East London’s Top 7 Must-Try Pancake Day Experiences

Angela Locatelli reveals the seven East London restaurants whose pancake recipes are sure to make your Shrove Tuesday a sweet and savoury delight…

At this time of year, it’s not uncommon for summer to feel like a distant illusion, while those rolls of fat hanging over our over-sized sweatpants feel much more real in comparison.

With a potentially much-needed workout regime on the horizon, the glorious days of chocolate binge-eating under three blankets over the winter months will soon come to an end. But if you have to go out, you might as well do it with a sugar-fuelled, maple-flavoured bang on Pancake Day.

Here’s our pick of the best special menus, challenges, and events to try in East London today.

1. Keep it simple in The Diner

The Diner celebrates Shrove Tuesday by renewing its commitment to the old-style dessert with sweet Choc Chip Pancakes and the sinful Reece’s Pieces stacked with chocolate sauce and ice cream. There’s also a choice of Bacon and Banana pancakes with pecans for the more daring, while the chain’s aficionados can still enjoy its regular pancakes from the usual menu.

Where: The Diner, 4 Horner Square, London, E1 6EW

2. Enjoy seafood at the Fish Market

To all the fish lovers out there: on Pancake Day, the Fish Market brings you a little closer to the coast with delicate seafood pancakes topped with iced grapes and butter sauce.

Where: Fish Market, 16B New Street, London, EC2M 4TR

3. Keep it classy at the New Street Grill

If you feel like a fancier Shrove Tuesday, try the sophisticated Pancake Day menu at the New Street Grill. To celebrate the day, the buzzing grill serves a savoury sweet corn pancake with foie gras or a crêpe suzette with vanilla ice cream for the sweet-toothed.

Where: New Street Grill, 16A New Street, London, EC2M 4TR

4. Try new recipes at The Book Club

The Book Club is hosting an all-out pancake party this Shrove Tuesday. The eclectic cafe’s special savoury menu caters for adventurous customers with five pancakes to choose from, including the Mac ’n’ Cheese Pancake Sandwich and the Pina Colada stack.

Where: The Book Club, 100 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4RH

5. Test your appetite at The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club has brought back its annual Pancake Day Challenge to raise money for local charities. The multi-branch café dares you to see your way through a stack of 12 pancakes in 12 minutes.

If you succeed, they’ll be on the house. If you don’t, then you’ll have to pay for them all (£20). There’s no need to make reservations: if you feel up to the challenge, just drop by any time during the day.

Where: The Breakfast Club, 31 Camden Passage, London, N1 8EA

6. Celebrate the night of Shrove Tuesday at the Queen of Hoxton

The Queen of Hoxton invites everyone to celebrate Pancake Day on its iconic rooftop. From 4-10pm, guests can enjoy whisky maple syrup pulled pork stacks or buttermilk pancakes with caramelised banana, strawberry, chocolate & caramel sauce on the ever-changing themed terrace, now transformed into a Nordic Viking stronghold for the winter.

Where: Queen of Hoxton, 1-5 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3JX

7. Sprint at the Great Spitalfields Pancake Race

Team up in groups of four, dress up in eccentric outfits, and bring a frying pan. This is all you need to participate in the annual Great Spitalfields Pancake Race in support of London’s Air Ambulance.

The rules are simple: runners must flip a pancake in the frying pan as they run down Dray Walk at The Old Truman Brewery. All participants will be rewarded with hot pancakes and the winners will receive a specially engraved frying pan.

Where: The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL