National Pancake Day

Pancakes!

National Pancake Day is a great opportunity to join the team for a delicious Dutch pancake. We are in the midst of design work for the Jan Linders franchise for Albert Heijn, so a quick break together for a tasty pancake always lands well then. A big pile of sweet pancakes and traditionally powdered sugar and sugar syrup. The most exotic forms that passed at our pancake day were fruit jam, sprinkles and peanut butter.

But at home, our employees bake more extreme forms of it: Sophia’s pancake cheesecake. Fry cheese pancakes, stack them on top of each other until they stick together and then cut points from them. And who thinks that a French fries Kapsalon is already a mishmash of ingredients: René orders a “pancake Hair Saloon” at his favorite pancake restaurant, with the fries loose or else the fries will be limp.

Dutch delicacy?

But is the pancake really that Dutch? The culinary delicacy that is seen as something very popular almost as ordinary in Dutch pancake culture has not always been so. There are also restaurants these days that make it a real treat.

But the origins of the pancake in Holland and Belgium date back to the 13th century. With buckwheat, water, melted butter and a touch of flour pancakes were baked. This batter is still used today for French “crepes.

But history goes back much further: the Romans already used this mixture and called it “Alita Docia,” something sweet. They used milk, eggs and flour. Sweet variety was available with honey and fruit, as well as savory varieties with cheese and meat. They were fired on flints and in hearths.

Over the centuries, more and more varieties were added and they were increasingly baked on special occasions.

In Great Britain, where the pancake was so beloved that Shakespeare even named it in his plays, the pancake was used to stock up on eggs just before Lent before Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which for us is the last day of Carnival. On that Tuesday night, then, most of the pancakes were eaten.

In many countries a variation of our pancake is known, from the American Flapjack to the Scottish Ulster, German Pfannkuchen. In Scandinavia, it is mostly eaten with whipped cream and jam, ent as waffles.

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Interior concept for a Bakery

So the Dutch Pancake is related to a worldwide type of dish. And here it is often served with an “old Dutch” sauce. but baked goods can also be served with a completely different look&feel. Below is a concept NewArmstrong developed for a bakery where the design concept is to eat in the kitchen with the Master Pastry Chef.

Using that mood board as a starting point, we put together an interior where the emphasis is on experiencing the production process. Through large glass windows to the bakery and kitchen, the production process is visible from the restaurant.

The seats are designed so that from high and low seats the view of the production process is optimal. And the lighting plan also assumes a clearly lit production process.

All design decisions that reinforce the concept: a restaurant as if you were sitting at the “chef’s table. As with a beautiful pastry on a serving plate, the product must catch the eye.

The materialization is like that of a bakery: white, stainless steel and the copper of pans and kettles. With the right tiles, joints and finishes, this materialization is well suited for a bakery: meets the requirements for food safety (HACCP) but also the requirements from the Occupational Health and Safety Act (e.g. slipperiness).

The systems are also precisely engineered for the application of a bakery: specific cooling units for proofing, storage and re-cooling. With the shaft connection points, water points and extraction at the right positions in the production process so that the business process can be set up precisely.