New business brings a slice of Quebec to Manjimup

French-Canadian cuisine has made its way to Manjimup with crepes, galettes, gateaus and pastries being the main servings on the menu. Manjimup crepe chef Patricia Giguere has occupied a space in the corner of Manjimup’s Garden View Court for three weeks for her new cafe La Belle Visite Creperie. She previously operated her crepe business from a food van. Ms Giguere said the transition from her food van business to a brick-and-mortar shop came from wanting to interact with customers and prepare food, including different crepe varieties — sweet, savoury and several seasonal kinds, alongside different cakes and pastries, that she would not be able to from her van. “I love my food van, and I always have, but I felt like I was ready for something a little bit more, and this is the end of the beginning of being on the road,” she said. “It’s time to step out of the food van and open something that I can actually welcome people into and enjoy themselves. “Because in the food van, the people are quickly going in and out, there’s very little interaction and I wanted people to feel comfortable. “I’ve also wanted experience preparing more foods as well, including cakes and pastries, which I’ve been passionate about and was something I couldn’t do out of a food van.” She said since opening, the business had been getting steady business, including those who had visited her food van. “It’s been nice and steady, I feel like the word is getting out and getting customers who saw me at my food van at the markets and it’ll slowly grow into something bigger and better soon,” she said. Having graduated as a qualified chef in 2005, and starting her business in 2013, she felt apprehensive about opening her business in it’s current location, but she’s hopeful that people would enjoy it. “I had a bit of apprehension opening inside the arcade, but I’ve revamped the garden and it’s become a nice little personal corner with the garden, and I hope people see it the way I see it,” Ms Giguere said. Her main goal for her business is bringing cuisine and elements from her native Quebec home to Manjimup and sharing her knowledge of French-Canadian recipes to the town. “I’m trying to make this French-Canadian style with the maple leaf and the logo, and bringing the galettes and crepes,” she said. “My favourite crepes are the Canadian styles, because it brings me back to my time at the Sugar Shack, which is a maple farm in Quebec where people go once a year and sit at a long buffet-style area with maple syrup, bacon and eggs. “I will have a retail section, closer to Christmas and bringing privately imported maple syrup from a farm in Quebec, which I use in my crepes, and have a grade of maple syrup that we do not have in Australia at the moment.” She said her business was essentially a “simple concept” and hinted at several seasonal crepes in the works. “It’s a simple concept, everything is made from scratch, there’s no cheating or cutting corners and I take a lot of pride in that,” she said. “The special of the day is more seasonal, there’s a cherry crepe now as cherry season has started. There will be one with blueberries as that season starts, and then raspberries, and I’ll make the most of it.”