01/19/2018
Leader Post:
Ladle batter onto griddle, spread out batter, fold crepe, top with stuff, fold again, remove from griddle, plate. Le voila.
Ghizlane Erriha has crepes down to a science. Rightly so — she’s been making them since she was a child in Morocco. But the way she tops the paper-thin pancake — with Hollandaise, or chocolate sauce, or strawberries, whatever the order requires — is more like an art.
Her mouthwatering creations are on sale at La Kasbah Du Maroc, her second creperie in three years, in an out-of-the-way southeast Regina strip mall.
Painted in rich burnt orange and purple, the restaurant is a reflection of Erriha’s home country and family. On the mantle of the fireplace, which is flanked by two leather sofas, there’s a baby picture of her now-five-year-old daughter Sofiya in a chef’s hat.
There are shelves decorated with Moroccan dishware — a tagine (a clay pot with a conical lid), teapots and coffee cups.
“I love coffee, but nothing can replace tea,” Erriha says, setting down a silver pot of traditional Moroccan tea.
It’s sweet with lots of sugar, loose green tea leaves and fresh mint.
On the counter are cookies and pretty pink meringues, baked by Erriha’s sister Houda Erriha. As Houda helps in the kitchen, the two sisters converse in Arabic.
La Kasbah is a second chance for Ghizlane Erriha (pronounced jeez-lahn), who opened Regina’s first crepe restaurant, Marokena, in northwest Regina three years ago.
She did the renovations herself — as she did with La Kasbah — while caring for a toddler. But shortly thereafter, her father had a stroke in Montreal and she had to look after him, so she sold Marokena.
“I wasn’t ready to sell the business,” said Erriha. “From the first month it was crazy,” with people lined up out the doors.
La Kasbah Du Maroc opened in early 2016, in the space of a former hair salon. It’s ironic, because Erriha had always dreamed of owning a salon — she still does — but her father frowned on that path.
“This is a dream too,” said Erriha, who moved to Regina in 2005 from England. “I figured out to go for something easy I can do. Crepes, it’s something I make at home, I can control it, I know how to do it.”
Cooking for others is something she has always done. Having quit school in Grade 4 to help care for six younger siblings, Erriha played restaurant at home. She’d make salads, cakes, crepes and fries, which her siblings would “buy” with pretend money.
She also grew up on the crepes her mother made, which were a “weekend thing for us” and quite different from La Kasbah’s — not just because those were made in a frying pan instead of a commercial griddle.
Erriha’s mom would disguise last night’s supper — potato and chicken tagine (stew), fried fish — in breakfast, fooling her leftovers-averse children.
Adding cheese and some eggs, “It just tastes yummy so we (didn’t) notice.”
At La Kasbah Du Maroc,
The selection is small, but varied. Options include vegetarian, chicken, ham, and the breakfast crepe: three eggs scrambled directly onto the crepe as it’s cooking, layered with ham and cheese, and topped with Hollandaise sauce.
The prices are right, so without going over $20 you can indulge in dessert too, like the Nutella crepe, which is topped with strawberries, bananas, chocolate and whipped cream.
Visit La Kasbah Du Maroc at 350 University Park Dr. Hours are usually 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (closed Mondays).