I tried British pancakes for the first time and one weird combination surprised me

I love a pancake as much as the next person, but having grown up in , my idea of what makes a ‘proper pancake’ is slightly different. When it comes to what I would call a pancake, I have been told it’s more American—thick and fluffy, served with crispy bacon, maple syrup, berries, and, if I’m really feeling luxurious, fresh whipped cream.

I’m also brand new to the concept of but conceptually, I love it. A day dedicated to the world’s most superior breakfast food, with vague religious undertones I don’t quite understand? Sign me up. For my first Pancake Day in the UK, I set out to try some of the more ‘traditional’ pancakes that are more familiar to Brits. I sourced my topping ideas from my coworkers and friends, and below are my rankings in order of which I tried first. In order to not explode, I tried two sweet toppings and one savoury.

Lemon and caster sugar

Full disclosure on this one – my mother is a born and raised Brit, so this is one I have tried before but haven’t had it again since I was very little.

I have fond memories of Mum cooking up pancakes on a weekend and serving them with lashings of both, so I was excited to give this one another go as an adult.

After a liberal sprinkling of sugar and a slightly less liberal squeeze of lemon I got to work and this topping transported me right back to being five years old in sunny New Zealand.

The bright taste explodes in your mouth and makes all the tastebuds sing in bittersweet harmony.

I absolutely loved this, and in fact, I served myself up another straight after just to keep the good vibes going.

I feel like having a thin British-style pancake lends itself to this more delicate topping and although I am usually a more is more person, I can definitely see the joy in the simple things with this one.

An absolute ten out of ten right off the bat, and writing this is making me crave another one.

Nutella and strawberries

This was a weird combination to me, and not one I would ever choose for myself but it was recommended to me by two separate people so I had to give it a go.

Spreading the Nutella on the pancake was challenging and I think if I was to try it again I might try and warm the spread up a bit for a more even application and less sticky hands, but I got it done.

A sprinkling of chopped strawberries was layered lightly over the top and I went for the rolling technique to create a sort of pancake burrito.

While the combination wasn’t one I would have thought of myself, it’s entering my regular rotation now because it was just gorgeous.

Definitely more luxurious than then lemon and sugar and much richer, but equally delicious.

Texturally, however, I’m not a Nutella fan. It’s got a similar consistency to peanut butter and I don’t like the way it tries valiantly to stick my tongue to the roof of my mouth.

For that, Nutella and strawberries get a slight markdown, but I’d still definitely give it another crack. 8/10.

Ham and cheddar cheese

I saved this one until last because I really, really didn’t want to do it. The idea of a fully savoury pancake goes against everything I stand for.

Pancakes should be a decadent treat not a dinner. The downside of leaving this until last was that by the time I got to sprinkling my pancake with cheddar cheese, there was no residual heat to melt the cheese, and the thin, anaemic slices of ham were stone cold too.

My friends watched me prepare this pancake and offered me their sympathies as well as their strong recommendations that I should heat the pancake up and melt the cheese but in all honesty, I was full of sugar and really couldn’t be bothered walking the ten steps to the kitchen to do so, so a stone cold cheese and ham pancake wrap it was.

After as much delay as I could get away with, I took my first cautionary nibble and was pleasantly surprised.

While definitely not a favourite of mine, I can see why people do this. The ham and cheese was a good combination and the addition of the thin pancake was a good vehicle for the salty flavours.

I think it benefited from being cold too – heating and melting the cheese ran the risk of the whole thing becoming a greasy mess.

All in all, this was not nearly as terrible as I thought it would be, and although it wouldn’t be a first choice of mine, I’d probably eat it again if there weren’t any other sweeter options. Overall, ham and cheese gets a 6/10.