The Dutch Pancakehouse Fifteen Years of Flippin’ Fabulous! It’s hard to imagine how many pancakes the chefs at The Dutch Pancakehouse might have flipped for their customers over the past 15 years, but one thing you can be certain of is that locals and visitors alike will always keep coming back for more!
This year marks a special anniversary for The Dutch Pancakehouse; it is their 15th consecutive year operating at the Renaissance Marketplace in Oranjestad. But though they received the “Best Breakfast in Aruba” award in 2014, it’s interesting to note that when they first opened, they didn’t even serve breakfast! Pancakes in the Netherlands are more popular for lunch and dinner. They are not like the American-style flapjacks: big and fluffy and topped with maple syrup. Dutch pancakes are thin (more like French crepes), and often served with, or stuffed with, savory fillings and toppings like meats, cheese, and vegetables. Though they do have dessertstyle pancakes – puffy, little round silverdollar-sized goodies called poffertjes that come with sweet syrups and fruity sides, typical pancakes in a Dutch home would not be served in the morning. In order to learn how to prepare pancakes the traditional way, The Dutch Pancakehouse sent their local chefs to the Netherlands to master this special craft. Dutch-style pancakes require particular baking techniques and specific kitchen equipment to obtain the optimum results.
Then, as the owners began to realize that pancakes for breakfast were in big demand with locals and visitors, they decided to offer the best of all possible pancake worlds! Once they began to also serve breakfast, offering up all kinds of creative preparations of pancakes with both sweet and savory fillings and toppings, their popularity really took off. And today you can choose from dozens of pancake varieties as well as some delicious egg dishes and superb schnitzels too! To celebrate their 15th anniversary, the owners wanted to support another very Dutch custom: cycling! People of the Netherlands love their bicycles! In order to give something back to the community of Aruba that had welcomed them so warmly, they are sponsoring a bicycle station in front of the cruise terminal in Oranjestad this year. Hopefully this project will be just as popular as their pancakes! If you’d like to experience some of the Dutch traditions on Aruba, try their delicious pancakes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and also receive a discount on any bicycle rental with Green Bike rentals. They are a wonderful, new eco-friendly way to explore the island. !
www.thedutchpancakehouse.com
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Photos courtesy of The Dutch Pancakehouse