Crêperie Beaubourg

If hunger strikes after all the walking and art admiring at the Centre Pompidou, do not worry!  A couple of blocks away is the Crêperie Beaubourg, a nice little restaurant specialized in -you got it!- crêpes.

The walls are filled up with paintings and drawings, a lot of which represent the culture from Britanny, a region in the north-west of France -they speak French and Breton, and are famous for their amazing butter and crêpes.

I'd say it's quite cozy, only a bit too crowded as the place is small and the restaurant is always full. You might have to wait a few minutes for a table. Take that time and search the menu to try to decide what you're having - a process which is not at all easy, as there are inumerous and delicous fillings (salty and sweet).

 The fixed menu* of the day included a galette, a crêpe sucrèe and Cider, which is what you normally drink with crêpes, at a very affordable price.

I'm not really into the crêpes sucrèes, though, so I chose my lunch from the carte.*

*In French, the menu has a fixed composition and "la carte" is the menu with all the plates which you can choose from

I went with one of the vegetarian galettes (a sort of crêpe with a salty filling) of which I can't recall the name, that contained onions, champignon and melted gryuère. It was very good; the crèpe wasn't too dry nor too soft, and I don't even have to explain my love for melted French cheese and champignons.

After a very fulfilling meal (I don't know why I had the very off idea that in France the portions were small), nothing more fitting than a nice cup of tea. They have a selection of teas from the Marriage Frères, a famous French tea company. Of course the name Casablanca caught my eye. It's a mixture of green tea, Marrocain mint and bergamot-flavoured tea. Delicious and soothing!

My parents orderd a sweet crêpe with blueberry jam and a colobiam coffee, which they said tasted marvelous. Knowing my light stomach, I decided to finish with simply the tea.

After we finished and paid -I can't recall the exact price, but it wasn't expensive at all, specially when comparing to other places in Paris- we went for a walk around the neighbourhood and then took the subway to the Musée d'Orsay, as it was the first Sunday of the Month, a day in Paris where all the entrances to the museums are free.

But if you don't feel like taking the Metro, you can always go window shopping at the lovely boutiques in the Marais area or, if in winter, go ice-skating in front of the Hôtel de Ville, a few blocks away.

Crêperie Beaubourg
2 rue Brisemiche, IV arr.75004 Paris