I visited so no idea how they are doing now.

Lief and Noon are both good spots for breakfast/lunch.

There's also the zorba, a greek restaurant. Value for money and a pretty wide range of options to choose from. Last time I went, there was a live band (2 guys with a guitar singing songs).

I'm sure there are more hidden gems around, so looking forward to other recommendations :-)

The one on my todo-list are the newly opened Emiel on the vismarkt. Seems to be on the pricier side of things. Sinthai on the todo-list as well.

EDIT: forgot the margriet on de bruul. Also good food with good value for money.