"Our customers constantly say to us, ‘do you remember the Dutch Pancake House,’ or ‘you might be a bit young to remember it but there was this place where they made all these amazing pancakes’," recalls Josh Jorritsma, co-owner of Papa Dutch, The Little Dutch Cafe, which has just opened its first bricks-and-mortar store in Altrincham this past week.
Of course many Mancunians will fondly remember Dutch Pancake House, the restaurant with 70s honey-wood panelling and an orangey brown carpet, nestled on the corner of St Peter's Square and Oxford Road, which sadly closed in the early 2000s. First opening in the 1970s, it was loved by locals for its huge variety of sweet and savoury pancakes served on huge plates - said to be Delft pottery featuring traditional blue and white designs.
And while the Dutch Pancake House closed two decades ago, and the building that used to house it was demolished to make way for the shiny 1 St Peter's Square, a new Dutch café has just opened its doors in Altrincham - and it might well fill that void.
