Nothing delights me more than seeing tides rolling back and a Starbucks in the middle of town becoming a lovely little French creperie. And, of all places, this has happened in the corporate culinary centre that is Oracle Riverside.

It should be a great location, opposite Vue cinema and a stride from all those high street chains in The Oracle and right on the River Kennet, but the cinema is soon to shut down and more massive towers of flats put where Carter & Miller once traded. Such is the relentless march of capitalism.

So, welcome, Doux Sourire ('sweet smile'). Just entering this lovely new addition to our towns culinary scene had me smiling on a rainy January day.

It is a creperie. Crepes being that wonderful foodstuff that is the daughter of the omelette and the flatbread.

I was catching up with the lovely Phil Creighton, former editor of Reading Today and the most experienced and most respected journo in our town. He was running a tad late, so I dried out with a very nice cappuccino. Flexibility is the only way forward for pubs and restaurants now and I can see myself coming here regularly for a coffee, a glass of wine or a meal, or just a sweet pancake for the kids, at any time of the day or evening.

They truly offer things that aren't available anywhere else in Reading. Crepes, galettes (that's buckwheat crepes), boozy hot drinks (yes!), cheese and wine flights, milkshakes with booze.

Indeed, you can get an Oreo shake with Bailey's for breakfast! This is, of course, above and beyond all else, what the Reading culinary scene has been missing.



The menu is short, savoury and sweet with a few specials chalked up on the blackboard. There is a soup and a salad, but everything else comes wrapped in those French delights - what we would erroneously call pancakes.

Ah, pancakes! They have been with us for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence suggests that our ancestors apparently cooked primitive versions of pancakes as early as the Stone Age. These early pancakes were likely simple flatbreads made from ground grains mixed with water, then cooked on hot stones or in rudimentary pans. Bread or pancakes or omelettes ? Who knows.

In ancient Greece and Rome, pancakes began to resemble the more sophisticated forms we recognize today. Greek poets mentioned "teganites" and "tagēnitēs," thin pancakes made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey, and curdled milk. The Romans, enjoyed similar creations, often flavored with spices and sweetened with honey. You could buy them in fast food joints at Pompeii, provided that you weren't covered with molten ash.

During the medieval period, pancakes became a staple across Europe, adapting to regional ingredients and traditions. Eggs and milk were added to the mix, creating a richer, more pliable batter. Pancakes also became associated with Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day), a tradition that persists. The custom arose as a way to use up rich ingredients like eggs, milk, and butter before the Lenten fast.

By the Renaissance, pancakes had diversified even further. Cookbooks from the era mention recipes for pancakes flavored with spices, rosewater, and wine. 
France - or rather, Brittany (hail fellow Celts!) - has contributed two of the most iconic variations of pancakes: the crêpe and the galette. The Welsh word for pancakes is crempog, in case you were interested in Celtic entymology.

Pancakes come in many forms but crêpes are thin, lacy pancakes made from wheat flour, milk, eggs, and butter. They can be sweet or savory, filled with everything from Nutella and strawberries to ham and cheese.

The galette, also hailing from Brittany, is a heartier cousin to the crêpe. Made with buckwheat flour, galettes are naturally gluten-free and often filled with savory ingredients like eggs, cheese, and sausage. Their rustic flavor and versatility.

They have been a staple of my life for decades. For the nearly thirty years I lived in Hampstead in London there was the famous crepe stand on the High Street, and then, living in the Marais in Paris we had the Breizh Café around the corner. Ah, cider and crepes in the shadow of the Picasso Museum.

But back to rainy, freezing Reading and Creperie Doux Sourire.

 



The owner proudly came over as soon as I sat down to let me know that all dishes were now available as galettes for a £2 surcharge.

I love the slightly bitter texture of buckwheat, so I has the Galette Breton - the most traditional of pancakes from Brittany with cheese and ham. I also ordered the red pepper soup to warm myself up and to round off the review. Phil went for the Paysan, being the man of the people that he is, which is basically the same dish as I had with spinach instead of ham and flour instead of buckwheat. This is fast food, French style... But he did make them take away the tomato from the accompanying salad. Phil doesn't do tomatoes.

In fact, we agreed that the salad was all just a bit pointless and the basalmic dressing was a bit cloying. Crepes are bland and soft and gooey. Leave them alone. Who has salad with pizza? I would argue to drop the salad or have it as a side and chop a quid or two off the price of the crepes. Perhaps it would have gone down better in summer, and it does make for better photographs in our Insta world where you seem to be able to do nothing without making Zuckerberg richer. Of course, Phil and I fell into our usual discussion of how Google and Meta have destroyed local media (and much else) as we munched away. 

 



Now, eager as I was to catch up with Reading's leading hack, I didn't read the menu properly. I have never seen a Breton Crepe with mushrooms and my crepe had far too many mushrooms. They drowned the cheese and ham. The soup was poor - I'd had a red pepper soup the previous week at my friend Katie's in Wales which she had thickened with sweet potato and was much better than this rather bitter, watery dish that needed some more umph.

Phil, however, loved his meal and, despite my minor criticisms, I thoroughly enjoyed mine.

Conscious of our girths, and with other appointments to attend, we failed to try any sweet offerings, where crepes often come into their own. Nutella, banana and ice cream on a crepe ? Now we're talking.

So let me make an offer. If any of you, dear readers go and consume one of these dessert delights, do write to us with your impressions and I will edit this review with your review.

I may have come over as a bit down on the food at Creperie Doux Sourise but I truly had a lovely lunch and this will be a go to place in future. Especially since I messaged the menu to my French wife, who immediately decided that this is her favourite place in Reading to eat before ever visiting.

Go and eat pancake, drink wine, or even have an Oreo milkshake with Bailey's for breakfast. This lovely little restaurant enrichens our town and deserves all of our support.