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Crêpes Dinner in Nantes

People always ask me if I miss French food—honestly, I don’t. Many foreigners have such an exotic view of French cuisine that it’s hard to explain French don’t always eat (and cook!) fancy stuff. Sure, French value food—but so do Chinese, Japanese, Argentinean, etc. Daily meals do revolve around bread and butter and yes, there are cool pastries everywhere but at the end of the day, nobody is cooking filet mignon and coq au vin for weeknight dinner.

The only meal I miss is crêpes. Yes, it sounds a bit like “crap” but trust me, it’s really good.

Crêpes are Brittany’s specialty. You’ll find crêperies (restaurants that serve crêpes) everywhere in Nantes. These very thin pancakes are made from flour, eggs, milk, butter, and a pinch of salt. Normally, crêpes dough is sweet and galettes dough is savoury—the first one is served as dessert and the second one is the main. Drink of choice would be cider.

Common fillings for galettes include ham, cheese and egg, or even spinach, salmon, cream, artichoke, sausages… combinations and toppings are endless! Traditional dessert crêpes are eaten with butter and sugar, and Nutella (the famous hazelnut spread) is also a favourite.

When I first took Feng to a crêperie, I figured nothing could go wrong. He isn’t very picky and we’ve had more exotic food when travelling—dough plus several familiar toppings like egg, ham and cheese is fine, right?

Oh, wait—the egg. See, French love runny eggs. Add an egg on pizza (another thing French do) or on a crêpe, you can be sure it’s never going to be fully cooked. Feng hates raw food, including runny eggs. It’s a big no-no in Chinese culture.

Oops.

Two bolées of cider
Feng’s crêpe: mushrooms, ham and herbs
Cold Cider
Mine: egg, ham, cheese, onion and tomatoes
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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