Whether or not you observe Shrove Tuesday, today marks the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
Despite its religious origins with Christian countries, for many, it’s known as Pancake Day – for reasons we’ll explain. As huge pancake fans, we were delighted to be invited to try out Cosy Club’s limited edition pancake menu and indulge in some sweet-tooth goodness.
Certainly, when growing up, I would always associate pancakes with Shrove Tuesday. When I was much younger, I wasn’t aware of the religious connotations, so let me lay it down for you. In the days immediately after today (40 to be exact), Christians will observe Lent, a period in which people reflect and fast on key dates and take time to remember God.
So, what’s the association with pancakes? On Shrove Tuesday, many people would look to rid their cupboards of items, primarily sugar-based and rich items that may cause temptation. As a result, families would turn to creating pancakes to help use up these goods.
Skip forward to today and many people will enjoy pancakes all year round and now usually a food associated with breakfast. I for one, enjoy a stack of buttermilk pancakes (along with bacon) and maple syrup…
The Cosy Club have always featured pancakes as part of its extensive breakfast menu, but on special holidays like today, they expand their offering to cater for a wider range of tastes. So, whether you are observing the holiday for your own personal beliefs, or just love a good pancake, then they’ve got you covered.
The Cosy Club Pancake Day menu allows you to create your own, customising it with a choice of 15 toppings, or you can choose their signature Black Forest Gateaux Stack – something that we’ve not come across before and did intrigue us.
The pancakes come in stacks of 3s, where you can choose 3 (£8.95), 6 (£12.75) or 9 £16.75) if you are feeling extra hungry.
Now for the hard bit, if you are going to create your own then you must pick from a whopping 15 choices. You get up to three toppings for free as part of your order, and extra toppings are charged at £1.50 each.
The types of toppings available enable you to stick with savoury or flip things around and turn pancakes into a fully bespoke dessert. This is what you can choose from you:
- Sliced banana
- Salted caramel sauce
- White chocolate bark
- Honeycomb
- Whipped cream
- Greek yoghurt
- Strawberry jam
- Raspberry puree
- Streaky bacon
- Maple syrup
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Vanilla ice cream
- Berry compote
- Brownie pieces
Obviously, there is no judgement if you decide to mix things up a bit and go for something a bit different.
We decided to create our own spin on an English classic. We ordered vanilla ice cream, strawberry jam, and whipped cream. Think, afternoon tea with a slight twist, so not too wild but a delicious spin (in our opinion).
The pancakes were faultless and prepared to perfection. They were fluffy and warm, and despite our vanilla ice cream sliding off (as you might expect), it helped turn what I have come to see as a breakfast item into a wonderful dessert piece. The strawberry jam was extremely sweet and did add a degree of sharpness, but the vanilla and cream flavours struck the right balance.
For our second option, we couldn’t resist ordering the signature Black Forest Gateaux Stack.
The Black Forest gateau toppings not only blend well but have a great mixture of sweet flavours. Sometimes too much chocolate can be overwhelming on the tastebuds, with the addition of the maraschino cherries and cherry sauce, the balance is perfect. We were actually quite surprised how well the combination of two classic desserts worked.
Topped with whipped cream that’s smooth and quite literally melts in your mouth, these are some of the best pancakes we’ve had.
The limited-edition Pancake Day menu runs until Tuesday, 21 February 2023. However, you can still order them for breakfast throughout the year, you just won’t have the full list of options mentioned in this article.
Book your table online now at https://cosyclub.co.uk/whats-on/?category=pancake-day– or pop in. You’d be (pancake) flipping mad to miss out
