Where the Pancakes Are, 8th October

Weekends to me mean brunch, and brunch very often means pancakes. The fluffy American kind (even though I’m a lover of the thin, English kind too). When I saw Where the Pancakes Are had opened up I was delighted.

They’ve set up in the newly created area that is Flat Iron Square on Bankside, where you can expect to find more foodie type places and even a new venue called Omeara to make up for the shortfall in London from all the ones we’ve recently lost.

I headed there on a Saturday afternoon at about 1 and we only had to wait all of ten minutes, if that, for a table (of course it is no bookings). I think I was there in its first couple of weeks though so don’t take that as gospel that you’ll always get seated so quickly! Especially now this new area is becoming more widely known. 

Choosing what I wanted was very difficult – the eternal question of whether to go savoury or sweet reared its head. Eventually savoury won out because I cannot resist having something with chilli in it! Rebecca, my dining companion for the meal, had a sweet option. I had a 1,000-baby-greens and added some more greenery in the form of avocado. My fluffy, squidgy pancakes were piled with baby leaves, spring onion, a good dollop of avocado and coriandier-lime butter. Fresh and lively. Could have handled more chilli (as per usual).

Rebecca’s Hummingbird plate looked fabulous – cream, cinnamon pineapple but the pomegranates, almond and coconut put me off stealing any of it. She seemed very pleased with her choice.

Each dish comes with two or three pancakes and that’s enough, although I probably could have squeezed in sharing a dessert version after mine. The savoury dishes are towards the higher end of what I’ve paid for brunch at other places (especially considering they’re pancakes which are normally quite a cheap item), at £10-£12 with extras being another £2 or so. But it doesn’t feel like a cheap brunch spot given the locale, and the types of pancake on offer are a cut above your average lemon and sugar. I’d happily go back.  

Thirsty Bear, 2nd December

I'm a sucker for a bit of novelty, so when I heard about a pub where you can pull your own pints I knew I had to visit.

The opportunity arose when we needed somewhere to go for a drink before going to the Grimm Tales' second show (as wondrous as the first), as that was taking place around the corner in the Oxo Tower Wharf.

At 6pm on a Tuesday evening, Thirsty Bear wasn't exactly doing a roaring trade (where is at such a time) but I noticed quite a few tables were reserved for later. Perhaps a pub quiz? I couldn't stay long enough to find out.

Not only do they let you pour your own drinks, but they also do table service - hi-tech table service, with the purpose of taking out the annoying part of being at the bar - all the queuting and jostling for service. Here (provided you get the right table) you simply log in to the iPad on the table, scroll through all the drinks (cocktails, beer, wine), food (nachos, burgers, chips etc), snacks and even cigarettes and make your selection. Then you sit back and wait for it to arrive. Unless you want tap water, in which case, it seemed you could only get that at the bar. (But why would you want tap water?)

Or, if you don't like waiting at all, you can let them know you'll be doing your own serving, by making use of one of the taps on your table. That's right, beer (or cider) is directly pumped to where you are sitting,from which you can have as much or as little as you like. You're given a glass to top up as you please, and this is charged in tenths of a pint. Because I just had to try it out, just before we left I poured myself what turned out to be a third of a pint and was charged £1.20 for it. Pretty reasonably priced. The downside to this method though is that you only have a choice of Strongbow (bleugh) or Amstel.

The other beers and wines on offer through the iPad are pretty decent - my friend had a Malbec and I had a glass of Picpoul. A few of us got some food - nachos looked good and other chips/breaded items were decent. 

The guy behind the bar was really helpful, explaining how the system works, and had endless patience when we left at the end and all wanted to pay our bar tabs separately. That's the only thing about the system - you get one login for the table, meaning all the drinks go on one person's tab, which could lead to some awkward bill splitting later.

Without the novelty this would be just a pretty average pub, but it's amazing how fun a bit of technology can make a normal experience.


So we went on to my second time at Grimm Tales - this time there were five stories to watch and a much bigger setting to wander around. Again, everyone loved them and, given there are 100s of Tales to choose from, I hope that this becomes a yearly event. Some pictures: