A different shape of fast food
Paolo was impressed by the fact that Anderson?s offered more than just crêpes, and that it provided a satisfying alternative to fast food
Saturday May 23 2009
When is a good idea not a good idea? I'll tell you. It's when it's not at the right time. Forty years ago, my father got a Neapolitan 'pizzaiolo', or pizza maker, to come to Dublin and he opened a pizzeria on Wicklow Street.
They were terrific pizzas made exactly as they should be, but the venture wasn't a success. It seemed that Dublin wasn't ready for pizzas.
That's a little hard to believe today, as the city abounds with pizzerias and supermarket shelves have any number of chilled and frozen versions.
But, as they say, it's all about timing.
I made the same mistake myself some years later in the mid-Seventies, when I opened a crêperie in Grafton Street called, rather cleverly, The Crêperie. My advertising slogan was equally clever: it was "Have you had your daily crêpe?" Crêpes were big business in London and Paris, but Dublin 30 years ago wasn't ready for my offerings.
So, here we are many years later and there's a crêperie once again in Dublin. I'd arranged to meet Harry Crosbie for a bite to eat and he suggested that we take a pre-prandial walk around the Botanical Gardens, by way of an appetite stimulant. It was a beautiful sunny day and it's been far too many years since I visited the gardens, so I happily agreed. It's strange that this fantastic amenity isn't more visited -- even on this glorious morning there were few people there.
After our walk, Harry decided to show me the north city -- his hinterland. He knows it like the back of his hand and, as we drove, he pointed out great architecture, architectural mistakes and future possibilities. Then he introduced me to Anderson's Crêperie in Drumcondra. It's on a road called Carlingford Road that you'd be unlikely to stumble upon by accident, running between Drumcondra Road and Botanic Road. It was obvious, however, that plenty of people already know about Anderson's, because it was busy when we arrived.
The interior is cleverly decorated; it looks stylish without being overdone. There's a counter on your right as you go in and you can see the hot plates on which the crêpes are made. Crêpes aren't the only thing on the menu, though: there are soups, cold starters, panini (full marks: it's on the menu without a final 's') and salads.
The pancakes are divided into two groups: the sweet and the savoury. The savoury ones are listed as 'galettes' and the sweet ones as 'crêpes'. We kept it simple and ordered a galette each and a glass of wine each -- a Mâcon-Lugny for Harry and an Alsatian Riesling for me. Harry chose the ham, Brie and mushroom galette and I had the all-day breakfast galette, which was filled with bacon, sausage and egg.
You might think that a savoury pancake wouldn't do much for an appetite, but it's surprisingly filling. Both of the galettes we'd ordered were tasty, well filled with ingredients and made a good lunch. Most of the galettes are €8.95 and the crêpes are €5.95. A big bottle of water and a couple of espressos brought the bill to €38.80.
What I liked about this lunch was that it was simple, well made and very satisfying. Crêpes make a good change from the usual fast-food offerings and you could easily pick a galette from the menu that would be a healthier option than the one I chose. A couple of outside tables allowed us to take our espressos in the sun.
Anderson's Crêperie, 1A Carlingford Road, Drumcondra, Dublin. Tel: 01-830 5171
Read Paolo at www.tasteofireland.ie
email: paolo@independent.ie
- Paolo Tullio
