My Old Dutch

Pancakes may have the oldest history of all foods, as they use the most basic ingredients of any kitchen: butter, milk, eggs and flour. They date as far back as the days of the Roman Empire, when they were called ‘alita dolcia’, meaning ‘another sweet’, although the earliest recorded recipe is from a 15th century English cookbook.

In Britain we’d been making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday for at least 500 years before then, due to the rules of Lent forbidding indulgent ingredients like butter and eggs, which perish before the 40 days of fasting are over. But at My Old Dutch they certainly don’t believe in sacrificing such things. Like pancakes, they’ve also been around a while, with the original branch opening in 1958 in the West End.

The great thing about pancakes (aside from being thrifty and easy to make), is that anything goes in terms of toppings. That’s something they take full advantage of here, knocking up thin, slightly bubbly pancakes spread over huge plates and covering them in ratatouille, chilli con carne, and chicken curry with rice. It’s a long way off the pancakes your mum and dad taught you to make as a kid, but while these sound dubious, there are slightly more conventional versions that work very well. The seafood option is great, with tangy anchovies and capers, black olives, tuna, plenty of cheese and king prawns, although we do wish there were a few more of the latter. The eponymous pancake has smoked bacon, mushrooms, ham, cheese and sweetcorn; it’s effectively a pizza with softer dough. We also tuck into kaas soufflé, which are deep fried breaded parcels of Dutch cheese, served with a pot of crème fraiche.

There’s a nod to Dutch cuisine with poffertjes, the moreish mini doughnuts which here come with a choice of chocolate sauce, strawberries and cream and maple syrup. We spy a succession of these going past, along with pancakes cloaked in whipped cream and strawberries, banana splits, knickerbocker glories and chocolate-coated waffles – it’s easy to see why this veteran restaurant is still a hit with families 55 years after launching.