Hong Kong's Best Pancakes - Feb 27, 2014

By William Hodson
Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, falls this year on March 4: the day before the Christian fasting
period of Lent. Traditionally, making pancakes was a way for people to use up all that fattening milk
and butter before their fast. In Hong Kong, of course, we never stop eating. If you dont have time
to beat your own batter, weve put together a selection of the best pancakes in town. But theres no
need to limit yourself to just boring old butter, lemon and sugar: The town is full of the fascinating
and the flat

Manifest Crperie
In the States, this is what pancakes are all about: a stack of
fluffy pancakes with crispy bacon ($58) or fresh fruit on the
side ($55), drizzled with plenty of maple syrup. Satisfy your
cravings at any time of the day at the 24-hour diner The
Flying Pan along with bottomless coffee bliss.

The Classic Crpe

Prefer your pancakes with a touch of European flair? Head
to La Crperie for a tasty disc o goodness (from $78),
freshly cooked and filled with sugar, cream, chocolate or
fruit. Dont have such a sweet tooth? Try a Breton galette
(from $98) instead, a savory pancake made from
buckwheat flour. This version is traditionally filled with
vegetables, cheese and meat. Wash it all down with a cold
bowl of clear, crisp French cider.

Bing It On
You dont have to go far in China to find a street cart selling
jianbing, the Chinese breakfast favorite. Thin batter is
cooked on a giant griddle before eggs, scallions and all
other ingredients under the sun are thrown in and folded
up. Ex-Beijing expat Brian Goldberg missed his morning
jianbing so much that he opened Mr. Bing to bring the
street food to the masses (from $20). On top of Beijing
classics, he serves up variations with Peking duck, Nutella,
and sausage, egg and cheese.

Flatfish Fry
The oyster pancake may be a Chiu Chow dish, but it has
long been adapted into Hong Kongs native cuisine. Tiny
oysters are mixed into a batter before being fried into a
crispy pancake, and served alongside a chili sauce. The
result is deeply satisfying to the stomachif not to the
waistline. Theyre easy to track down all over Hong Kong, but
theyre particularly popular along the street restaurants of
Temple Street. Try Hing Kee Restaurant, also famous for its
claypot rice, for a great example of this Hong Kong dish.
Theyre $30 for a small one, and $60 for a large.

Look at Dosa Plates

Rice and dal (lentils) are turned into a batter, which is then
cooked very thinly into this whopper pancake. It creates a
crispy shell thats usually stuffed with a dry potato curry, and
served alongside a range of chutneys and a tart, spicy
sambar soup for some extra zing. One of the best dosas in
Hong Kong ($85) can be found at Woodlandsan allvegetarian Indian heaven.

Gangnom Style
Best paired with a beer or a jug of the Korean rice/wheat wine
Makgeolli, Kimchijeoni.e. the humble kimchi pancakewas
originally a dish that everyone could easily make at home. Of
course, in Hong Kong most of us dont ferment our own
cabbage, so we have to head to somewhere like Cho Won for
their crispy, delicious version (small $88, large $108).