It’s ubiquitous Parisian street food that has successfully established itself in almost every country. Right from glitzy cafés in London serving a variety of sweet and savoury crepes priced at 10 pounds, to inexpensive push cart vendors on the beaches of Krabi, they are everywhere — sometimes, tweaked with a few local influences.
For example, Kuala Lumpur’s squishy durian-filled crepe, despite its overpowering smell, is too good to miss out on. The roe and smoked-salmon crepe I tried in Oslo is something I haven’t found anywhere else.
I kid you not when I say a friend actually tried aloo poshto (Bengali dish made with potato and poppy seeds) crepe, to much appreciation from her family. Clearly, there is a section of the crowd that enjoys traditional flavours — no wonder Canadian Crepe Company’s menu also features desi-flavoured crepes.
The fascination with paneer continues with Dhak Dhak Dilli, a favourite among the older clients. There’s also one with mint chutney and cheese. I prefer The Madras Crepe —it’s got a potato stuffing, sparsely slathered with tangy gunpowder mayonnaise. Unaware of the potent mayo, I take a large bite and feel my mouth on fire. If you can handle all things fiery, this may work well for you. The potato stuffing is similar to what comes with golden-brown masala dosas, but much less exciting. Teary-eyed and amidst embarrassed coughs, I order an ATF smoothie.
Thick with oats, banana and curd, the drink is delicious and effectively puts my palate at ease. Maybe a sugarless version of this can be my pre-yoga snack! “The focus here is on using healthy alternatives. So, we’ve cut out sugar and use honey instead,” says the manager.
The menu is vegetarian and the crepes, eggless. The batter is a mix of 70 per cent ragi and 30 per cent maida. “All our dishes can be customised according to client preferences,” he says. The menu also includes pasta; there’s a new one every day, to cater to the office-going crowd, so they don’t get bored.
Then arrives the most fancy crepe on the menu — Le French gruyere. It’s unabashedly cheesy with juicy sautéed mushrooms, corn and a helping of cream sauce. The texture of the crepe is just right and my knife slices through with ease.
There are also the usual all-time favourites — sugar and lemon, Nutella and banana and fruits and chocolate. Although around for years, one can never really tire of the Nutella and crepe love affair. It’s like a classic you never get bored of reading.
But today, we choose yet another winning combination of cinnamon, butter and sugar. Four ruby-red strawberries lazily roll about in a pool of maple syrup . It smells divine and the hearty flavour of cinnamon mixed with a generous quantity of butter oozing out of the pores makes me wonder why this can’t make it to my breakfast table every morning.
