Pancake Day: the best places for pancakes in London and across the UK

Pancake Day is taking place on 5 March this year, and to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the action, we got in touch with DesignMyNight.

From a boozy black forest masterpiece to the tallest tower of pancakes in all the land (it’s fit to feed five people), these places will have you ditching that pre-made home batter in no time.

The Diner - London

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Clear your plans for 4 and 5 March. The Diner have created an indulgent helping of pancakes for Shrove Tuesday and you’d be flipping mad to miss them. Promising five different options, you can get stuck into a chocolate and strawberry option, apple and cinnamon with vanilla ice cream or a boozy black forest masterpiece with creme de cassis, cherry compote, whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Not feeling any of the above? They have a vegan helping of mint chocolate pancakes that should do the trick.

STK - London

If you’re getting bored with dousing your pancakes in lemon and sugar, we know just the place to spice things up. STK is running a week-long menu for Shrove Tuesday and the pancakes are fit for a king (and queen), offering both sweet and savoury bites. Tuck into a Mexican-inspired pulled pork enchilada crepe, a chicken pot pie and asparagus crepe gratin, or give in to your sweet tooth and order ‘All Berries’. This dark chocolate crepe is served with Cointreau sabayon, a rum flambe banana and a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The Little Blue Door - London

London’s largest pancake stack? It’s a whopping 25 pancakes tall and you’ll find it at The Little Blue Door in Fulham. This quirky flat share-cum-bar has pulled out all the stops for its brunch dish, decorating it with scoops of salted caramel ice cream, frozen berries, pralines, chocolate ganache, marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate buttons with a couple of cherries thrown on top for good measure. It might not be available on 5 March but you can rock down any Saturday to tackle it with five (hungry) friends.

The Breakfast Club - Brighton

The Breakfast Club is always one to watch this time of year, and 2019 might be the restaurant's pinnacle of pancake perfection. Breakfast Club is bringing out not one or two, but five specials for Shrove Tuesday, and you’ll want to try every single one. While you more than likely won't get around to scoffing them all, we highly recommend The Big Stack. Mimicking a Big Mac - to celebrate the burger’s 50th birthday last year - it’s assembled with pancakes, a double beef patty, cheese, shredded lettuce, special sauce, pickles and a sprinkling of sesame seeds for that authentic Big Mac look.

Christopher’s - London

A posh Pancake Day outing is what you’ll get if you venture to Christopher’s. This American restaurant and martini bar has been experimenting in the kitchen to bring four special stacks to their menu on Shrove Tuesday. Pick from white chocolate and Oreo (with honeycomb ice cream and vanilla mascarpone), Cinnamon Doughnut (salted caramel ice cream, milk chocolate sauce with maple syrup) and butter poached lobster (with chorizo picante, avruga caviar, yukon gold potato and truffle), or be the master of your own toppings and try the build-your-own menu.

Smith & Wollensky - London

Just how much do you love pancakes? Head down to Smith and Wollensky on 5 March and find out once and for all as the restaurant dares to you tackle a tower that’s just as tall as you. For one day only you can eat your height in pancakes and you can bag it for free if you manage to finish the lot within one hour. Doused in silky maple syrup, you’ll have to pay out £1 per pancake if you throw in the napkin and admit defeat.

Where the Pancakes Are - London

Taking the day very seriously indeed, Where The Pancakes Are has extended its opening hours so you can get your pancake fix from 7am until midnight on 5 March. That’s not all it is doing though. Alongside its limited edition A Very Lemony Affair - featuring two buttermilk pancakes, lemon and sugar-coated pistachios, candied lemon peel ricotta cream, lemon zested raspberries, and more lemon and sugar - you can look forward to a whole host of activities from 6pm to 8pm; expect lemon bobbing and a harder-than-it-looks three-legged pancake flipping race.

Stack and Still - Glasgow

Stack and Still is Britain's largest pancake house, so if you happen to be close to this Glasgow gem on Shrove Tuesday, it’s well worth a visit, and not just because of the food -every penny earned on the day will go towards Cash For Kids. The restaurant has just about every topping imaginable, putting you in charge of your own tower. If you’re lacking ideas, you can always go for one of their signatures like the buttermilk pancakes that come topped with a haggis bon bon, whisky potato cream, turnip, curried carrot crisp, baby spinach and herb oil.

Duck and Waffle - London

Duck and Waffle might be known for, well, duck and waffles but there’s another reason to visit the sky-high restaurant this month. To celebrate Shrove Tuesday it has a one-day-only dish of buttermilk pancakes, and they’re as unique as they come, crowned with roasted pistachio butter, saffron pears and Chantilly cream. Coming served with hot miso caramel for pouring, you’ll come for the pancakes, but you’ll stay for the views.

Heliot Steak House, London

Soho’s finest steak house is unveiling its rather over-the-top Gold Rush Stack for Shrove Tuesday, created by executive head chef Ioannis Grammenos.

The stack, which weighs almost a kilogram and is certainly not for the faint of heart, features three different succulent cuts of beef (sirloin, fillet and rib eye), gold leaf and fresh truffle sandwiched between explosively flavourful activated charcoal pancakes.

And if that didn’t sound like enough food, the dish comes complete with six rashers of bacon, a fried duck egg, maple syrup and a caramelised port and vodka-truffle sauce.

At 5pm on Shrove Tuesday the Gold Rush Stack will be available for just £25 - so you’re getting serious bang for your buck.

For more information on London’s best pancakes and great crepes across the UK, visit DesignMyNight and follow them on Instagram and Facebook; @DesignMyNight.