Paris With a Parisian

La Compagnie de Bretagne, a wonderful place to indulge in the best crêpe experience.

That restaurant is now closed… 🙁

Nested deep in the left bank, the elegant Compagnie de Bretagne offers an oustanding crêpe menu where Brittany’s best ingredients mix with a top French chef’s savoir-faire.

One more crêperie, in a neighborhood that is already packed with them. And rightly so: crêpes are the perfect, cheap meal for students and tourists, two categories who thrive in the Latin Quarter. And you can’t really go wrong with a crêpe. But can you make it a “gastronomique” moment? That’s what La Compagnie de Bretagne intends to do…

First the place is beyond elegant. Fooling around with the Bretagne flag colors, black and white, the place offers a sober, exquisite space where you feel both the sea ambiance; typical of Brittany, and a cozy comfort je-ne-sais-quoi that instantly makes you feel good. Set on three levels, from a mediaeval cellar to a loftesque top with a view on the next-door 15th century Franciscan building, this crêperie takes no detour to claim its place of crêpe temple.

Foodwise, crêpes, of course, but not only. The crêpes are made here, in the first-floor opened kitchen, on the typical stoves called Bilig in Breton or crépière in French. The two classical different flours are of course used, and especially imported from Brittany’s organic farms: buckweat, for the darker savory galettes, and wheat for the sweet dessert crêpes.

But that’s only the background, the pancakes are hidding sardines and candied lemons, sausage and mustard mousse or typical Bretagne cheese. And if, for some reason, you do not want to eat a galette, la Compagnie de Bretagne also offers the freshiest, most excellent Bretagne gastronomy, from oysters and lobsters to the Kig ha Farz, the typical Breton stew.

Brittany being a land of sailors, the sweet dessert crêpes take you to some further lands of spices and tastes. Sao Tome dark chocolate and French vanilla from the Indian Ocean will blend with local flavors, like Normandy pears or Bretagne’s salt caramel, for a beautiful dessert experience.

And bien sûr, one is supposed to eat crêpes with cider. So the mediaeval stone cellar hosts a magical cider vault, like a forest of honey looking gems. The opinion of the cider sommelier is often needed, as we often are not used to enjoying cider in a sophisticated way. But la Compagnie makes it possible for us to enhance our cider moment and opens wide the doors of cider perfection.

The price remains interesting. Oui, crêpes are usually cheap, and better crêpes are not too expensive. Lunch -a savory galette, a dessert crêpe, a glass of organic cider and a coffee, is 17€. Yet don’t dream, a la carte can be expensive, especially if you shop for the lobster! But all in all, it is a great deal: a tremendous quality meal at a very affordable price. And, always, new discoveries from one of the most mysterious part of France…