Pancake Day (February 21, 2023) has once again crêped up on us and while our cupboards may be empty of all the necessary ingredients, mercifully London’s best restaurants are ready and raring to fill your face with some flipping good food. With the excitement really stacking up, it’s time to unveil our hotspots for where to get the most heavenly pancakes in London. Happy eating – you can thank us later!
1. Where The Pancakes Are, Flat Iron Square, Fitzrovia & Battersea
To celebrate Shrove Tuesday and an impressive six years in the pancake flipping business, Where The Pancakes Are collaborating with none other than Matilda The Musical for one very special partnership. The star of the show lies in their limited ‘Popping Forest Pancakes’ – a dish created to bring out everyone’s inner child.
Featuring their signature pancakes, the dish is piled high with blackberry compote, drizzled chocolate, vanilla ice cream, marble shards & sprinkles of explosive chocolate coated popping candy! Now if that doesn’t make you wanna go, then we really don’t know what will… The ‘Popping Forest’ itself is running from Feb 18-24, so don’t miss out!
📍You’ll find Where The Pancakes Are at three different locations in London. You can find out more here.
2. Duo London, Camden
If you’re someone for whom one pancake is simply not enough, then Duo London is the only place for you on pancake day. If you can wait until the weekend for the doughy goodness, Duo offers a killer combination of bottomless pancakes and Prosecco – and even a live DJ on the day – so if you’re looking to really celebrate Pancake Day in style, then Duo can certainly help you out. Get involved here.
📍You’ll find Duo London at 20 Inverness Street, Camden, NW1 7HJ.
🚇 Nearest station is Camden Town.
3. Polo Bar, Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street’s favourite 24-hour independent caff is paying homage to Pancake Day by offering a pancake menu for the whole entire week – available 24/7! Standouts on the menu here include their ‘lotus banoffee’ and the ‘Royale’ – freshly-made pancakes covered with mixed forest berries, gooey vanilla cream and delectable fruit coulis.
They’ve also got ‘The Old School Series’, which includes a sticky toffee pudding variety and even a full English spin on a pancake stack. Sign. Us. Up. Add in their ‘Ultimate Pancake Battle’ event – which gives you the chance to win 200 quid, Prosecco and your whole meal for free if you eat their famed 12-tier pancake stack in under 15 minutes, and you know exactly where to head this Pancake Day!
📍You’ll find Polo Bar at 176 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4NQ.
🚇 Nearest station is Liverpool Street.
4. Balans, Various Locations
This stylish bar that started in Compton Street way back when is always good when it comes to pancake day – serving up their famous American pancakes with warm maple butter and a choice of bacon, banana or berries – and their vegan matcha pancakes too. Word on the street is that they’re also whipping up a very special menu for the day itself. Watch this space.
📍You’ll find Balans at various different locations in London. You can find out more here.
5) Avobar, Covent Garden
The mean green machine that is Covent Garden’s Avobar is also getting in on the pancake game, with a helping of their green matcha pancakes. Topped with either caramelised bananas and maple syrup, or generous helpings of crispy bacon/salmon and a turmeric poached egg, this place is undeniably delivering some pretty impressive stacks.
Perfect for breakfast, a little pre-lunch snack or maybe just a 4pm office break, there is really no bad time to get involved with these beauties. If you fancy going on a real pancake crawl, then you’re in luck here. Head to the The Ivy Market Grill for piping-hot buttermilk pancakes or to Balthazar for their New York-style mixed berry pancakes. Yum, yum.
📍You’ll find Avobar at 24 Henrietta Street, London, WC2E 8ND.
🚇 Nearest stations are Leicester Square and Covent Garden.
6. Bill’s, Various Locations
Now you all know we love a bottomless brunch here at Secret London, so this one really got our attention. On pancake day this year, everyone’s favourite chain restaurant and bar Bill’s are extending their daily 3-5pm bottomless pancake offer by making bottomless pancakes available all day! So for one day, and one day only, you can eat bottomless pancakes anytime.
Tuck into all-you-can-eat fluffy American-style pancake stacks for 90 minutes for just £7.50, with a choice of toppings including strawberries, cream, caramelised hazelnuts and syrup, or berries, bananas and syrup or streaky bacon and syrup. Add in optional bottomless hot drinks or Prosecco (oh darling!) and you can see why this is the place to be this Pancake Day.
📍You’ll find Bill’s at various different locations in London. You can find out more here.
7. Badiani Gelato, Various Locations
With five decadently smooth sauces, nine crisp and crunchy toppings, and a gelateria full of 26 authentically Italian gelato flavours, there are more than a thousand possible topping combinations sure to satisfy your crêpe cravings this Shrove Tuesday at Badiani Gelato. Now that’s what we call some serious BPE (Big Pancake Energy). There are nine branches dotted all over the city, so make sure you head to one of them to get your pancake fix! Go on – you deserve it.
📍You’ll find Badiani Gelato at various different locations in London. You can find out more here.
8. Petrossian, South Kensington
Pancakes sprinkled with caviar? Wow dahhllingggggg this is a bougie one. Fresh on the scene, Petrossian in South Kensington is offering up an exceptional menu this Pancake Day, with traditional French galettes topped off with smoked salmon, salmon roe, fresh cream and lemon – and even one with caviar! Added to this, Petrossian’s UK Director, Raphaelle Simmons, used to be a professional crêpe maker – so you’re really in the best hands here. Sure, it ain’t exactly cheap, but why not spoil yourself hey?!
📍You’ll find Petrossian at 6 Fulham Road, South Kensington, London, SW3 6HG.
🚇 Nearest station is South Kensington.
9. My Old Dutch, Holborn
Since 1958, these guys have been flipping pancakes and racking up stacks bigger than your head, so we thought they were a pretty worthy addition to the list. At My Old Dutch, you can indulge your sweet tooth with a stack covered in berry compote, drenched in maple syrup and finished with whipped cream. Or you can go wild and opt from something a little more adventurous.
With a whacking great range of both sweet and savoury pancakes for you to sink your teeth into, we reckon the only problem you’ll have with this place is choosing what to eat! As well as Holborn, they’ve also got two branches in Kensington and Chelsea.
📍You’ll find My Old Dutch at 131-132 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6PS.
🚇 Nearest station is Holborn.
10. Granger & Co, Various Locations
Controversially, Granger & Co insist on referring to them as “hotcakes”, but a pancake by any other name tastes just as delicious. Their ricotta hotcakes are whipped to peak fluffiness, and topped with honeycomb butter, sliced bananas, and a generous drizzle of maple syrup. Although we’re not keen on the name, we can’t deny we’re big fans of the taste.
📍You’ll find Granger & Co. at various different locations in London. You can find out more here.
11. Pancs, Covent Garden
Serving up the finest pancakes all year round, you’d be foolish to sleep on Pancs. You’ll find stacks of delicious sweet and savoury pancakes, including a full English breakfast pancake number and an apple cinnamon delight too. Plus, they’re well known for their ‘Panc wraps’, which wraps up the filling inside the pancake, with plenty of options to choose from, including chicken teriyaki and duck confit.
📍You’ll find Pancs at 32, Covent Garden Market, The Piazza, South Hall Lower Ground Floor, London, WC2E 8RE.
🚇 Nearest station is Covent Garden.
12. Riding House Café, Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Victoria
This pancake day the Riding House Café will pull out all the stops by bringing back their much-loved bottomless pancake offering – returning for one-day only. You’ll be able to indulge in a bottomless feast of the fluffy deep dish pancakes, available in three different varieties, for just £18 per head.
On offer will be three different types of seriously indulgent and generously-topped pancakes. You’ll get to choose from streaky bacon pancakes with maple syrup, blueberries and sour cream, wild berry pancakes with succulent berries, berry compote and clotted cream, or the Caribbean pancakes with toasted marshmallows, coconut clotted cream, white chocolate and a banana-infused maple syrup. Sounds bloody delicious if you ask us!
📍You’ll find the Riding House Café at three different locations in London. You can find out more here.
13. Farm Girl, Various Locations
Vegans and gluten-freers – listen up! Farm Girl, the pioneers of London’s healthy brunch scene, have created a vibrant vegan and gluten-free pancake dish that allows you to enjoy Pancake Day guilt-free, thanks to its combination of fluffy pancakes topped off with a sour cherry compote, cacao nibs, coconut shavings, coconut yoghurt and maple syrup. You can get it from any one of their five branches in Notting Hill, Belgravia, Fitzrovia, Soho and South Kensington.
📍You’ll find Farm Girl at five different locations in London. You can find out more here.
14. Hakkasan, Mayfair and Tottenham Court Road
For a different type of indulgence this pancake day, visit Hakkasan for their acclaimed Hakkasan signature Peking duck pancakes. The award-winning Irish duck they use produces a tender dish, full of flavour with succulent meat and crispy skin. You’ll get to enjoy two courses here, with the first including a whole duck, pancakes, 30 grams of caviar (Prunier or Heritage), baby cucumber and spring onion. You’ll then enjoy your second course of duck with sides and an either XO, black bean or a ginger and spring onion sauce. Winner, winner, duck dinner.
📍You’ll find Hakkasan at 17 Bruton Street, London, W1J 6QB and 8 Hanway Place, W1T 1HD.
🚇 Nearest stations are Green Park and Tottenham Court Road.
15. Daisy Green Collection, Various Locations
This year, the Daisy Green Collection (famous for its legendary all-day brunch) marks Pancake Day 2023 with a mega ‘Golden Gaytime’ pancake tower – inspired by the fave Aussie ice cream of the same name. You’ll get to indulge in 12 tiers of fluffy home-made pancakes, all of which are served with a milk chocolate ganache, malt crumble, whipped mascarpone, salted caramel sauce and a chocolate caramel tuile wafter too.
They’ll also be extending the hours you can dine on pancakes beyond the usual 3pm to 9pm – so if you’re working, you needn’t miss out. If that wasn’t enough, they’re also offering some special pooch pancakes too, so you’ll be able to bring your four-legged friend with you too!
📍You’ll find the Daisy Green Collection at various different locations in London. You can find out more here.
16. Pawsitive Café, Notting Hill
Another one for the doggos here – and for their owners too of course. This year the legendary Notting Hill establishment Pawsitive Café will be offering their special Pancake Day menu from February 21-26, which for us humans includes flavours like violet fried banana and vegan potato patty too.
Pups won’t be left out either – after a play in the café’s doggy bally pit and custom-built play area, they’ll be able to indulge in their own dog-friendly strawberry, blueberry or carrot pancakes.
📍You’ll find the Pawsitive Café at 52 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5SH.
🚇 Nearest stations are Royal Oak and Bayswater.
17. Din Tai Fung, Covent Garden, Centre Point and Selfridges
Our penultimate addition to this roundup of the best places to enjoy Pancake Day 2023 is Din Tai Fung, whose three branches are offering something a bit out of the ordinary this year. Billed as the ‘crispy golden prawn pancake’, it comprises of a tasty golden pancake, which is packed full with flavour thanks to the juicy prawns and melt-in-the-mouth bits of pork found inside it. A great alternative for those who want something more savoury this year we say!
📍You’ll find Din Tai Fung at three different locations in London. You can find out more here.
18. DELLI Pop-Up, Brixton
Rounding off this list of the best places to indulge this Pancake Day is DELLI in Brixton Village. Returning for one night only, this amazing pop-up will be back with a bang with none other than celebrity chef and pancake-flipping extraordinaire, Gizzi Erskine. She’ll be serving her infamous pancake recipe, dripping with a homemade Negroni sauce. Sounds bloomin’ delicious if you ask us.
Tickets for the DELLI X Gizzi Erskine Pancake Day pop-up have dropped on the DELLI app for just a quid on and are expected to sell out fast. Some tickets will be reserved for walk-ins, and DELLI will be matching all sales to support fundraising efforts for Gizzi’s best friend Johnny, who has a rare form of cancer and needs costly, pioneering treatment and surgery. You can also get your hands on that Negroni sauce too for £7.80. You can get a hold of your tickets via the app here.
📍You’ll find DELLI at Unit 25-27 Market Row, Brixton Village, Coldharbour Lane, London, SW9 8PS.
🚇 Nearest station is Brixton.
So there you have it – a roundup of some of the best places to celebrate Pancake Day for 2023. Go on – gorge yourself silly!
Also published on Medium.