Gallery: The true International House of Pancakes

Local spins on the sweet breakfast discs from around the region

By La Carmina 18 January, 2010

Pancake Days

The Japanese are well known for putting creepy-cute twists on everything, including the Western breakfast.

Pancake Days

Every stack from Tokyo and Osaka’s Pancake Days (<a href="http://pancakedays.jp/gallery/index.html" target="_blank">pancakedays.jp</a>) comes with a chocolate happy face. If it’s your birthday, you get smiling miniatures swimming in fruit and cream.

Indonesian Apam balik

Indonesian Apam balik: “Apam” means thin cake and “balik” means turnover -- an apt name for a yeasty pancake filled with peanuts, sugar, butter or creamed corn.

Indonesian Apam balik

Vendors traditionally fry apam balik in brass moulds that evenly distribute heat.

Hoddeok

Hoddeok begins as a ball of yeast-and-flour dough wrapped around cinnamon, sugar and peanuts. The round is flattened on the griddle, flipped, and voila -- an ingenious pancake with syrup on the inside.

South Indian appams

South Indian appams made with rice flour cook on the hot plate as freshly made idly steam in the background. (Text by Caroline Rowe)

Jollibee

Jollibee (jollibee.com.ph) is the Philippines’ leading fast food chain because the menu is tailored to Filipino tastes.

Jollibee

A long-time local Philippine favorite is the pancake sandwich: Egg and sausage patties between two hotcakes.

banana pancake

The banana pancake snack is so common in Southeast Asia that well-trod backpacker routes are called the “Banana Pancake Trail.”

banana pancake

The vendor heats the dough on his street cart, slices in a banana and flaps the jack into a square. He finishes it with a drench of condensed milk and chocolate or your preferred sweet topping.

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American flapjacks are bland compared to Asia’s creative takes on the pancake. These sweet batter cakes are cheap eats for travelers and a daily breakfast for locals. We round up Asia’s best from Japan to Indonesia and see how they stack up.

La Carmina writes about Harajuku pop culture and all things spooky-cute. She is the author of three books about Japanese pop culture and food, including "Cute Yummy Time" and "Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo" -- for which she did all the photos and illustrations. Both books were released in October, accompanied by a U.S. major city book tour.

For more, please visit her website.

Local Menu

Gallery: The true International House of Pancakes

Pancake Days

Pancake Days

Indonesian Apam balik

Indonesian Apam balik

Hoddeok

South Indian appams

Jollibee

Jollibee

banana pancake

banana pancake

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