Crepes! (The Japanese Kind, of course)

[Kiem Hwa]

Last time I was in Japan, on the last day of our trip, we were running to catch our bus to the airport and decided to grap something quick to eat, that we had been interested in.....

Crepes....a yummy crepe rolled up and filled with hamburger and sauce, or filled with pasta, sauce and cheese.

We had also tried the dessert versions earlier, ones with strawberry icecream and whipped cream and chesnuts (marron).

I really miss these crepes now. There was a crepe shop here in Hawaii, but I never tried it and now its closed

Does anyone else share my love of crepes?

Does anyone know the recipe for the batter???

Also, it is quite astonishing what gets put into these crepes....what is the best or most interesting fillings? Is stuffing them with such various things a Japanese invention?

[torakris]

for those that are unfamiliar with Jaapnese style crepes they often look like this:

http://www.kitakitune.co.jp/crepemenu.html

some simpler version look like this:

http://www.aprecio.co.jp/toyocho/pages/menuCrepe.htm

and there are also savory versions:

http://puchi.pekori.to/crepe2.htm

I personally can't stand them and they are everywhere now, my kids love them though but at about $4 a piece it is an expensive snack for the 3 of them and it isn't very easy to share...

[melonpan]

here is what i do

2 tbsp butter

1 cup flour

3 eggs

1 cup milk

melt the butter in a small cup in the microwave.

sift the flour into a bowl.

in a smaller bowl mix together the eggs and milk.

add the eggs and milk mixture gradually to the flour, mixing with a whisk.

finally, add the melted butter and stir until just mixed.

this batter will keep in the fridge for at least a day, so you can make just a few crepes for one night and have some more the next morning. :-)

i dont add any sugar to the batter bc i like to use the same batter for sweet and savouries. you can add a spoonful if you want, though.

[melonpan]

making your own is considerably cheaper than $4. this is true of many things of course, but crepes are easy enough to whip up at home and i dont buy crepes outside anymore unless i am out with company at a creperie (which happens occasionally...).

[melonpan]

lastly, as these are homestyle, we dont use those neat wooden sticks to round them out. they will spread out nicely on a non stick skillet through gravity (i also cook the crepes in butter). also, since we dont have any skillets larger than 12 inches across, they are considerably smaller than the normal street crepes. but still tasty as heck.

lastly, when we eat ice cream crepes, i make a simple chocolate sauce made this way: melt half a bar of bittersweet chocolate in the microwave, 10 seconds at a time. then add a couple tablespoons of whipping cream and heat 10 seconds. keep cooking, adding cream just a little at a time, until i get a good sauce. thats it. the chocolate sauce for your ic crepes. milk or half and half will work nicely too, but cream is king.

chocolate sauce keeps nicely in the fridge for a while.

[melonpan]

i didnt know i had such strong feelings for crepes.

(to keep things on topic) that i have made crepes filled with a dab of an, topped with fresh whipped cream and a small amount of matcha sauce (mix matcha, hot water and lots of sugar) drizzled over it.

[Hiroyuki]

The one with shredded cabbage, canned tuna, and mayo is absolutely the best crepe I have ever had in my life. I don't care for sweet ones.

[melonpan]

ive never seen these hamburger or pasta crepes.

the pasta one sounds interesting. i can see it with tomato sauce and cheese or even a meatbased sauce with cheese... i guess why not throw in some pasta?

<i>sometimes spaghetti likes to be alone</i>

Edited December 18, 2004 by melonpan (log)

[lannie]

I have a sweet tooth, so the dessert ones are my favourite.

Recently, I had a delectable crepe stuffed with lots of fresh whipped cream and a whole piece of blueberry cheesecake! I also had a scrumptious crepe filled with lots of whipped cream and a gigantic scoop of Nutella, and topped off with lots of blueberries.

[Kiem Hwa]

Melonpan-

Thanks for the recipe!! I want to try your an+matcha+cream one... I also have some chestnuts

Im tempted to find a huge frying pan just for these crepes

I saw the hamburger crepes at least twice. Once in Kobe, and we became interested but didnt try them. Then when we were rushing to our bus to the airport and we just happened to pass a crepe station with the hamburger one again, and we decided it was fate (In Namba station in Osaka).

I also have to admit, I was much more impressed with the savory crepes with the hamburger or pasta then the the sweet ones I had. The hamburger and pasta tastes suprisingly wonderful with the crepe, while the sweet ones tasted exactly the way I expected.

[Kiem Hwa]

for those that are unfamiliar with Jaapnese style crepes they often look like this:

http://www.kitakitune.co.jp/crepemenu.html

←

What is the one in the bottom right corner? Is that mochi? How is it with mochi inside?

[torakris]

for those that are unfamiliar with Jaapnese style crepes they often look like this:

http://www.kitakitune.co.jp/crepemenu.html

←

What is the one in the bottom right corner? Is that mochi? How is it with mochi inside?

←

it is shiratama-kuri-azuki, I have never tried ones with shiratama inside....

These pictures don't show how much cream is in most of those, the ones I have bought probably had over a cup of cream and it wasn't the good stuff either.

[Hiroyuki]

For many Japanese, the mere word crepe conjures up images of senior high school girls strolling down Takeshita Doori at Harajuku while nibbling at their crepes in the late 1970s.

I have learned today that crepes are still popular at Harajuku.

http://www.shibukei.com/special/2003/05/23/

(Japanese only)

Sorry, it is a little bit off topic.

Edited December 19, 2004 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Yuki]

I tried my first Japanese crepe from an amusement park in Tokyo, it was filled with banana, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Although anything with mayo is pretty good too....... In the winter, I like the combination of custard and chestnut.

[torakris]

went to a crepe shop yesterday....

their menu

a closer up view (and yes those are corn flakes under the ice cream)

our choices, Hide has the strawberry, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce Mia has the cheese cake one (it looks like a slice of brie) and mine was a hot one with apples and cinnamon, no cream

Julia had the shop's speciality with cookies and cream ice cream, strawberries bananas and cream

My husband's was just cream and caramel sauce

[Hiroyuki]

I'd like No. 37, tuna pizza cheese, please!

Seems like you had some snow in Yokohama!

[torakris]

We did have some snow in Yokohama on Weds but it didn't stick much

Those pictures were taken at Fuji Safari Park at the base of Mt. Fuji, they got dumped on the day before we went, it was absolutely gorgeous.

[Pumpkin Lover]

GREAT pictures!

If someone could post a picture of a salmon and cream cheese crepe, I'd be in heaven...

[torakris]

I just bought a new (Japanese language) cookbook on sweets and they have a recipe for matcha crepes....

[Kiem Hwa]

I just bought a new (Japanese language) cookbook on sweets and they have a recipe for matcha crepes....

←

Oishi so desu!!!

That sounds yummy!

If you ever get a chance to try it out, let us know

[torakris]

I just ran across this shop that sell crepes with natto....

and not just nattou, but natto with coffee jelly and cream or natto and kimchi and mayo, they have a whole menu dedicated to natto crepes, apparently it is pretty popular.....

natto crepes

scroll down a bit to see tehir natto menu as well as pictures of the two crepes I just described

[chefzadi]

Japanese style crepes. After viewing the photos I am stunned.

My wife says American mutations of sushi are oftentimes so far from the original they might as well be burritos. She enjoys some of them nonetheless.

I don't think such crepes would ever gain much popularity in France, especially Birttany. But so far from home we can only say,"eat, enjoy as you like it."

But the natto one is just too weird.

I don't have any suggestions for toppings. But the batter in Birttany it is made with buckwheat flour. So that could be a nice variation to try for the savory fillings. Also, savory crepes are often served baked with a Mornay sauce on top. Some ideas for lovers of Japanese crepes to play with.

I wonder if there is a Japanese curry crepe?

[torakris]

I wonder if there is a Japanese curry crepe?

←

well......

curry flavored crepe filled with ice cream and anko

There were a couple more references to curry crepes but I couldn't get any other pictures...

[Kiem Hwa]

Yay, I found a great Japanese-style crepe place in LA!

They dont have the hamburger or pasta or sausage stuffings, but they have all kinds of "pizza", "spicy pizza", "bbq", and "sandwich" stuffings, along with alot of various sweet stuffings! We have the bbq chicken, and the spicy turkey pizza one yesterday, but pretty good, and I defianetely will go back soon to try more... and take my camera along...

for anyone in LA who is interested:

KC's Crepes Café

8320 Lincoln Blvd. #101

Tues.-Fri. 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Closed Monday

And..they also have boba drinks (not Japanese, but matches well with crepes).

Heres a review