La Crêperie: Comfort food for a crappy day!

Shanghaiist has been feeling very French of late. After wondering when Paul was going to re-open and hanging out at Bar Rouge's "Excusez-moi" party... well, we had dinner in La Crêperie - Shanghai's new and so far only eatery devoted to crêpes from the Brittany region.

La Crêperie enjoys a quiet location in the heart of the French concession at the crossroads of Dongping Lu, Yueyang Lu, Fengyang Lu, and Taojiang Lu (or if you prefer, near Blarney Stone, Dragon Club, Simply Thai and the soon-to-be-opened Paul). The owner, Philippe Ricard, used to work as an optician, but gave up everything to open this restaurant. He "shipped" over a famous crepe chef by the name of Julien Fontaine from a small village in Brittany to work with him on this project.The decor is particularly inspired: everything will remind you of Brittany and the sea. The bar is like a boat, the stairs like the waves, and the pillar in the middle of the restaurant is like the light house. And all these elements are cleverly inserted in the menu: the salted crepes bear strange names in the Brittany dialect, but the dessert crepes are called le phare (the light house), la sirène (the mermaid), and so on...

We ordered an "Elmuck" crepe (ham, reblochon cheese, mushroom, potato) that was excellent and very filling (75RMB); a "Salacrepe" (a crepe torn down and tossed with a salad) with seafood (about 65RMB), which is a lighter option, and a bottle of imported cider (120RMB). The dessert crepes range from 20RMB to about 40RMB, and the selection is as wide as in a real crêperie back in Brittany. We highly recommend the hazelnut cream crepes, or if you prefer something lighter, a simple lemon crepe.

Our verdict? What makes La Crêperie unique is that it is a restaurant whose food revolves around one theme from a countryside. It promises to bring a whiff of fresh air to the Shanghai food scene which is already full of sandwich/pizza/cheesecake/fruit juices cafés opening up one after the other.

Peijin Chen contributed to this article.

La Crêperie: 1 Taojiang Lu, near Fenyang Lu (桃江路1号，靠近汾阳路). Tel: 5465 9055. Opened Tue-Sun 11.30am-23.30pm, closed Mondays. Crepes: 45-90RMB, Dessert: 25-40RMB, Lunch sets: 80RMB. No credit cards accepted during the soft opening, till the end of July.