Dutch Baby Pancake

The promise of piping hot pancakes topped with syrup and fruits is enough to get me jump out of bed even on a Saturday morning.
Since I don't have a loving boyfriend or husband in the form of Daniel Craig (yes, I am obssessed), I decided to whip it up by myself. Instead of going for ordinary pancakes, I experiemented with Dutch Baby Pancake which looks like Yorkshire pudding. I have been fascinated by this puffy pancake since the day I saw it on Martha Stewart's website, but never tried to make it. It seemed too difficult then. I tried and the result was not so bad, but I wish I used different flour.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.
3 eggs,room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1/2 cup sifted bread flour or all-purpose flour*
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
7 teaspoons butter
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Powdered or confectioners sugar

* I used all-purpose flour but it is said (on the internet) that bread flour will work a lot better.

1. Place a cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat it to 225°C. I used two 7-inch skillets.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs till light and frothy. Add milk, flour , vanilla extract and beat for five minutes more.
3. In a piping hot skillet, place a blob of butter, enough to coat the surface.
4. When the butter has melted, pour the batter and put the pan back in the oven.
5. Cook for 20 minutes until the pancake has risen and golden.

Serve with freshly squeezed lemon juice and generously sprinkle powder sugar.

- If I had more time, I would serve them with stewed strawberries and whipped cream. Imagine what a bliss that would be.

Butterfinger Pancakes, Seoul, American Diner

Butterfinger Pancakes do not serve butterfinger pancakes, but they do serve very nice American desserts. This restaurant made its name by pioneering brunch market in Korea, but I am not a huge fan of its breakfast menu. Too greasy for my liking, and their love of Velveta cheese (if you call that cheese) scared me. But the dessert menu was very tempting, so last night, after very fiery Sechuhan shabushabu (火鍋 huoguo) with my cousins, I dragged them to nearby Butterfinger Pancakes to calm my palate.

I did not take pics of the restaurant itself. It is all very American diner, kind of kitch, too.

We ordered Quick Vanilla Waffle and Tripple Chocolate Pancakes.

This is what was left of the Quick Vanilla Waffle (fuzzy about the name though) when I realized that I forgot to take the pic before.

It is basically 2 waffles sandwiche together with vanilla ice cream, and then topped with rasberry compote, lightly duste with powder sugar.

It was yummy. The waffle was cripsy-chewy, warm and rasberry compote was very rasberry.

ow the trippple chocolate pancake ...

2 chocolate pancakes studded with white chocolate morsels served with a scoop each of vanilla and cookies and cream with Butter Fingers' chocolate sauce drizzled over...one that hardens slightly when poured over cold ice cream...

If you need chocolate/sugar fix, this is it for you...

Tripple Chocolate Pancake: 8,900KRW (£4.50)

Quick Vanilla Waffle: 7,600KRW (£3.80)

Butterfinger Pancakes
Tel)02-3448-1070
갤러리아 백화점에서 학동사거리 가기 전 왼쪽에 스무디킹 골목으로
약 20미터 올라가면 왼쪽에 위치.

Brunch, Vecchia e Nuovo, Seoul

Imagine. A beautiful saturday morning (I am always happier on Saturday morning). You wake up lesuirely around 10am. You have nothing pressing on your schedules. You have a quick invigorating shower and head out to brunch with your dear friend.
Nestled comfortably in a sofa chair, you order a cup of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, an egg benedict with Scottish smoked salmon and perfect hollandaise sauce, a cup of Americano and share a banana & ricotta cheese french toast with your friend as a grand finale to your meal.

Now let's get back to reality. OK, that is my idea of a perfect weekend but it does not happen as often as I want them to. Yesterday (not Saturday but Sunday) was one of the rare occasions that I got to enjoy brunch. Moi and my brother decided to eat before hitting the gym. We figured, that we would be able to burn off fat, hence feel less guilty.

Vecchia e Nuovo is located on LG1 in The Westin Chosun Hotel, the oldest hotel in Korea,(Marylin Monroe once was a guest there, while visiting the US troops during the Korean War) was recently rennovated. It used to be devided into a restaurant serving sit-in menus and a deli selling cakes, coffees, bread and sandwiches to be eaten on premise or to take away. Now it is more of an open space bar/cafe. V e C now serves less Italian menu and concentrates on cafe operation.

I ordered 2 eggs with bacon or sausage with hashbrown, (I opted for poached eggs and bacon) and my brother ordered beef taco with salsa,guacamole and a dollop of sour cream. Curiously, sweet chili sauce commonly served with spring roll in Chinese take-away was served, too. My brother ordered a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice and I ordered an Americano.


What I love about VeC is their sanwiches. (I dare say the best in Korea) They begun to serve brunch menu so I decided to give them a go.

However, what I ordered was disappointing. On the plate were 2 poached eggs on slices of toast, a heap of bacons and hasbrown. Not only was it nondescript at best, the food got cold very quickly. I hated it. I really miss English breakfast complete with thick lashes of English bacon, baked beans, grilled tomatoes and buttered toast. Hashbrown was like chewing on cardbox.

I stole a taco from my brother's plate. It was better than what I ordered.

We were given a plate of complimentary tomatoe and fresh mozzarella salad in pesto sauce because taco was taking some time to be prepared. I think it would have been a lot better with more salt. - I don't like my food to be salty, but it was just too bland-.

After our meal, we hit the gym to burn off calories.

We did burn out fat but we headed back to the restaurant to eat.

For some reason, we were just so so hungry.

We decided to order a Belgian waffle and my brother wanted a burger. We ordered them both.

Belgian waffle turned out to be Brussels variety, not chewy and dense Liège waffle. The waffle was served with red and black currant compote, cream and powdered sugar. It was quite nice, although I will not order it again given the price for what it is. The burger was good. It is served in a butter toasted buns, (I think it was butter), topped with bacon, grilled red onion, tomatoes, and melted gruyère cheese.

The waffle. It was soft and nice but I don't want to spend 12000KRW for this. Really.

We ordered our burger medium to avoid tough burger pattie. Halved salty pickles (perhaps a jewish variety?) on the side were nice complement. Crinkly cut chips on the side were as plain as it could be, but I did not complain. I don't think Korean potatoes make nice cripsy-but soft-on-the-inside chips, so I will have to do with these.

Americano: 6000KRW

Orange juice: 11000KRW

Eggs, bacons, hashbrown: 12000KRW

Beef taco: 15000KRW
waffle: 12000KRW

Hamburger: 22000KRW

+ VAT

OMG. Typing the prices makes me realize that it is very expensive for what it is. I will continue to eat sandwiches and burger but nothing else.

베키아 에 누오보

웨스틴 조선호텔

서울시 중구 소공동 87

02)317-0022

Vecchia e Nuovo

The Westin Chosun Hotel

87, Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea (100-070)

02)317-0022

http://www.echosunhotel.com/