L’Ami Malo, the brainchild of co-founders Emilien Lesourd and Vincent Couvreur, is a modern creperie and bar inspired by Breton flavours and the small town of St Malo in northwest France.
Officially opening on 31 January on Spitalfields’ Artillery Passage, near Liverpool Street, L’Ami Malo brings a taste of Brittany to the capital with a menu primarily made up of contemporary galettes and crepes.
Using the best French, British and Asian ingredients, Head Chef Williams Guillemot, formerly of Clos Maggiore, has created a variety of sweet and savoury dishes with choices such as ‘maki’-style rolls of Bayonne ham with Comte´ cheese, tomato tartare, roasted hazelnuts and baby spinach; and galettes featuring confit duck leg with caramelised pear and red wine jus. Sweet crepes come with fillings from classic lemon and sugar to apple compote, butter sauce and salted caramel.
The exclusively French wine list includes orange and organic varietals whilst other drinks come in the form of craft ciders, including Cidrerie Nicol and Maison Sassy. Monthly cocktail specials are dispensed from the French speakeasy-style bar – Le Moulin – at the rear of the restaurant.
The 1,140 sq ft, 54-cover restaurant and bar is split over two floors (30 upstairs, 24 downstairs). An open-plan kitchen with bar seating allows guests to watch the chefs in action or pull up a stool at the central reservation Le Moulin cocktail bar. The downstairs space is available for private hire with canape´ and drinks packages on offer.
Lesourd and Couvreur bonded over their common passions for travel, gastronomy and galettes. Their memories of eating in cre^peries as children are associated with happy times and celebrations and they hope L’Ami Malo will instill similar emotions and associations with diners.
Lesourd commented, “We’ve taken a fantastic site in bustling Artillery Passage, moments from Liverpool Street, with excellent footfall. We can’t wait to show Londoners our contemporary take on a traditional cre^perie. We hope they’ll get a sense of all the love and passion we have put into L’Ami Malo.”