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Roule Galette

Nina Rousseau

Roule Galette - 26 Rebecca Walk, Melbourne

MICHEL Dubois, originally from Vigneux-de-Bretagne, has been making crepes since he was 10. Every Friday - crepe night - he'd prepare the crepes for his mum, dad and six brothers and sisters, perfecting the mix so it was the right consistency for ultra-thin crepes. "The trick," he says, "is that the batter must be very liquid so it spreads evenly and thinly on the hotplate." Who knew the tradition would become his livelihood?

Roule Galette is Dubois's second creperie, open for six months on Rebecca Walk, in a new string of shops that snakes under the railway bridge between Melbourne Aquarium and Jeff's Shed.

The menu is the same at both creperies yet, as siblings, they are chalk and (smelly, French) cheese. Roule Galette, the original, is a dark, tiny bolthole in a cool arcade off Flinders Lane.

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Roule two is bright, open and quaintly daggy with orange Laminex tables, cheap wooden chairs and seaside paraphernalia referencing Dubois's native Brittany. A big road map of France is stuck to the wall and children's drawings decorate the fridge. Roule two is also super-family-friendly, fronting an expanse of Batman Park and the Yarra. Trains rumble overhead, squawking gulls create interest and crepes are laced with ingredients such as chocolate and salty, buttery caramel. It's a lucky kid that does some shark-spotting at the aquarium, followed by Roule's Gourmande, a folded triangle stacked with three scoops of vanilla ice-cream, fresh banana and strawberry, crunchy toasted almond and Italian chocolate, which melts into a decadent syrupy mess.

French-speaking staff - all French bar one Australian French student - use a wooden paddle to smooth the crepe batter onto one of the four billigs, cast-iron hotplates, mounted on tripods.

If it's savoury you want, order a galette - thin, gluten-free crepes made with buckwheat. Folded in the Forestiere is a heady combo of bechamel, bacon, nutmeg and mushrooms that teams very well with a half-bottle of Moet or dry cider from Normandy, the fizz cutting through the richness.

A three-cheese crepe includes French blue vein and morbier melted with Calendar goats' cheese. In the Monsieur K, quality prosciutto is used along with a good amount of raclette/morbier.

For something heartier, the thigh meat in the Chicken du Chef is simmered for two hours with white wine, garlic, parsley and a bit of cream. The flavour was beautiful but this was the most buttery of the galettes sampled. Overall, the galettes and crepes could have been hotter.

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It's simple food with good ingredients and Roule works as a fast lunch for city workers down the bottom end of town, as an informal, casual outing, or as a training ground for students - Dubois has hosted French classes to celebrate their end of term.

On Friday nights - crepe night - French jazz duo Vive la Difference performs live, just to amp up the authenticity. Kick back with some of that cider.

nrousseau@theage.com.au

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