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.
