Breton Crêpes in Phuket

Buckwheat, butter and a Breton at the billig

Breton crêpes in Phuket usually turn out to be something else — a thick sweet pancake with processed cheese folded inside it. Le Celtique, down a quiet lane in Rawai a few minutes from Nai Harn, works the other way round. Bertrand is Breton, he has been cooking here since 2001, and the crêperie is not an add-on to a French menu. It is the reason the place exists.

Buckwheat is not wheat, and it matters

Brittany draws a hard line between two batters and Le Celtique keeps it. The savoury galette is made with buckwheat — sarrasin, a seed rather than a cereal, naturally gluten-free, dark and faintly nutty. The sweet crêpe is made with wheat. They are not interchangeable, and knowing that before you open the menu changes what you order.

The savoury list runs from plain butter to a Complète of egg, ham and cheese — the galette every French child grows up on — then out to a Paysanne with bacon and mushroom, an andouillette with cream and mustard for those who know exactly what they are asking for, and a smoked salmon galette with béchamel and garlic. The salmon is smoked in the kitchen, Breton fashion. Prices start around 110 baht and the most extravagant galette sits near 320.

Sweet crêpes, and the ones that arrive on fire

The wheat crêpes stay simple: butter and sugar, chocolate, Nutella, and a salted butter caramel that Brittany regards as its own invention. The strawberry and mango marmalades are made in the kitchen, the mango being the local concession and a good one. La Tatin layers caramelised apple with vanilla ice cream and chantilly.

Then there are the flambées, which are worth timing your evening around — Suzette with orange, lemon and Grand-Marnier, a Normande with apple and Calvados, a Créole with banana and rum. They are finished at the table, and the flame is not decoration: it burns off the alcohol and leaves the perfume behind.

The French classics beyond the crêperie

The rest of the carte is a proper French kitchen. Much of the meat is imported from France, New Zealand and Australia, and every meat dish comes with a garnish of your choice and a sauce of your choice — béarnaise, mushroom, shallot, vigneronne, Roquefort or black pepper. Braised duck leg in orange sauce, grilled ham hock with gratin dauphinois, lamb kebab Provençale, braised lamb shank, New Zealand rib-eye, pan-fried duck breast.

For a starter, the house duck liver mousse and the warm goat cheese salad do the quiet work. And if you are marking something — an anniversary, a last night on the island — the flambéed rock lobster in cognac and lobster sauce is made to order with twenty-four hours’ notice.

The spit-roasted pig, on the first two Wednesdays

On the first two Wednesdays of the month the kitchen moves outside and a whole pig goes on the spit. The cochon à la broche is the most French thing Le Celtique does, and not because of the recipe — because of the format. Long tables, everyone eating the same thing, crackling handed round, the evening running longer than anyone planned. Regulars book it; newcomers tend to become regulars.

Dates can still shift, and the kitchen runs other seasonal evenings through the year, so it is worth a quick check — check their Facebook page for upcoming events before you plan the week. Homemade birthday cakes work the same way — ask ahead.

Finding Le Celtique, and what to drink

Le Celtique is at 80/90 Soi Huay Nam Toe, Rawai, a short drive from Nai Harn beach and well away from the main tourist strips. Booking is sensible on crêpe nights and essential for the pig. The wine list covers France, Italy, Argentina and Chile, and there is a real selection of Belgian beers — unusual in the south of the island, and a better match for a buckwheat galette than most people expect.

Full details, photographs and the contact form are on the Le Celtique profile page, and more addresses worth knowing are in our best restaurants in Phuket section.

Booking: 09 87 35 81 99 or 09 26 28 74 56 — 80/90 Soi Huay Nam Toe, Rawai, Phuket 83100.