Pancakes are for life, not just for Pancake Day.
When you can’t be bothered to make your own, here are the best pancake restaurants in London that will flip one for you any day of the year — whether you’re after fluffy American stacks or thin French-style crepes. Lemon, sugar and chocolate at the ready…
Pancakes at My Old Dutch, Chelsea and Holborn
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It used to be easy to sniff at My Old Dutch, with its bright orange frontage, tiny (yet strangely comfortable) wooden chairs and mock-Delftware plates. It was defiantly, sweetly, uncool. Rebranded with pale blue frontages, faux flower ceilings and neon lights, it’s bona fide Instagram-worthy cool.
And while the decor’s tasteful, the pancakes are tasty. The classics are the sort you make at home — thicker than crepes, eggy and no buttermilk. Servings are enormous enough to be satisfying without a distended stomach, and there’s a choice of both sweet and savoury toppings. We went for a sweet pancake and chose our own topping: banana, maple syrup and cinnamon. The smell alone is divine. We also like how the bananas clearly went in the pan first, batter engulfing them, so the undersides are slightly charred and caramelised.
Butterscotch pancakes are a newer addition, served in a stack of five, with your classic toppings covered, including fruit, bacon, maple syrup and chocolate sauce — though not all at once. Unless that’s how you roll.
Vegan and gluten-free options are available here, too.
My Old Dutch has branches in Holborn and Chelsea.
Where The Pancakes Are, Southwark and Battersea
If you want to see the word ‘pancake’ so often that it completely loses all meaning, head to Where The Pancakes Are. The variety, size and quality on offer is quite something. Breakfast pancakes and all day pancakes. Buttermilk pancakes, vegan pancakes and Dutch baby pancakes (which look sort of like giant Yorkshire puddings).
There’s sweet, savoury and more added toppings than you can shake a whisk at (banoffee marshmallow, and pulled beef pastrami are options currently on the menu). The furry treats section of the menu means your dog doesn’t need to be left out.
Where The Pancakes Are, branches in London Bridge and Battersea Power Station. Vegan, dairy-free and wheat-free options available too.
Pancakes at The Breakfast Club, various locations
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We first tried to visit The Breakfast Club’s Soho joint on a Sunday morning. That was a stupid idea. The queue was snaking down the street. Instead we headed to a branch down a side street opposite Liverpool Street station (also the location of the secret Smeg fridge that gets you into a cocktail bar) on a Tuesday afternoon. Much quieter.
They serve white flour buttermilk pancakes with bacon so crisp you could snap it in half, and on our visit they left us with the maple syrup bottle (we can’t guarantee that would happen at busier times). For the ultimate comfort food combo, get a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. Healthy types (and we use the term ‘healthy’ very loosely here) can opt for berry pancakes instead, or combine the two — blueberry and bacon pancakes, anyone?
Pancakes grace the breakfast and lunch, weekend brunch and dinner menus — so basically, anytime they’re open, pancakes are available. Some (though not all) of the pancake options are available in a vegan variety. Oh, and they go BIG for Pancake Day.
The Breakfast Club has locations all over London.
Sarava Creperie & Cafe, Brixton (previously Senzala)
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Originally known as Senzala Creperie, this Brazilian cafe changed its name to Sarava Creperie & Cafe in late 2022, but its Brixton location and crepe-centric menu remain the same.
It’s a great shout if you’re vegan (or with someone who is), as many of the galettes (crepes, but made with buckwheat flour, which is also gluten-free) are vegan and vegetarian and vegan savoury toppings are available.
If you’re in the mood for something sweet, they’ve got you covered — fruit, chocolate and caramel flow freely. Being a tad hungover on our visit, we opted for a white crepe with caramelised apple, cinnamon, maple syrup and creme fraiche, the latter being a stroke of genius; a cool, slightly sharp zest to offset the lake of syrup the crepe swims in. Recommended as a day-after restorative.
Savoury options include cheese, ham, pepperoni sausage, fried egg, garlic, mushroom…
Sarava Brixton, Brixton Village Market, 41-42 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8PS.
Pancakes at Polo Bar, Liverpool Street
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Polo Bar is best-known for being open 24 hours a day, but it is also home to a flat-out delicious pancake menu. Sure, the choices aren’t as plentiful as some of the other places on this list, but your basics are covered (bacon & maple syrup, lemon & sugar). Alternatives include Lotus banoffee pancakes, cookies and cream pancakes, and a red velvet pancake super stack.
Up for a challenge? If you (one person) can eat 12 pancakes in 15 minutes, you’ll get a free bottle of prosecco. God knows what that’ll do to your pancake-addled insides.
Polo Bar, 176 Bishopsgate, EC2M 4NQ.
Pancakes at Granger & Co, various locations
We still salivate at memories of the honeycomb butter that accompanies the ricotta ‘hotcakes’, as the pancakes at Granger & Co are known. You get three hotcakes, with maple syrup and a slab of banana. They are fluffy and the ricotta gives a deliciously sour note to take the edge off the sweet, making them unlike any other pancakes we’ve found. Find them on the breakfast and lunch menus, as well as the sweet section of the dinner menu.
Granger & Co, locations in Notting Hill, King’s Cross, Chelsea, and Marylebone.
Pancakes at Christopher’s, Covent Garden
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If you’re the sort of person for whom brunch = pancakes, get yourself down to American grill, Christopher’s in Covent Garden. Of a weekend, their pancake and French toast brunch menu keeps pancake lovers very happy indeed. Buttermilk with bacon and maple syrup, blueberry buttermilk or buckwheat with berries, maple syrup and coconut yoghurt are your options. Any qualms about responsible food intake soon disappear when you order an additional brownie and bourbon milkshake.
Christopher’s, 18 Wellington Street, WC2E 7DD
Pancakes at La Petite Bretagne, Hammersmith
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Everything about this Hammersmith creperie is French: the recipes, the decor, the music, the staff… and half the clientele. It’s also another ideal venue for coeliacs as the savoury galettes are wheat- and gluten-free. Sweet crepes can be gluten-free if you ask.
La Petite Bretagne, 5-7 Beadon Road, W6 0EA.
Pancakes at Dishoom
Perennially-popular Indian restaurant Dishoom offers the Cinnamon Jaggery, a stack of fluffy pancakes topped with soft vanilla cream, mixed berries and jaggery syrup spiced with chai-like warmth. Find them on the breakfast menu, served from 8am- 11.45am on weekdays, and 9am-11.45am on weekends.
Dishoom, locations including Carnaby, King’s Cross, Shoreditch and Covent Garden.
