Historic Jounieh restaurant La Crêperie reopens after massive renovations, with an
updated concept and a new look inspired by French Provence, capturing the iconic
restaurant’s nostalgic feel and highlighting its unique Mediterranean setting.
Set inside a historic, cream-colored Lebanese stone house built in 1800 and
perched high on a hill that overlooks the deep blue waters of Jounieh Bay, a mere
20 minutes north of Beirut, La Crêperie has long been part and parcel of Lebanon’s
collective memory. Opened in 1968, the restaurant served a delectable selection of
sweet and savory crêpes, prepared in plain view of the delighted customers. In
1972, Les Caves de la Crêperie opened right under the restaurant, offering a
nighttime venue for Lebanon’s revelers.
During its heyday, La Crêperie was Lebanon’s most illustrious restaurant, attracting
customers like French superstar Alain Delon, and mirroring the romance of
Lebanon’s Golden Years. Many Lebanese people have nostalgic memories of La
Crêperie and remember having had their first date, their first kiss and even having
fallen in love while dining at this iconic institution.
La Crêperie’s phenomenal success lasted for 45 years. Then, in 2012, the restaurant
shut down for renovations, reopening in 2015, under the auspices of Sky
Management, the leading hospitality management and event production firm in
the Middle East. Sky Management is the company behind Lebanon’s fabled
SKYBAR rooftop club, Liza restaurant and O1NE House of Entertainment and
others. Their latest project, La Crêperie, is sure to appeal to a varied spectrum of
customers, from a younger set seeking to wine and dine in a romantic setting, to
families and couples wanting to lunch, dine or spend the afternoon in one of Lebanon’s most scenic restaurants.
Conceived by Sky Management’s chairman and CEO Chafic el Khazen, the updated
restaurant is a new version of the beloved La Crêperie, offering an accessible and
varied international/Mediterranean menu, by chef Vedish Urdassee, with such
specialties as tender cuts of beef, fresh fish, pasta and various salads with different
kind of herbs and aromas, as well as creative sweet and savory crêpes. The very
same crepières who used to prepare the delicious crêpes are back at the
restaurant, creating that signature delight in distinctive flavors.
The outdoor area, scheduled to open in a few weeks, is named Les Jardins de la
Crêperie, and it offers the same spectacular view of Jounieh Bay that still lives
within the memories of diners of decades past.
There’s also Les Caves de la Crêperie, a “resto-bar,” open year-round and offering
the same romantic Mediterranean view. Les Caves de la Crêperie is part of the
second phase of the project and is scheduled to open at the end of the summer.
The exterior and interior architecture of the entire place is conceived by Sari el
Khazen Architects. For La Crêperie, Sari el Khazen removed all elements that were
added in the 1970s and 1980s, reverting back to the house’s 19th-century romantic
grandeur. “I recreated some modules in harmony with the traditional architecture
of the time,” he explains. On this project, he involved team member Sirine Chaker.
And for the upcoming Les Caves de la Crêperie, he found inspiration from the
underground part of traditional Lebanese homes where cattle used to be kept
(“abu” in Arabic). “Our ‘abu’ goes back to history, picks its suitable skin and travels
to the future, flaunting its extravagance as a shiny jewel,” says Sari el Khazen, who
also designed the landscaping in collaboration with Roots.
La Crêperie’s interior decoration, created by Maggy Monsef, retains the historic
aura of the place, while infusing it with a Mediterranean flair that recalls France’s
dreamy town of Aix-en-Provence, as envisioned by Chafic el Khazen. “I was inspired
by Mediterranean nature,” Monsef says, “and by the region’s pastel colors, since La
Crêperie stands on this unique rocky promontory, above one of the most beautiful
bays in Lebanon.” She goes on to explain that she chose to tell a story through
each of the rooms in the house, as if the visitor were strolling through multiple
gardens.
La Crêperie seats 150 guests indoor, plus over 400 guests outside, in a verdant area
described by Chafic el Khazen as “a natural organic garden with no architectural
fingerprints.” There’s also a kids’ area that can accommodate up to 50 children.
With La Crêperie, Sky Management has revived Lebanon’s most romantic
institution, while enhancing it with the spirit of French Provence. The reinvented
restaurant is sure to appeal to those Lebanese who grew up enjoying and still
remember the specialty crêpes, and to their children, who will now visit the place
with their parents and create new memories.