At Home

I mentioned this in my last blog, but my first meal in Rennes was pumpkin soup and a ham and cheese quiche. Ham, cheese, and eggs seem to be present in a lot of meals here.

I was lucky enough to have a Galette Bretonne my second night in Rennes. I actually just ate another one right before I wrote this. My house mother makes it with a buckwheat (sarrasin) crepe with ham and cheese inside and a sunny side up egg on top. The galettes pictured below give a general idea what the galettes my house mother makes look like. They are from Crêperie Sainte-Anne right by the metro stop Saint-Anne.

An omelet is another dinner with eggs I’ve had a couple times. They are also found at the Restaurant Universitaire (University Dining Hall) for lunch. My house mother made me one with spinach and mushrooms. She had one hard boiled egg and a couple small side items (salad/bread) one time. Keep in mind lunch is usually the heaviest meal of the day here.

My house mother seems to use mushrooms a lot also, which I actually really like. There are some found in the gratin she served me, along with cauliflower on the side. The gratin pictured below is a warm pastry crust filled with mashed potatoes. Also, instead of cauliflower on the side, she knows how to make a meal out of it. She made a plate of cauliflower with a sauce called béchamel, which is pretty much white sauce.

I feel like I eat a lot of chicken here. I’ve had chicken and mushrooms with a side of mafalde pasta. For lunch one weekend my house mother made chicken with potatoes on the side. She actually made a whole chicken. I was full for the rest of the day. She also served duck as an appetizer. We put the duck on toast. Another appetizer we had for lunch and dinner was Rillette de Jambon which is like a minced ham that we spread on top of some bread.

A lot of the time the sides are green vegetables, potatoes, or pasta. There is always salad and bread available every dinner.

Another meal with the vegetable as the main course was zucchini (corgette) with feta cheese. She cut a zucchini in half, scraped out the inside and mixed the zucchini pieces with feta cheese, and filled it back up. It had the same shape as a long boat shell like the tartine du pain she made. The tartine du pain is a baguette cut in half and filled with ham, cheese, and mushrooms. It tasted like a mini pizza, but we actually had personal sized pizzas the next day.

Most of the time I eat fromage du chevre (goat/sheep cheese) or Camembert as an appetizer for dessert.

Something new I had to get used to is that you don’t put the milk right into the fridge until after you open it the first time. There’s milk just sitting out and in the cabinet right now. Also, the cheese left out a lot.

In the City: Marché de Lices

Every Saturday between 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. there is a huge farmer’s market around the corner from Sainte-Anne at Place des Lices. It’s the second largest market in France with over 10,000 buyers each week. Of course it’s had different purposes over the years, but I read online it’s been running for four centuries now since 1622.

I was very overwhelmed the first day I went, but luckily I was with my CIEE group and my assistant director. Some of the group bought fruits and vegetables from the stands lined up and down the Place des Lices. You can pretty much buy anything here. This market has the widest variety of fresh local fruits and vegetables, freshly caught sea food from the Northern and Southern coasts of Brittany, wine, pastries, breads, meats, and other fresh goods I’ve ever seen!

If you ever get to go one day, I highly suggest buying a galette saucisse (sausage wrapped in a buckwheat crêpe). I usually get it with cheese (galette saucisse fromage). It is a Rennes specialty. You can find them at the food trucks outside of the covered part of the Marché de Lices. Inside of the large building you can find a Brittany specialty called the Kouign-Amann (kinda pronounced like “queen uh mon”). This pastry is so sweet. I tried a piece, but I don’t think I could finish a whole one. My friend seems to be addicted though. Its name derives from the Breton language and pretty much means “butter (Amann) cake (Kouign)”.

Right by the metro station Sainte-Anne there’s a tiny mall and right before it you can find a Boulangerie/Sandwicherie/Patisserie and across from that a Brioche Durée. At most places like these you can find formulas where you can get a drink and a dessert with your meal. Brioche Durée is a chain that mainly sells sandwiches. There’s a formula for students that’s only a little over 5 euros. I highly recommend asking them to heat up your sandwich. If not, depending on your sandwich, it’s really hard to eat because the bread is a little tough to chew. I also highly suggest trying a mascotte saveur chocolat-noisettes as your dessert. My friend and I just nodded at each other while we ate because of how good it was. It’s kind of like a long donut filled with chocolate.

There’s a Subway right by these places, but I’m avoiding American food chains since I wanna try what France has to offer. Another food chain you can find in this little area is Pita Pit. Since half of the group are vegetarians and we have one vegan this is a good option for them. It’s also a pretty healthy option. I had a Pita with falafel, but they have other protein options and you can either make it a pita wrap or a salad bowl. It is a make your own style restaurant like a Chipotle or Subway. Another option for vegetarians/vegans is Le CouCou Rennais. I haven’t been to it, but the others seem to like it.

The popular drinks I’ve noticed here are the cidre (cider), wine, tea, and coffee.

I will soon be trying African and Indian cuisine restaurants. I also want to see what the Chinese restaurants are like here. I hope to find something spicy at the Indian restaurant, because I’m going to be honest a lot of the cuisine here has no kick to it and I love spicy food.

Last weekend a small group of us went to la Musée des Beaux Arts (art museum in Rennes), since it was free for everyone because it was the first weekend of the month. When we went to find someplace to eat for lunch we made the wrong decision. First, we found Le Marché à Manger where you can find all different kinds of food and food trucks, but because of how crowded it was we decided to go somewhere else. Bad idea… we ended up paying 20 euros for a Senegalese brunch that included a hot drink, cold drink, the meal, and dessert. Mine had two eggs, chicken, a fried tuna thing, rice and some type of vegetable but again it was a meal with no spice at all. The dessert was really weird with oddly textured pancakes, macaroons, and whipped cream. We’re not sure why we didn’t just leave. I guess we thought we were too into it because the waitress was taking a really long time to get to us. It’s normal for French service to be slower because they want you to enjoy your meal, but she seemed like the only waitress working at the time and we just got weird vibes from the place. Claire calls our time there Purgatory haha. The restaurant is called Barexpo and it looks like the restaurant has better options and deals throughout the week so I’m not going to have a bad opinion on it. It was just a weird experience we’re not going to forget.

I haven’t tried it yet, but there’s a Lebanese restaurant called Mezzelicious and it looks amazing.

The RU (Restaurante Universitaire)

I will mostly be spending the majority of my lunches at the RU (“Roo”). You get an entrée and depending on the entrée, one to two extra articles (salad or dessert) for only a little over 3 euros! You can also pick out a bread roll when you pick up your tray. There’s water set out on the tables in the dining area, but you can pay extra for another kind of drink. The RU was a nerve racking place the first time we went as a group, because the place is very pact and it felt like I was in middle school again trying to find a seat. I’m completely used to it now though. If your meal seems a little cold, there are microwaves available by the water stations.

There are other little food areas found in other campus buildings. There’s also a boulangerie down the street. I had a gaufre-nutella which is a waffle with nuttella on it. One day the international school bought galette des rois for everyone to try from the same boulangerie. There was an original, a chocolate with I think apple, and an apple galette des rois. Emily found a little toy inside of her piece, so I think that means she was one of the queens of the party.

Quelques Desserts (Some desserts)

It’s pretty normal to have dessert after both lunch and dinner. Fruit and yogurt are common desserts. There are crêperies, boulangeries, and patisseries everywhere, so there are many options. Apples seem to be in a lot of desserts as well.

My house mother makes crêpes with either butter and sugar or jam. The only crêpe I have had in the city so far is from the crêperie right by Place de la Mairie. I still have yet to try it, but one of girls’ host family said the best crêperie is the Crêperie Sainte-Anne.

I hope this didn’t make you too hungry. 🙂

À bientôt.

– Nicole