Pancake Tuesday in Northern Ireland: From the humblest crepe to the most decadent pancake stacks

David Mateer, who runs Safari in Banbridge with his wife Dee, said his team were ready to “knock out pancake after pancake” tomorrow on Shrove Tuesday.

He said: “Pancakes are one of our best sellers here. They’re all made fresh to order, every day we’d make up two buckets of pancake mix in the morning.

“One of most popular toppings would be banana and Biscoff with Nutella. That would be extremely popular. Strawberries and cream – that’s always good. There would be a fair few who would just go for the regular bacon and maple syrup.

“Our pancake stacks are normally £6.95, tomorrow we’ll knock them down to a fiver. The kitchen will be prepared to knock out pancake after pancake.

“Everyday is like pancake day here, the amount of them we sell.

“On a Saturday morning when the kids all come in, the stress of that kitchen trying to get everything on the plate for them, but they’re good at it, they enjoy it.”

In its early years Safari became known as a restaurant where people could take on food challenges.

Last year they welcomed American eating professional Randy Santel and his partner Katina Eats Kilos who beat the full soda challenge and pancake stack challenge respectively.

David said: “When we opened four years ago we were like a cafe restaurant, we did a lot of challenges. During Covid we revamped the place and became more of a high class restaurant.

“We will do them if people request them, but we don’t market them as such. If someone requested one of the challenges and gives us 48 hours notice we would do it for them.”

Pancakes have become a tradition on Shrove Tuesday – before the 40-day fasting period of Lent begins, which gives rise to people using up all the fatty ingredients associated with pancakes.

For anyone who fancies testing their pancake limits Safari’s pancake stack challenge consists of five 12-inch pancakes, 20 slices of bacon and a bottle of maple syrup.

For those in search of a more moderate breakfast, chef Paula McIntyre shared her go-to mix for pancakes.

She uses 110g plain flour, 2 eggs, 275ml whole milk and 25g melted butter.

Paula said to sift the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt, then make a well in the middle and add the eggs and milk.

After whisking into a smooth batter you then add the butter and pour the mix into a jug.

Her top tip when pouring the mix into a hot, oiled pan was too pour it in an angle, swirling it to coat the bottom of the pan.

In her Farming Life column this week Paula commented: “Here in Northern Ireland a pancake usually means a drop scone where a thick batter is dropped onto a griddle and flipped over. In England the word normally refers to a French style crepe which is much thinner.”