After our visit to the newly refurbished Picasso Museum, we walked a few hundred meters to a much talked about cafe nearby serving savory crepes or galettes. Breizh Cafe is small and rather nondescript, but the lines at peak hours can be 50+ persons long, so you have to believe they are doing something well…
Mrs. MM lived in Paris while at graduate school many years ago, and as a result, is a HUGE fan of sweet crepes, particularly the basic butter and sugar ones. I am less fond of them, and worse, I was less familiar with savory crepes, in particular, those made with buckwheat often referred to as galettes bretonne. I couldn’t imagine how they would constitute a meal.
Without a reservation, we still managed to score an outdoor table in nippy weather at Cafe Breizh, and perused the menu. It all seemed disarmingly simple, but the handwritten menu of daily specials were the first clue of the special meal we were about to have.
I ordered a buckwheat crepe with cheese, mushroom, jerusalem artichokes, cream and duck breast for Euro14.50 and one forkful led to moans of pleasure and eyes rolling in a good way. Wow! Utterly delicious! The crisp chewy texture of the buckwheat pancake enrobes the savory ingredients within and in this case, the selection of ingredients and the way they excite your palate was an extremely pleasant revelation.
Mrs. MM had a ham and egg with gruyere and onion confit made with apple cider galette that was likewise brilliant and delicious. We were so pleased with our selections that we briefly toyed with ordering another galette to split between us! But we resisted, and ordered a dessert crepe instead.
This sweet “tarte tatin” crepe was amazing, and the meal’s experience has changed my view about crepes and galettes forever. We have returned to Cafe Breizh twice since this visit and have loved every dish we ordered. And if you want to experience this all like a local, order some cider to enjoy while you have your crepes. The cafe has two locations in Paris, google for directions.
9 Responses
Palette rhymes with galette but did you mean palate instead?
Connie C, thanks for catching that. I have edited post. :)
We had crepes at Little Breizh in the St. Germain neighborhood. We each had the set meal of 1 savory crepe + 1 sweet crepe + drink for 14 euros (we were beyond stuffed). Inexpensive and unforgettable meal.
There are 2 crepe stands I tend to revisit when I’m traveling. One is a small crepe stand in one of the side streets from Notre Dame. The other is in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. Like Mrs MM, I tend to gravitate towards sweet crepes too.
Wow, I’d love to try the last crepe on the menu. Leeks, scallops, cream and seaweed butter? Yes please!
MM waxing poetic over delicious crepes!!
In the 50’s one of my aunts attended a course at Pat Limjuco Dayrit’s Le Cordon Bleu Manille cooking school where she learned to make crepes Niçoise. These savoury crepes are stuffed with a cooked mixture of, among others, chicken, ham and mushrooms, and then topped with grated cheese. These crepes are very delicious and a firm family favourite. Try them the next time you are in France.
@EJ, I wonder if they were normal (wheat flour) crêpes filled with trimmings for salad Niçoise or they were socca, the genuine Niçoise baked crêpes made from chickpea flour batter that are eaten as is out of the oven or brazier (if you were out in the street or open market), sans topping as additional enticement.
Oh my!
Was your galette “meal enough” for you, MM? :)
Cafe Breizh (“Breton Café”) is a favourite of ours when in Paris. Most people are familiar with wheat flour crepes, but the buckwheat used in Brittany is delicious. If you have the opportunity, have a galette at a creperie in Brittany. Unforgettable.