By Nick Searle-Donoso, First Year English Literature
Even before visiting, I’d seen photos of Flat White Kitchen with neatly staged and subtly-filtered Instagram shots. Therefore, my expectations were mixed when I stepped into the wood-panelled, vine-adorned café. Was it all just a fad? Or, did the food taste as good as the pictures looked and the menu sounded?
I ordered the buttermilk pancakes with lemon curd, fresh blueberries and vanilla cream. ‘Just a half stack?’ the waitress enquired, then proceeding to indicate the height of a pancake using overly complicated finger gestures. I responded with a negative, supremely confident in my ability to demolish however much pancake a full stack composed of.
Before I began my man versus pancake endeavour, I sipped on a perfectly swirled cappuccino and a citrusy fresh orange and carrot juice. Then the pancakes arrived, piled intimidatingly high: the waitress’ measurements pitifully underestimated the sheer amount of pancake that sat before me. As I began, I noted that the pancakes were wonderfully light and soft, and the slightly zesty lemon curd was offset with the creaminess of vanilla and interspersed with bursts of fresh blueberry.
Nonetheless, by the third pancake I was already on the ropes. Annoyed at my hubristic confidence, I considered myself defeated in the face of the might of the pancake stack. Therefore, although the pancakes are delicious, I do recommend ordering a half stack of pancakes if you have a normal appetite – however tempting the challenge may sound!
After such a tasty experience, I returned to Flat White Kitchen and this time, my eyes, scanning the menu, were diverted from the pancakes. Instead, I ordered the French toast which was wonderfully crunchy around the edges and pancakey in the centre and which was served with fresh fruit and syrup.
Overall, Flat White Kitchen is not a cheap brunch option with dishes ranging from six pounds to eleven pounds. However, I would say that it is certainly worth it, especially as a mid-term treat, simply because of the quality of all the dishes they serve.
Photographs by Nick Searle-Donoso.
John's Chronicle 