Julien Lefebvre is from Lille in Northern France; his wife, Alison hails from Greystones. They met in Dublin some years ago, then moved to France where Julien worked in a crêperie In Annecy. Having honed his trade – he first learned how to make crêpes and galettes at his mother’s knee – they returned to Ireland in 2015 and set up La Crêperie Pierre Grise beside the harbour in Greystones.
And they have succeeded in bringing a little bit of France to this seaside town.
Painted white, with blue shutters and a bright yellow door, it demands to be noticed - inside, the high-ceilinged room is simple, with white walls, plain brown furniture and an open kitchen at the back.
Wooden spoons in carafes (along with fresh flowers) name each table after a French city and, under a glass top, there are vintage postcards of the city. One wall is lined with shelves made from wine boxes housing a lovely display of traditional pottery from Brittany – the same pottery used for service plates and bowls.
Julien specialises in traditional crêpes and galettes (savoury crepes), made from farine de sarrasin - also also known as buckwheat, this black gluten-free flour is the maon ingredient for traditional crepes, and it's imported from Brittany.
There are 10 different kinds of galettes, so the choice may be difficult. You might try Biquette, for example, which is made with French goats cheese, walnuts and honey, but other popular galettes include La Irlandaise - Irish sausages, Emmental cheese, egg, mustard l’ancienne and crème fraiche - and Savoyarde, with French smoked ham and white ham, raclette cheese and potato.
Of course, every traditional crêperie has a range of sweet crêpes, and Julien makes all the sauces from scratch. Choices include warm salted butter, hot chocolate, marshmallows and Nutella, Belgian chocolate chips and Vergeoise sugar , which is a caramel sugar originally from Northern France. And if you really want a treat, you could have a crepe with Movenpick icecream – there are 10 varieties!
Cider is the traditional accompaniment to galettes and crêpes and La Creperie offers it the traditional way – in a pottery bowl called a bolée. It’s also available by bottle, as is wine.
Freshly cooked crêpes and galettes entice not just locals, but also tourists (mainly French - the ultimate compliment), into this delightful restaurant.
Charmant!
