Paris Street Food: Decadent Crepes


One of the biggest "musts" while traveling is to sample the wide variety of tasty street foods a culture has to offer. Every nation has a specific palette of spices, smells, textures, and presentations - as a visitor, it is your obligation to try to experience at least some of these. At least, this is my opinion as a person who loves both travel and eating.

Stereotypically, street food comes on sticks or on paper plates. But the city of Paris does street food with more class and pizzazz, or so it seems!

Saint Michel district Paris, Paris France
The Parisian Metropolitan entrance in the Saint-Michel district.

During my Europe trip with my Junior High students in 2010, as we were walking around the quaint, cobble-stoned district of Saint-Michel in the historic Latin Quarter, I smelled something mouth-watering. Like a Disney character who floats down the street, held aloft by a drifting waft of fragrant air, I found my way to the source: a man on the edge of the sidewalk making crepes. He had a stand with a mounted, circular griddle, a giant jar of Nutella, and the greatest chef outfit I've ever seen on a street vendor.

French crepes with Nutella, Paris cuisine
Our engaging street vendor pours the crepe batter onto the griddle.

I wandered up to him, eyes wide and mouth salivating. He noticed that I was with several young students, and decided to put on a show for us. With a flourish and a flair, he poured some crepe batter onto the griddle, used his spatula to even it out with a quick twist of his wrist, and proceeded to make a pile of crepes within minutes. I snapped photographs of his step-by-step cooking show, and he smiled and hammed it up for the camera.

French crepes with Nutella, Paris cuisine
Spreading the crepe batter.
French crepes with Nutella, Paris cuisine
Now here comes the skill - flipping the paper-thin crepe without tearing it!

French crepes with Nutella, Paris cuisine
Success!  A nicely browned crepe, ready for some yummy Nutella!

He then smeared the goopy, chocolatey Nutella onto the crepes, deftly rolled them up, and offered them to his audience of admiring onlookers. We all bought one, cleaning up that stack of crepes instantly. They were delicious! (No pictures of us eating them, since we were all so focused on enjoying our fare.)

French crepes with Nutella, Paris cuisine
Yum! Crepey goodness!

To this date, I have not eaten a crepe that has tasted as good. Nothing has come close. Thank you, Parisian street vendor, for such amazing food!

7 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more with the opening sentence of this post! Absolutely.

    Crepes are among my favorite things to eat, hands down. I'm Polish and our cuisine at one point was heavily influenced by French cooking, so crepes (or naleśniki in Polish) were always a staple at home.

    Glad you got to enjoy them in Paris! Nutella, of course, is to die for. :)

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  2. I didn't really like Nutella until I traveled through Europe - it seems to be a favorite everywhere there! The best Nutella treat I had was the Nutella-flavored gelato in Italy. Here's an idea: crepes filled with Nutella gelato! ;) Thanks for the comment!

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    1. OK I could totally go for the crepes you're suggesting!! YUM

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  3. MMMmmm... Nutella goes with everything. This post makes me hungry. For a 'healthy' nutella snack, try it with Granny Smith apples. Nom, nom, nom...

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  4. I eat a Nutella one and also Bacon and Eggs crepe at that EXACT place and it was the best one I ever had. Another of those moments that makes me wish to come back to Paris.. - A brazilian

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  5. I will eat next week. İ hope so :))

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