The Crumpet Club Review

The Crumpet Club was the winner of the 2008 CPIT Salon Culinaire ‘Christchurch Casino South Island Café of the Year’ title. The crazy thing about this is that it had only been open a few days when it won the award. The Crumpet Club was actually an afterthought of restaurateur, Peter Kraal. After closing the popular Le Bon Bolli restaurant, Kraal opened Le Bon Bolli Catering in an old building on the corner of Tuam Street and Durham Street. He later decided to add a café to the site (The Crumpet Club).

The Crumpet Club operates as a café for breakfast and lunch and morphs into a bar in the evenings. It serves a combination of traditional Le Bon Bolli classics and homemade crumpets with a selection of sweet and savoury toppings.

I first visited The Crumpet Club for lunch on Tuesday 2nd September. I ate alone because I was stood up by my mother. I thought it was only right to order crumpets although the soups and freshly made gourmet pies were very tempting. I decided on crumpets with spinach, cold smoked salmon, poached eggs and a chardonnay cream sauce. The crumpets were lovely and soft, the smoked salmon was delicious, and the eggs were cooked perfectly. The capers sprinkled on top complemented all of the flavours in the dish. The meal was definitely large enough to satisfy me but was not overwhelming. I think the price was reasonable at $14.90.

Unsurprisingly, I was more than happy to return to The Crumpet Club for breakfast on Thursday 4th September… my Mum was jealous and wanted to try The Crumpet Club for herself before heading off overseas. We both ordered crumpets – her a single, me a double (the other option was a triple). It was very difficult to choose from the wide variety of syrups and other toppings available. I eventually decided on the lime and ginger syrup. Although the crumpets were a little crispier this time, they were still very tasty. I was worried that the syrup would be too sweet, but it wasn’t and there was also a spoonful of crème fraiche on top to balance the sweetness anyway. I also ordered some caramello topping on the side because I was curious and I am a greedy guts. This was a layer of thick caramel sauce topped with a layer of rich chocolate ganache. Although I would be tempted to order it again, it is definitely more of a dessert treat than a breakfast topping. Mum chose to have some type of curd on her crumpets. She enjoyed her meal but we both agreed that my syrup was better. I also had a flat white with my breakfast. It was OK but nothing spectacular. On our way out, Mum bought a yummy-looking passionfruit and white chocolate muffin for lunch. Although it looked good, she said that it wasn’t that great. Our breakfast for two came in under $30.

I will definitely be visiting The Crumpet Club again some time in the (near) future.


For those who are crazy (and patient) enough to attempt cooking crumpets at home, Newstalk ZB managed to obtain Philip Kraal's recipe for homemade crumpets:

Homemade Crumpets
by Peter Kraal

400 g Flour
18 g Sugar
620 g Warm milk
16 g Fresh yeast or 6 g dried yeast
5-8g salt

1. Sieve all the dry ingredients into a large bowl
2. Dissolve the yeast in the milk until it begins to froth
3. Add the dry ingredients to the yeast and mix to create a batter.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to ferment. (about 45 minutes)
5. Knock back the batter by stirring, re-cover and allow 10-15 minutes to 're-gas'. You will know when the batter is ready for baking when it becomes bubbly
6. Place well buttered steel rings moulds onto a low temp flat top griddle (about 8-12 depending on size)
7. Drop the batter into each ring and bake slowly for about 20 minutes or until the top appears dry and cooked
8. If desired, toast the tops before serving.