Pancakes: Less is more

Yesterday, Jo and I had lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks, Darling Harbour and it was a nightmare for both of us. I don't know that we ordered the wrong things or the chef wasn't in a cooking mood or whatsoever but the food was unacceptable due to the price. We ordered two dishes, fisherman catch (it's pretty much fish and chips..4 skinny pieces of fish and dreadful fries with way too sour vinegar salad dressing on sad looking salad), devils delight pancakes which is supposed to be one of the famous dishes there. The texture of the pancakes tasted like mudcake and ice cream on top has funny taste, not rich enough to be served with plain taste chocolate pancakes. Unfortunately, the dish was nothing but a ripped off chocolate pancakes which you could just make at home in 5-10 minutes and probably cost around 3-4 dollars max!

We both agreed that this place is overrated and too commercialized by the whole fact that it is nothing but pancakes and some grilled dishes. We heard a lot of positive comments about this place that's why we visited there and sadly, we would not recommend this place to any of our friends. I could be wrong as I said that the chef might not be himself or cooked his best yesterday but it didn't erase the fact that our experience at Pancakes on the Rocks was unsatisfactory.

We had a conversation on the train that we could easily make our own pancakes that we both happy and doesn't cost 13-14 dollars for 2 pieces of pancakes. Instead we made a big stack of pancakes using one of the most basic pancakes recipe ever. It's easy, simple and less hassle. Most importantly, you know what you're making and you always put best ingredients to your own dish.

Today's blog, I introduce (which most of you already know how to make pancakes) basic pancakes recipe and you can easily adjust the recipe to suit your taste buds.

Ingredients:
Self-raising flour: 250g
(* if used plain flour and Baking powder ---> Plain flour 250g, Baking powder 18g)
Milk : 250ml (I used non-fat milk and it tasted great)
Egg : 1
Caster Sugar :20g
Vanilla extract : a few drops
Butter: 10g
Strawberry to serve

Method:
1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl, add sugar.
2. Make a small well in the middle of the flour, add egg then use whisk to mix
3. Gradually add milk (not in one go), slowly combine all the ingredients until get a nice smooth mixture.
4. Add vanilla extract and mix. Pour all mixture into a jug (this way, there will be no mess when you pour batter to the pan)
5. Pre-heat a non-stick pan. Lightly greased the pan with butter.
6. Pour in pancake batter to desired size, wait until bubbles burst on the surface and theedges start to go dry.
7. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.
8. Served with fresh fruits (*optional: Honey, Maple Syrup, Fresh cream or Ice-cream)