Little Amsterdam (in Banbury)

Last November Banbury, on the outskirts of the Cotswolds in Oxfordshire, received its own little piece of the Netherlands, with Ilja and team opening up the ‘Little Amsterdam Dutch Pancake House’. We headed there for our Saturday brunch this weekend.

Dutch pancakes or Pannenkoek are slightly different to the French crepe or the American stack of flapjacks. The size of a dinner plate, these pancakes are slightly thicker than a crepe and made with buckwheat, making them more filling. As Ilja explains in the menu blurb, Dutch pancakes are as common in the Netherlands as Fish ‘n’ chips are in the UK. We tucked into bacon, apple and raisin pancakes (a traditional combo) which had our taste buds tingling even from the menu description.

Ilja, herself, heralds from Haarlem (or Little Amsterdam), and Pancake house has just enough of the Dutch Kitsch, like the blue and white tiles, before straying across the tacky border. Visitors to the more well-known ‘My Old Dutch’ in London will know what to expect. And with a steady stream of hungry punters the cafe has more life than many eateries in town.

Of course, no trip to a Dutch pancake house is complete with a good dollop of stroop (pronounced strope), a type of treacle syrup, across your pancake, savoury or sweet! We will certainly be heading back – I quite fancy trying one of those Dutch doughnuts…

What I need to know! 

  • Why not go Dutch for a children’s birthday, in Holland its common to have Pannenkoek for kids birthday parties.
  • Go easy on the stroop, it’s not to everyone taste.
  • Find out more about Little Amsterdam in Banbury visit the Facebook page  or website. 
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6 Comments

    • January 22, 2015 / 12:15 pm

      Definitely should! I think we’ll be visiting Baker Girl at Wkyham Farm soon!

  1. Be be
    January 21, 2015 / 5:58 pm

    I went to this “little Amstersdam” It was awful.. Pancakes were thick, Dry and NOT edible.. My group/ family left very dissatisfied, many with most of the pancake un-eaten, (no comment,from staff as to Why?) service was terrible. Took 40mins to serve tea and coffee.. Menu really needs “extra’s” English pancakes taste a whole lot better, and not £4.95… to EXPENSIVE… Myself, family and friends Will Not be visiting again…

    • January 22, 2015 / 12:14 pm

      I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t have such a good visit, we found Ilya to be very informative and we did like the pancakes! Have you tried the other pancake house in Banbury? I’d like to know what you thought of that.

    • March 18, 2015 / 12:15 pm

      Hi “Be Be”, thanks for your comments..

      I’m really sorry you had a bad experience! My sister owns the restaurant but I often work there and I’m authorised to reply on her behalf.

      We wish you’d have told us about your dissatisfaction on the day, as we do not like it when people leave unhappy, it’s not fair on you and then it means we get bad reviews. No-one wins.

      We rarely get bad reviews these days, we’ve been open three months now and if you’re tempted please come in again, we’re sure you won’t be disappointed second time round.

      As for your “English Pancakes” comment – we are a Dutch restaurant. Plain and simple I’m afraid! I don’t know why you had a dry pancake as you said, perhaps you were just really unlucky and we had a blip at that time? We do have some delicious Dutch syrup you could have used on your pancake, or we’d have been more than happy to give you some butter if you’d have asked. If you ordered a plain pancake, which very, very few people do (but I’ve never seen anyone order a plain one when I’ve been working?) then perhaps that would explain it? But even our plain pancakes are perfectly edible on their own without a topping, but it’s a bit like getting a pizza without a topping! A pancake becomes delicious when you try any of our delicious pancakes – we’ve got steak, mushroom and gorgonzola – chicken, ham and stilton or just a bacon pancake! all delicious.

      If you like, drop me a line and I’ll arrange for you to come in again and give us another go, I’ll even pay for your meal myself.

      Many thanks,

      Tjobbe

      • March 18, 2015 / 12:31 pm

        I don’t think you can’t say fairer than that! We’ll certainly be coming back soon.

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