Escale A Belle-Ile
Bellecour
Escale A Belle-Ile is a traditional little Crepe restaurant found in the Bellecour area. I hadn’t eaten as many crepes as I felt I perhaps should have since being in France, but here I managed to stuff down to delicious traditional French crepes down my throat- one savoury and one sweet. It was a bit naughty really as I had just come back to Lyon after Christmas and I really intended to lose the few pounds I gained over Christmas. However, my little outing to Escale A Belle-Ile was a treat from Henri as a thank you for helping him with his English Translation homework.
The little restaurant found on a little, narrow cobbled stone street along with a host of other fancy restaurants is a named after the island Belle-Ile, found of the coast of Brittany. Around the wooden interiors there were pictures of the island. Henri was telling me about all the holidays he had taken there with his family many years ago and he was saying how the island certainly lived up to its name of being a place of beauty- I could see that from the pictures.
The restaurant offers a large of choice of salad and of course crepes- sweet and savoury. We started of course, in the correct order by opting for a savour crepe first. There wasn’t an awful lot of choice for me, as many of the options contained meat, mostly ham. I was tempted to for a mushroom crepe but in the end I kept it simple and opted for a cheese crepe. Henri on the other hand when for something a little more elaborate with cheese, ham and even a fried egg in the centre- it seemed a lot tastier and more exacting than what I had gone for.
The portions were rather large and filling. We washed our lunch down with a glass of cider. I don’t normally drink, especially at that time of the day, but I couldn’t say no to Henri who was trying to show me the ‘proper’ way of doing things. It was only two ago I had even tasted cider or cidre as it’s known as in France.
Over lunch we chatted casually and I learnt more and more about the fascinating character of Henri Garnier. He was telling how the President Francois Hollande might have been going to his house for dinner but the most interesting topic to hear about was Lyon under Nazi occupation and what it was like with the resistance around. It was really compelling to hear stories of such frightening times from someone who experienced World War Two first hand, even as a small child.
After the savoury crepe it was time for the sweet, and again things were kept simple as we both had a simple sugared crepe each. I would have possibly liked to have seen what else was on the menu too and thus I would quite like to return as the meals were delicious as satisfying, I would most definitely return, though perhaps at a later time of day. It was only 12 o’clock when we ate there and the restaurant had only just opened, so it was a little too quiet to beginning with but I can imagine that that the charming little place only gets more popular as the day goes on.
