No matter how unseasonably warm everyone claimed it was, it was still London in October. I had been standing outside the Holborn underground station for 45 minutes, waiting for a friend. I had a general stressed-out feeling from all things grad school and I was buckling a little under the weight of my first real bout of homesickness since leaving the US at the end of August. Neither one of us had cell phones that worked in the UK, and the prospect of not seeing my friend had me on the verge of tears.

It was a shitty morning. A ridiculously #firstworldproblems kind of shitty morning, but a shitty morning all the same.

I finally gave up and returned to my hostel to camp out on Facebook until my friend did the same. We made more concrete plans, and I returned to Holborn for round two. After meeting up with her in a Starbucks (international sign of hope for Americans abroad), we wandered around looking for postcards and a place to eat when I saw a big pink storefront that seemed to be calling my name.

Something about “My Old Dutch: pancake house” oozed the sort of quirky awesome that I absolutely live for. Not only that, but pancakes are right up there with grilled cheese and tomato soup on my list of comfort foods. Sure, two hours after we planned to meet, I had found my friend and everything worked out, but it was still cold and I was still feeling that homesickness. Cheery pink and pancakes seemed perfect.

Inside, this place was every bit as adorable as it was outside. A million and six points for the overall vibe. It is extremely friendly and inviting, as was the staff. We stayed at our table for a good 45 minutes after we finished eating and they never pestered us about it. (Edit: It has been explained to me that this is actually just a cultural difference and that Americans are somewhat uniquely assholes in shooing customers out the door. Listen, Europeans, we have places to be…or something like that.) After poking around their website, you can tell that this is clearly the vibe they are going for.

The menu was divided like any crêpe menu in Paris — into sweet and savory. It also included an awesome selection of milkshakes. (We went with the coffee and it was amazing.) Best part of all: the prices were pretty great (once you stop doing the conversion math; you have to accept that for Americans in Europe that game is demoralizing, so just don’t do it.)

We decided that we wanted to split something, because it would be quite a bit of food. Nugs was in the mood for the sweet, rather than the savory. You really can’t be sad if you’re in a quirky pancake house eating a fully chocolate-ified pancake, complete with syrup, ice cream, and sprinkles. It was as magical as it sounds.

While chocolate can’t actually cure homesickness, the whole experience improved my mood significantly. I left painfully full but happy.

It was an awesome restaurant that I would have totally gushed about as a sort of sidebar to a post on my trip to London (coming eventually) but I felt it deserved its own post, not only because it was all around awesome, but because later that night I went home and tweeted:

and upon my return to Paris, I had the following @reply waiting for me:

As someone studying communications, I can’t help but get excited when brands are good at reaching out through social media. High fives all around.

My geeky moment aside, it really is a great restaurant that I will definitely go back to the next time I am in London. Food, service, price, and overall vibe were all fantastic. You can’t ask for a lot more than that.

In case you find yourself in London:
My Old Dutch (Twitter / Facebook)
Cost: £5-£10 (with the sweet pancakes in the 5–7 neighborhood and the savory in the 8–10 range)

I went to the Holborn location (off the Picadilly and Circus lines):
131–132 High Holborn (Google Maps)
Tel: 020 7242 5200

Opening Hours
Mon-Sat 11:00–21:45 (last order)
Sunday 11.00–22.00 (last order)

They also have locations at Kensington and Chelsea.