Travel | Elk pancakes, Japan

If you've been to Japan you may have seen this quirky looking pancake shop called Elk. We seem to be finding one on almost every street. So after peering through the window on more than one occasion we decided to go for breakfast one rainy day in Kyoto.

All of Elk's pancakes are made fresh so you can expect to wait 10-20 minutes for your order. There are lots of different toppings to choose from including sweet and savoury, your run of the mill and something a little different Japanese style. I of course opted for the craziest looking one on the menu. I put blogging before my belly, 'what would look good in a photo?'. As I have to confess it didn't taste very good. I can't even tell you exactly what as in it - it involved a stack of 2 pancakes, a layer of nuts, a layer of some kind of sugary jelly, whipped cream and then the purple stuff! I presume is was some kind of red bean mixture but it did say it included sweet potato?!

Stew opted for the classic butter and maple syrup and went for a buffet style option where you pay 10,000 yen (around just £5) and get 3 pancakes but can top up with extras if you eat them all. So he then had a 4th with blueberry compote which was delicious! It did however come with a side of soup (pictured above), which was bacon, onion and soy bean flavoured... uhh?! It had us both left wondering 'what the?!', and more importantly 'whyyyy?!' But it actually tasted really good and way better than my option haha!!