New Brisbane

At 10pm on a Monday evening in the Brisbane CBD, there’s not too many places serving food and so we found ourselves in quite the predicament when catching up with a friend from out of town late one Monday evening. Fortunately, we knew there was somewhere we could go 24 hours a day that was guaranteed to give us a good feed. And while I’d never been there, I’d heard good things, so off to Pancake Manor we went.

18 Charlotte St,
Brisbane 4001
Ph: 3221 6433
Web: www.pancakemanor.com.au
Open 24 hours

Located inside what was previously St Luke’s Cathedral, the Pancake Manor is a Brisbane icon, serving up thousands of delcious pancakes every week, 24 hours a day. Whether it’s to late night drunks, early morning families or late morning hangovers, everyone knows that you can get a cheap, reliable feed at Pancake Manor, regardless of the time of day.

So after wandering from closed restaurant to closed restaurant, we finally decided upon Pancake Manor, where we were promptly shown to a booth. However, deciding that the booth was far too cramped for 4 medium-large sized males, we moved to a table and began leafing through the menus.

Despite the beauty of the architectural wonder that is the former church come pancake house, I was once again assaulted by the cloying sickliness of fake maple syrup as I sat choosing my meal. I won’t make a big deal out of it, but once you’ve been inside a wooden shack where for decades 100% real maple syrup has been created by boiling down the tree sap, and the wood itself is imbued with real maple essence, it’s hard to adjust to the scent of the fake stuff. I challenge anyone to show me a Brisbane restaurant that uses real maple syrup.

The menu itself was rather pleasing, with pictures of all the different options deliciously presented. The hardest part at this point became which one to choose, as there were several that looked good. All the more reason to come back I suppose. I went for the Bananarama (Two buttermilk pancakes with grilled bananas, butterscotch sauce, cream and vanilla ice cream), while those around me went for the short stack (2 pancakes + syrup/ice cream), the long stack (4 pancakes + syrup/ice cream) and the chocolate jewels (Two chocolate pancakes with chocolate ice cream, cream and our homemade chocolate sauce).

The meals came out without too much of a delay and we were soon hoe’ing into our flapjacks as the conversation floated around the table. The pancakes I can gladly say were just right - not too fluffy and not too flat (a benefit of using real buttermilk!) - and it wasn’t long before we’d all wolfed down our meals.

Now, for those that are thinking “But I don’t want to get pancakes at 4am”, then you need to know that the Pancake Manor doesn’t just do pancakes. You can get an entire range of food, including snacks & breads, items from their grill, salads, savoury crepes and a whole range of breakfast items. They also do individual billing, so that if you’re there with friends, you only have to worry about having a good time and not how the bill is going to be split at the end.

So despite the fact that this is my second review in two months featuring me eating pancakes, I don’t get to eat pancakes very often. It’s good to know however, that when I do have that pancake craving, there’s somewhere in the city that I can go any time of the day to get my fix, Pancake Manor.