Le Timbre Poste, Tours: Crêpes in the Loire Valley

Hi, it's Yoko, the food blogger who eats her way around the world!

The first crêpe I had after coming to France to study was at LE TIMBRE POSTE in Tours.

"Timbre" means "stamp" and "poste" means "post office."

Yes, the name literally means "postage stamp" (lol).

By the way, here's how you say it. The "im" is a nasal sound, like "an."

The French "r" is made by scraping the back of your throat, like you're gargling, while pursing your lips a little, a bit like "oo."

The "e" is silent, so it sounds like "kuh" or "fuh."

If I force it into English letters, you get "luh tanbr poast."

I've been forgetting my French pronunciation lately, so this was a nice refresher.

A crêperie where the walls are covered in postage stamp art

It sits on a cobblestone street and looks like this from outside.

It was close to my language school, so I went there for lunch with friends.

It was windy and cold, so we hurried inside.

The inside of LE TIMBRE POSTE is seriously cute.

Lots of old stamps are framed and hung up like paintings.

If you collect stamps, you'd probably have a great time here.

The lighting is fairly dim (even though it was lunchtime), so you can take your time over your meal.

Someone was reading a book alone,

and what looked like a couple were chatting in hushed voices.

We were quite loud at first, but the mood rubbed off on us and we dropped our voices.

In Japan, crêpes feel like a snack that students eat on Takeshita Street in Harajuku, but in France they're an everyday meal.

Besides sweet crêpes, there are also galettes (savory crêpes made with buckwheat flour and eaten as a meal).

That's probably why a calm atmosphere like this doesn't feel out of place.

What's the Japanese equivalent... maybe yakisoba?

Although there's no such thing as sweet yakisoba (lol).

Crêpes are easy to order

If you've just arrived in France to study and still feel nervous about going into restaurants, a crêperie is a great place to start!

Even if you order at random, you're unlikely to get something unrecognizable, and since the ingredients in crêpes are pretty standard, I don't think you'll end up with anything that tastes off.

Here's the menu at LE TIMBRE POSTE.

There's a lunch set for around ¥1,500.

It comes with either a galette or a salad, a sweet crêpe or ice cream (sorbet), and coffee after the meal.

It's a generous, good-value set!

I went with the egg and ham galette.

It comes with lettuce and a sprinkling of olives.

For the sweet crêpe, I had butter and sugar.

It's simple and not at all Instagram-worthy, but delicious, and it's my favorite combination.

I finished with an espresso.

The little chocolate that came with it was delicious too.

The staff were sympa (friendly), too.

If you come to Tours to study or travel in France, do stop by.

LE TIMBRE POSTE

12 Rue de Châteauneuf, 37000 Tours, France

fermé dimanche et lundi (closed Sundays and Mondays)

+33 2 47 64 84 14