HOLY CREPES!

Hargitai’s 304 Barton Street East

Back with another Crossover post with my friend and local blogger Seema of This Must Be The Place. If our last outing, a feast at AppleBerry Cafe, proved anything, we can eat!

The new creperie and ice cream shop Hargitai’s had been on our individual to-do lists for a while now. The cute little take-out place on Barton opened in April (on Friday the 13th – an Art Crawl day, I remember!). We first learned about them through Twitter, where the owner, Maria, has been really active in connecting with the #HamOnt community.

It may be winter, but that’s no excuse not to get out there and explore the city. The colder months are a good time to start barrelling through my list of food stops. Seema and I even arrived looking festive in matching red coats and warm hats. Hargitai’s was a festive setting to be in, with its red/white/black colour scheme. For some added holiday flair, there were decorations hanging from the ceiling and a poinsettia in the window.

We had a very special guest with us, Seema’s son Omi. Omi was also looking adorable and festive in his red and green outfit, complete with his first Christmas bib. Mine and Seema’s posts mark Omi’s first blog appearance as Hamilton’s newest little explorer!

At Hargitai’s, there are both savoury and sweet crepes to choose from. For our first course, Seema and I split a Cheesy Melt – a crepe filled with cheddar, smoked cheese, cream cheese, and green peppers and onion, with a cucumber salad on the side. It was delicious!

With so many crepes on the menu, we decided to each get a sweet crepe for dessert. Seema chose the Classic, which is filled with strawberry jam. I went with Sugar & Spice, filled with a mix of cinnamon and brown sugar. The sugary concoction reminded me of carnival or festival food and I was pleased with my selection.

I didn’t consider myself a huge crepe fan before, but maybe that’s because I had never eaten crepes done right! Chatting with Maria, she made a good point that many tend to think French when they think crepes, but there is a history of crepes all over Europe. Being Hungarian, you can expect the real deal at Hargitai’s.

After our crepes, we moved on to round three – ice cream! Maria told us she uses fresh fruits to make their ice cream, and you could tell. It was full of flavour, and light and icy to add to our dessert. Seema tried the Mixed Berry Cheesecake and I had the delightful-sounding Raspberry Chantilly. Being so chilly out, it took a few minutes to soften up, but we didn’t have to worry about it melting.

With all of my music features recently, I was due for a food outing, and was happy to check another Hamilton hidden gem off my list. I also got to visit a new area of the city by tackling Barton Village. I’ll be visiting again to seek out more spots in that BIA.

Thanks to Seema for another fun Crossover post. Stay tuned for more in the new year!

Read Seema’s post on our lunch date at This Must Be The Place.

– Kristin