La Petite Creperie

Newcastle's Grainger Market has a welcome new addition with the arrival of La Petite Creperie, they are only a few months old but have already proved to be very popular with locals and visitors alike. 

Simon and I had a shopping trip planned last Saturday and crepes seemed like the perfect fuel to give us energy to battle along the busy high street so we headed to the Market for a little taste of France.

The creperie is run by Julien Poulalion and Frederic Tagne who, as well as appearing at various food festivals and markets across the region, have been working hard for the last year to bring their shop to Newcastle.

We were greeted by Julien who showed us the menu of galettes (savoury gluten free buckwheat crepes) and sweet crepes.   There were lots of delicious fillings to choose from and Julien confessed they have many more flavour combinations up their sleeves that they will be introducing soon.

As it was lunchtime we decided to try out a galette first and chose the ham, emmental cheese and egg.   Watching the creation of our lunch was really interesting.  Julien poured the batter on to the hot plate and the galette very quickly started to take shape. 

He cracked an egg into the middle and added the emmantuel cheese and ham which cooked at lightening speed.  

The finished galette was folded up into an envelope shape and was in front of us and ready to eat in a matter of minutes.

It smelt and looked absolutely amazing so we eagerly grabbed our forks for the taste test.

WOW!   It was absolutely delicious.  The flavour combination was spot on and we loved how the galette had a gorgeous crispy finish.   

Whilst we were tucking in Julien explained that traditionally in France the galette isn't served crispy but he'd soon realised that us Brits like our food with a bit of crisp and has tweaked his technique to create a lovely crispy finish.

Next Julien recommended we try a new filling he'd been testing out that is yet to make it to the menu board.  Never ones to turn down an exclusive sneaky peak we agreed immediately.   Our second galette was filled with salmon, cream and ciboulette (which after a little confusion we learnt is the French for chive).   This galette was a complete winner for me and I really hope it gets added to the menu, it's too good not to be included.

By this point we were feeling pretty full and the queue for crepes was beginning to form as the lunchtime rush started.  Whilst we took a breather we really enjoyed watching Julien buzzing around creating amazing looking food for his customers and it was clear he was loving every minute.  His passion and enthusiasm for his work is infectious and he really enjoyed chatting to each person who visited the counter which makes such a great atmosphere.

Despite having just had two savouries there was no way we were turning down the opportunity to try a sweet crepe so before we knew it we'd agreed to try the homemade salted caramel butter.   I am a little wary of salted caramel, in the past I've had a few desserts that have been a little too salty for my taste.   Luckily La Petite Creperie know their flavours and the crepe contained the most delicious salted caramel I have ever had.

We loved our first visit and we will definitely be back very soon to work our way down the rest of the menu board.   Simon's eye's lit up when he spotted Chocolate Orange on the menu so I know that he'll be sneaking his way into Grainger Market at the first opportunity.

If you're looking for somewhere new and different for lunch make sure you head into the Grainger  Market and give Le Petite Creperie a go.  The food is delicious, you'll get the most amazing friendly service and I guarantee you'll leave a fan!

One thing's for sure I wont be attempting to make my own on Pancake Day ...  I'll be heading to Grainger Market!

Bon appetit!

We were invited to try La Petite Creperie and our lunch was provided to us free of charge.  However as soon as you go there yourself you'll realise that this review is completely honest - the food is fabulous!

Thanks so much to Julien for being so welcoming and the lovely chat.   We will definitely be back soon!