Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Creperie Ar-Men, Duxton Road

Escargots Gwer

Normally I am not a huge fan of French food, but this seemed interesting enough to try out. This place (37 Duxton Road, 6227-3389), as you can guess from the name, specializes in crepes, or as they put it, "Authentic French crepes from Brittany." We started with obligatory French fare: escargot and onion soup. The escargots gwer was full of the usual garlic flavor, although the green herbs almost made it look like a pesto. The soup wasn't quite the usual salty French onion soup that I'm accustomed to with cheese baked on top, but it was bearable. So far, so good - at least, for someone who doesn't know nor like French food too much.

Croix-Alpine GaletteBut then we moved on to the savory buckwheat galette selections, the croix-alpine featured potatoes, onions, and bacon in a white wine and cheese sauce. It sounded nice, but it was actually a bit bland - until one found a bit of bacon, at least. The mushroom-based broceliande was much tastier at least (how can one go wrong with mushrooms?).

Hypotrague NoirAnd through all that, I was still hungry, so I switched over to the sweet hypotrague noir crepe instead, featuring chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, and cocoa powder. This was probably the best of the bunch, with a rich chocolate flavor.

I probably won't go out of my way to come here again though. This is not only because I'm not a huge fan of French food, but the prices were surprisingly high here, and worse - I left unsatisfied, especially portions-wise. The food was not bad by any means, and many people seem to like it. But it just doesn't suit my tastes, that's all (and I really don't know much about French food). If I do come back, it will probably just be for a quick sweet crepe.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've been to this creperie twice and haven't been too impressed by them either. I also thought their dessert crepes were better than the savoury ones.

The thing i really liked were their chocolate and ginger ice creams.

My friends and I were also a little miffed when the owner displayed some French snobbery when we said we wanted only water and not wine for beverages.

Anonymous said...

hmm, i guess to each his own. i've been to this creperie innumerable times and enjoyed each visit. i love the escargot, and a pate i forgot the name (duck i suppose), and the crab something is heavenly. i love their dessert crepes and i've actually had 2 or 3 buckwheats (at different visits)savoury one, and they're not dismal.

and dont get me started on their homemade ice cream. the chocolate is like eating truffle i swear! it was orgasmic haaha. and the ginger ice cream is surprisingly good. i didnt want to try it at frist because hel-lo! ginger ice cream? but my friend made me so im glad he did.

im not a big fan of cider though. but they have a greeat selection of wine.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I have only been to this creperie once but i loved every bite. The galettes were amazing, not bland at all, and what's more, they were filling! I could hardly finish my dessert (sweet crepe, I would recommend the caramel one, it is divine, and this is coming from someone who normally hates caramel). When my friends and I went there the owner was very friendly and even took the time to explain to us the history of galette and crepes.
A definite 5 out of 5 in my opinion!

Anonymous said...

Normally I am not a huge fan of French food, but this seemed interesting enough to try out.
And I am a great fan of French culinary. This recipe is not the only tasty dish in French food history.