Crépes at the Food Court?

In my post about Bangkok’s Crépes & Co, I mentioned that there was a place for crépes at the food court in the Fashion Square Mall. Well, yesterday Hao and I went to La Creperia Café for a late breakfast.

I hadn’t been to the Fashion Square Mall in at least half a year, so it was interesting alone to be at there. We went up to the second level, where the food court and movie theatre was, and we scanned the food court shops for La Creperia. Hao spotted it, and, upon seeing the sign unlit and the menus lacking the hyper-illumination of most food court menus, I was dismayed. “Aw, it’s closed!”

“No, it isn’t,” Hao walked briskly towards the stand. “Look, there’s someone behind the counter.”

Sure enough, the place was open after all, but the design for the store seemed a bit out-of-step with the florescent glow all the other stalls were emitting. If it were a regular stand-alone café, though, it would be fine. We approach the stall, hunger mingled with excitement of new possibilities. I seize a menu lying on the counter, and my eyes widen with crépe possibilities.

In the end, Hao and I both opted for sweet crépes. I bullied him out of getting the Romeo y Julieta crépe with Nutella, bananas and strawberries, because that’s what I wanted, so he opted for the Evita, which consisted of dolci di lecce (or dolce de leche) and bananas. The two gentleman behind the counter, who were very helpful, made the crepes in a quick fashion, having the crépe skins already premade, which sped up the process to merely involve the preparation of the insides.

I watched the older man smear the dolci di lecce from a can onto the crépe for Hao’s Evita, and it struck me that the can could’ve been heated just a wee bit for easier spreading, as the consistency was akin to peanut butter you pulled out of a very cold fridge. Once it was finally spread around, he peeled an banana and plopped it whole onto the crepe, cut it into small pieces, then pushed the banana bits around to make it even across the crépe work area. He then folded it neatly into a sort of diamond, then flipped it over to cook a bit on the folded side. Transferring the crépe to a plate, the whole look was completed with some caramel syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream.

Oh boy!

Mine had been already made, so I took the two crépes out into the sea of mostly empty chairs in the food court. It had shocked me at how empty the mall was in general, considering it was a Saturday afternoon. Hao was waiting for his coffee to cool, which didn’t really get cool enough to drink until after we had eaten, whereupon he found it a little bitter, like it had been sitting for a while.

The crépes themselves were fabulous, but the frustrating thing was that they were so hard to cut intowith the plastic utensils requisite for mall food. I was afraid I’d break my dinky plastic fork as I attempted to pierce the crépe exterior in order to get to its sweet deliciousness. And, oh, was it sweet. The Romeo y Julieta was decadent; I wound up not being able to finish all of it. Hao said his Evita was on the sweet side, too, but he was able to clean his plate.

I think the final verdict was that La Creperia made some pretty awesome crépes, but it’s probably best just to get them in a to-go package and take them home with you, unless you’re really into food court scenery. That way, you can use real dining utensils, as opposed to plastic, and your eating won’t be periodically interrupted by a blood-curdling shriek from a 4 year-old on the other side of the mall. La Creperia has savoury food as well, and I’d love to try one of those next. Early on, we were warned by one of the employees that the menu was going to be changed up, and that the prices on their website aren’t exactly the same as at the location in the food court, but if you’re in the area and in the mood for a crépe to take out, look at their menu, although the PDF file also mentions pasta, which may not be at their little location in Orlando, but more than likely at their bigger location in the Tampa area.

It’s always time for breakfast food

I love breakfast food any time of the day, and I’m not the only one.

On Sunday, Hao and I went to the local sandwicheria Pom-Pom’s for, well, sandwiches. But instead of the planned Danny G, I wound up getting a Za Madame crepe from their breakfast menu. Now, I had heard the place served up breakfast on weekends, but I had never actually been around to experience it, and after my sweet banana, chocolate and peanut butter crepe, I would like to experience it again. I liked my crepe, although the peanut butter was actually a bit much for me (I’m not one of those jar-eaters), so I could have used more chocolate syrup to balance it out. However, it was still tasty, and the offerings of their little breakfast menu sounded so tasty, I really want to go back and try another crepe–a savoury one, this time–and maybe some grits, too.

The crepe was my breakfast/lunch, as it was around twelve when we swung by. Later on, I went to my parents’ place in Oviedo, and as I was driving back on University Boulevard, there was a glow–a marvelous glow–shining brightly and boldly in the inky surroundings of the mid-evening.

That glow was the Krispy Kreme Hot Light.

Yes, the fabled Hot Light. Sure, you can pass it up, but if I’m in the car and driving either to my parents’ place or to my boyfriend’s apartment, you can bet I’m pulling over. When I lived in Thailand, the humble Krispy Kreme doughnut was at the top of my list of things I missed about the USA. This fried Southern-born treat has become a phenomenon, and with good reason: Krispy Kreme doughnuts are the best mass-produced doughnuts ever. My friend Debbie and I have elevated the doughnut to a bonding experience; she and I were in a Krispy Kreme the night before I left for Thailand, and when she comes to visit her family in Orlando, we would often go for a Krispy Kreme run. I even have a picture or two from one such outing.

Back to Sunday night, I brought home a dozen hot and fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and had two for dinner that Sunday night. Hao had a few, too, as did our friends Marie and Mike, who were over, because sharing Krispy Kreme doughnuts is a good thing to do. Somehow my tale of my Krispy Kreme dinner inspired one of my coworkers to bring doughnuts from Krispy Kreme in this morning, which was magnificent, and she was thanked emphatically.

Sometimes, one of my favourite snacks or light meals in the evening is a bowl of cereal or dry muesli with milk. IKEA stocks up the muesli I like that has bananas, oranges and raisins, which is great with the vanilla almond milk I use, since I’m lactose-intolerant.

Last night, I called up Marie to see if Mike had spilt any more of that honey I had given them (he had an accident while over at Hao’s with the honey jar–very messy), and, to solidify the title of this entry, the two of them were making chocolate chip pancakes at around 9 o’clock at night. How awesome is that?