Perfect Afternoon at Crêpes à Gogo and dbar Toronto

A menu that is perfectly matched with the atmosphere!

I met with my friends in Toronto to shop at the Cookbook Store and my friend suggested that we had lunch at Crêpes a Gogo. It was the best idea because I discovered a really good place to eat. This place is at Yorkville and Yonge. This is a small restaurant and it was busy when we walked in.

If you were French, you would probably feel that you were back in France. For me, the decor, the music, the smell of crêpes  and coffee  remind me of the bistro I used to go to when I was studying French. The star of this place is the crêpes. I wanted to try a lot of them but we were on a schedule. We tried the Parissienne, with the scrambled egg, cheese and mushroom and also the mushroom, spinach and goat cheese  crêpes. For dessert we tried the crêpes with their homemade tartinade and bananas. All the crêpes that we tasted were delicious, carefully made and seasoned. I never thought, that the crêpes in its small packaging contain so much joy! This place is dreamy!

I was awestruck!
How did the Crêpes a Gogo managed to have three "jeunes mademoiselles" working there, who are very professional, very pleasant and not to mention "tres jolies". The young ladies occasionally spoke French which added to the ambiance. For me, it was very impressive when the crepes wrapped in parchment paper and  brown paper bag were carefully handed to each of us one by one with both hands and carefully tearing the top part of the brown paper bag. For me, I sensed her pride and sincerity, she didn't have to say  that she just made me the best crepes. And then, I spoke with her. She said that she is from Lyon and she has been in Toronto for one year. Incidentally, I am going to Lyon this month and I asked her if I could speak to her in French. She said, "mais, bien sur!" She described Lyon to me, asked me where I will be staying and she became even more beautiful!

Everything about this restaurant is consistent with their overall concept, the menu, the decor, the pricing and the style of service. "Felicitation...Crêpes a Gogo!



I can not duplicate my entire crêpe experience here but I would like to share a simple crêpe recipe just in case you are craving for it. I will never eat crêpes from the mall ever again.

 Crêpes with Nutella and Bananas

yield 16-18 x 22cm Crêpes

100 g. All purpose flour

25 g. of Rye flour or Red fife flour

pinch of salt

2 eggs

325 ml. milk

100 ml. 35% cream

1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 tsp orange zest, optional

20g. clarified butter, for frying the crêpes

Bananas

Nutella at room temperature 

 

 You can mix this by hand or in a mixer. Sift and mix all the dry ingredients together and all the liquid ingredients together. To make the batter smooth, add half of the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and mix well. Mix enough so that there's no lumps. Then add the rest of the liquid.Leave the batter to rest in a warm place for about an hour.

When you are ready to cook the crêpes give the batter a stir. Brush a crêpe pan or a 22 cm teflon pan with a little clarified butter and heat. Ladle in the batter or use a glass measuring cup with a spout. Tilt the pan to cover the base thinly. Cook the crêpe in medium heat for about 1 minute. flip and cook the other side for about 30 seconds.
Transfer to a plate and continue to cook the rest of the batter.Put parchment paper in between the crêpes when stacking them.

Spread a thin layer of nutella and arrange sliced bananas on the half of the crêpes. Fold the
 crêpes into four. You can heat up the filled crêpes slightly before serving.

Notes:
You can make this into savoury crêpes by replacing the sugar with 2 tbsps. chopped herbs.
 The batter can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge. Bring it to room temperature and give it a stir before using.



The Cookbook Store The Cookbook Store opened in 1983 and is a "bricks and mortar" store located at 850 Yonge Street (at Yorkville). The store stocks thousands of culinary & wine titles from around the world.

I have been going to this place since 2000, when I was working at the Four Seasons. This place is full of inspiration. The store manager, Allison Fryer is always welcoming and very helpful.She is always very pleasant to talk to with good insights on new books and culinary events.

d bar is the right place to end the afternoon.

After shopping for books, we went to d bar for some wine, cocktails and bar snacks.

  

I always enjoy walking through the lobby of the Four Seasons to look at their art works on display. The staff was friendly and welcoming from the door men to the hostess. The service was very professional. The servers occasionally engaged in brief yet interesting casual conversation. My friend had a lot of questions about the food and the server explained clearly. 

We shared a charcuterie board , this include chicken liver mousse, Spanish style Chorizo, Prosciutto, Speck, Salami, Bresaola, mustard, cured olives and grilled bread from Mark Thuet. $24
The board has a very good selection, mostly made in house, the prosciutto is from Niagara.

Herbed Falafel with yogurt and harissa sauce $12
The falafel is very well done and a perfect bar snack. The seasoning and amount of herbs was very well balanced. This was so good that we had to order more.

Crispy Artichokes alla Romana $15
Aioli, Nipetella
We all enjoyed the artichokes. Nipetella is a type of herb used in Italian cooking from the mint family.This dish is very simple yet very elegant bar snack.

We paired our food with a Vouvray.
Vouvray is a French wine region from the Loire Valley. The varietal is Chenin Blanc.


The date was January 7, 2013. Everything went very well. My meeting was great, our lunch was perfect and  dbar delivered.


Note:
There are many types of guests in the restaurant - young, old, high society, people who are difficult to please, and many others. Any establishments will highly benefit to have professional staff who are trained to use their good sense and their knowledge of the cuisine and service techniques.