It’s the golden age of pancakes, and this is Sydney’s top five

Detailed summary

From pancakes lacquered in thick golden crusts, to those made from literal cake batter, these chefs are pushing pancakes to their culinary limits.

Before the Good Food team visited Surry Hills cafe A.P Bread and Wine for brunch in October, I thought I’d experienced everything pancakes had to offer. There have been classic diner pancakes with sides of streaky bacon; souffle pancakes, like wobbly breaths of sugared air; and sourdough skillet pancakes so hefty they came with a warning (“You won’t be able to finish one by yourself,” said the waiter at Pina in Potts Point, failing to appreciate my commitment to the bit). But there has never been a pancake in Sydney quite like this.

It is round, thick and as large as the plate it sits on, lacquered in toffee-brown kithul syrup (reduced floral sap from the Sri Lankan kithul palm). A generous scoop of whipped honey butter sits on top, slowly melting down one side. Then, the crust: a burnished coat so crisp it crackles like brulee beneath your fork, making way to reveal a fluffy, sunshine-yellow interior.

Obviously, it’s delicious. It’s a pancake. But it’s that unexpected play on texture, that contrast of biscuity crunch, smoky-sweet syrup and baked batter that pushed the A.Pancake (as it’s called) to top spot on my personal list of Sydney’s best (no small feat, as editor of Good Food’s 100 Essential Cafes and Bakeries guide). Too bad a side of berries costs another $6.50.

The dish (exclusively available at A.P Bread and Wine) was developed about six months ago by chef Mat Lindsay, co-founder of the A.P Bakery empire and the man behind revered Sydney venues including Poly (Surry Hills), Ester (Chippendale) and its new neighbour, dine-in bar Pig Mary. He says he was inspired by the Golden Diner pancakes, which attracted queues of up to two hours when they debuted at chef Sam Yoo’s New York cafe in 2019.

Both use a pre-fermented yeast batter, and both are briefly cooked on the stove before going into the oven (“It’s more of a hotcake as opposed to a pancake,” says Lindsay).

In Sydney, pancakes have been a source of culinary innovation since, at least, the introduction of…

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