T-swirl Crêpe: A Flavorful Experience

I had the chance to go out to Forest Hills over Mid-Winter Break, where I discovered T-swirl Crêpe. I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into the booth and received my crêpe—wrapped in the shape of an ice cream cone—but I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.

T-swirl Crêpe is a small chain of eateries, mostly located in New York City. The first location was opened in Flushing, and since then, there have been 19 additions throughout New York, a few other states, and Canada. The inside of T-swirl Crêpe is very small and only has enough seats for a few people, but because of COVID-19, all food is now takeout.

T-swirl Crêpe takes the idea of the Japanese crêpe and westernizes it, wrapping it up into a cone shape with toppings placed inside each layer of the crêpe, making it ideal for eating on the go. They use 100 percent gluten-free rice flour batter to create the “crispy, thin, chewy” crêpe. Crêpes can be made both sweet and savory with a unique combination of toppings. There are 11 sweet flavors to choose from, including banana chocolate, blueberry NY cheesecake, matcha chocolate truffle, and mango raspberry. The toppings vary between fruit, ice cream, and syrup. There are also 11 savory options to choose from, including egg white mushroom truffle, Thai chicken, and shrimp avocado. Savory crêpes usually contain meat or egg as the base and a variety of vegetables and sauce as the dressing, a creative culinary choice. T-swirl Crêpe also offers several drinks: 12 different flavors of tea (mango green, strawberry mint, honey cucumber, etc.), two slush flavors (strawberry banana and mango), and regular iced coffee.

I ordered the chocolate nut party crêpe because I’m a huge fan of chocolate. It was about $10, a good price for a large and filling dessert. I got to watch the employees prepare the crêpe and fill it with goodies behind a glass screen, which was very cool. The toppings were chocolate truffles, chocolate custard cream, chocolate sauce, chocolate pearls, almonds, crushed pistachio, whipped Greek yogurt, and two chocolate Pocky sticks. They also gave me a little container of chocolate gelato, which I ate separately (it was amazing!). There were several other additional toppings I could’ve chosen at an additional cost, such as berries or granola, but I felt like the chocolate nut party flavor itself already contained a sufficient variety.

The presentation was incredible. The crêpe was wrapped around in an easy-to-hold cone, and the toppings were placed inside each fold. The chocolate sauce and Greek yogurt were lathered around the entire crepe, engulfing all of the toppings, while the chocolate pearls and nuts were placed near the bottom half of the crepe. It looked incredible, but the flavors were even better. The crêpe itself was thin and crispy on the outside but softer and chewier on the inside. The sweet chocolate truffles––probably my favorite topping––simply melted in the mouth. The nuts added a crunch, which was satisfying because most of the toppings dissolved together on the tongue. The topping that surprised me the most, though, was the Greek yogurt. It wasn’t sweet at all, but its soft, creamy texture perfectly balanced out the rest of the sweetness.

Altogether, the crêpe was easy to chew due to the yogurt, sweet and satisfying due to the chocolate, and a little crunchy due to the nuts. It was a perfect combination of everything, and I couldn’t stop taking bite after bite. It was also incredibly filling and kept me satisfied for several hours. A T-swirl Crêpe could even serve as an on-the-go meal replacement for anybody in a rush. I wish I could’ve eaten my crêpe inside T-swirl Crêpe itself, and hopefully, once COVID-19 is over, I’ll be able to go back and get the full experience of eating my dessert in the actual shop.

Whether you’re in the mood for a savory snack, a sweet dessert, or even a refreshing drink, T-swirl Crêpe has you covered. I plan to return soon to try other flavors, especially the savory ones, since I’d never even heard of a savory crêpe before coming to T-swirl. Unfortunately, the location in Manhattan’s Chinatown is permanently closed, but there is still one open in NoHo, and the Queens locations are up-and-running in Astoria, Forest Hills, Flushing, and Bayside. Once it gets safer, you should definitely try to get to one of these locations if you can, and enjoy the best crêpe of your life.