The French Crêpe That Outsold Dim Sum (For a Day)

In the bustling streets of Central Hong Kong, where dim sum reigns supreme, something curious happened in the spring of 2016. A tiny street food stall called La Crêperie Nomade popped up during the Tong Chong Street Market, a trendy pop-up event known for international foods and fusion experiments.

Instead of sweet Nutella-banana crêpes, this stall served up a Brittany-inspired buckwheat galette—crisp, golden brown, and folded around fillings like duck confit with hoisin sauce, gruyère with pickled daikon, and even lap cheong with caramelized onions.

Locals were skeptical—until a famous local food blogger posted a photo captioned:

“Dim sum is trembling. This crêpe just slapped my taste buds across continents.”

By midday, the stall had a line that snaked around the block, outselling the nearby dim sum stand by nearly double for one day. Locals nicknamed it the “Crêpe Coup d’État”, and it even got a spot on a TVB food show.

The owners? Two French expats who had met in Hong Kong and bonded over their love of cha chaan teng culture and French street food. They closed shop shortly after the event—but their fusion crêpes inspired other vendors to add savory crêpes to their menus all over the city.

So yes—savory crêpes once dethroned dim sum (at least for a few glorious hours) in Hong Kong.

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