Dudley’s – the strangest pancakes restaurant in North London?
Dudley’s, opened six months ago. It’s the strangest place I’ve ever paid to eat food. Twice the size of the greasy spoons and kebab shops that straddle it. From the outside there are no clues that this place sells pancakes. Unlike My Old Dutch, there is no attempt to anchor the menu to a theme or cuisine.
As you walk in, the confusion grows. The set is a thrown-back to eighties’ tack – neon tube lights and naff finishes. It cuts an unlikley figure on Finsbury Park’s main strip that hosts wigs shops, tapas bars, small world-food stores and pound shops. Neon lights buzz over the counter. They reflect a row of shiney bottles of syrup which intensify the bar effect. I feel like an extra on Wham’s Club Tropicana video
Infamous among locals for its pancake-pizza mutant signature dish (see the Facebook group), the four cheeses crepe (see picture) the menu is at best…experimental. Dudley’s has around 40 different pancakes. From the ultra-sickly crunchies and ice-cream (extra cream is optional), to the savory. The place is busy but the food arrives in good time. The pacakes are the size of bike wheels and I understand why the family of four next to me have shared one-between-two. A toddler is sticking its finger into a Chantilly tower, as if checking it is real. I leave inspired… to go home and learn to flip my own.
