As Pancake Day only comes around once a year you can just about be forgiven for not diverging from the typical British pancake - topped with a dash of lemon juice, sprinkled with sugar and drizzled in golden syrup. Should you fancy mixing it up a bit this year, however, I’ve compiled some bizarre pancake ideas from around the globe:
Vietnam
Banh Xeo – meaning “sizzling cake”, these savoury pancakes are stuffed with slivers of fatty pork, shrimp,and bean sprouts, and then pan fried. They’re then stuffed with mint leaves, basil and other herbs,wrapped in mustard and lettuce leaves, and finally dipped in a fish sauce.
Sweden
Raggmunk - this is a savoury potato pancake fried in butter and served with thick slices of fried pork or bacon and lingonberries, no less. The more crispy and buttery the pancake is around the edges, the better it apparently tastes.
Japan
Dorayaki - a sweet pancake filled with red bean paste. In Japanese, dora means “gong” and legend has it that the first Dorayaki were made when a samurai named Benkei forgot his gong upon leaving a farmer’s home where he was hiding. The farmer subsequently used the gong to fry the pancakes.
Thailand
Roti Gaeng Karee - this is a crispy pancake done Muslim-style, served with coconut-milk based curry and spices. If you like ‘em savoury, this one’s for you!
Korea
Pajeon and Bindaetteok - we don’t know much about these, other than they’re made with seafood, chilli paste, and lots of vegetables. Possibly the healthiest pancake ever?
India
Dosa - made from rice and black lentils and traditionally from southern India, these thin crispy pancakes can be served with anything from chutney, Indian pickle, chicken, mutton or fish curry, depending on the region and taste.
Better than all of these, though, is Russia - where, thanks to Maslenitsa, I can enjoy pancakes for a whole week, guilt-free…
Pancake Poll
We’ve also conducted our own pancake survey here at Travel PR Towers. It seems we’re a boring bunch. While the classic (and still fairly brilliant I would say) lemon and sugar combo won whisks-down, only a handful were brave enough to choose another topping…
Camilla Colley
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Flooding in Richmond forced drinkers to arrive by boat at the White Cross pub yesterday
Friday, March 5th, 2010Visitors to the White Cross pub in Richmond were left no option but to arrive by boat yesterday as the River Thames broke its banks. The cosy riverside establishment in Surrey has a special high-tide entrance in case of flooding but even this was inaccessible on foot. The much-loved pub regularly gets cut off, usually about five times a month, but yesterday’s was a very high tide. The occurrence is a welcome excuse for the regulars who relish more time in the pub away from DIY jobs at home but it’s perhaps not so favoured by stranded office workers seeking to get back to work after a boozy lunch. The Travel PR team is planning an after-work drink when the waters have subsided!
The Thames is known often to flood at high tide near Richmond Bridge, but visitors – and their cars – are often caught out. Local businesses are prepared for high water levels via reference to tide timetable books. The tide rises and falls due to the rotation of the earth and gravitational pull of the moon. Exceptionally high and low tides - Spring Tides - occur at the time of the new moon (or the full moon) when the sun, moon, and earth are approximately aligned.
Camilla Colley
Tags: "travel news", flooded, flooding, Richmond, Thames, tides, www.travelpr.co.uk, “full moon”, “pub access by boat only”, “River Thames”, “travel pr”, “White Cross pub”
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