FOOD : Stack & Still, Edinburgh
With a mouthwatering menu offering potentially 12 million different combinations of pancakes, Stack & Still has opened in Edinburgh, in the former Jamie’s Italian site at the Assembly Rooms.
Stack & Still, the UK’s biggest urban pancake business, opened this 140-seat George Street restaurant last month and I went along to try out whats on offer.
REVIEW OF STACK & STILL EDINBURGH
On offer at Stack & Still are a choice of five types of pancake stacks - buttermilk; buckwheat; protein; gluten-free; low-fat. Customers can then build their own creations from a huge range of savoury and sweet toppings, which include everything from classics such as bacon and smoked salmon, to more creative toppings such as beetroot and cumin falafel and 10-hour shredded BBQ brisket.
Alternatively, Stack & Still’s menu offers a range of inventive Signature recipes such as the Piri Piri Stack, which features breaded chicken, piri piri sauce, sweetcorn slaw, sweet piquante pepper, coriander and crème freche, or the Superfood Stack, which overflows with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, Greek yoghurt, granola and honey.
In addition to its pancakes, Stack & Still also offers sides and bites such as loaded fries, onion rings and halloumi fries, plus a range of smoothies, shakes and sundaes.
Drinks first and it was Smoothies all round. We tried one of each of the smoothies (£4.50)
Blueberry and Blackberry with apple elderberry, banana, almond milk and chia seeds
Strawberry and Banana with soya milk and chia seeds
Exotic Fruits with passion fruit, mango, raspberry, guava, almond milk and chia seeds
Great flavour combinations and the addition of the almond or soya milk thins this smoothie down to a silky sweet easy drinking fruit concoction. However, they do need to be served ice cold and not slightly cooler than room temperature. We requested ice to chill ours down.
Couldn’t resist some sides and instantly Halloumi Fries (£4.50) was added to the order. There was a toss up between the Onion Rings (£3.50) and the Loaded Dirty Fries (£5.50) but the onions won!
Halloumi fries were nice big thick sticks of squeakiness and the Onion Rings super crispy with onion sweetness hidden inside.
Onto the pancakes. The combinations are quite overwhelming and you will be thankful for the Savoury and Sweet Pancakes Dish Suggestions that line either end of the menu. There are named pancake dishes were the only decision you need to make is what type of pancake ie buttermilk, buckwheat etc and what size of stack ie one, two or three pancakes, you want.
You can of course, remove or add items to these set dishes. These are your pancakes, you make them how you like them.
The Signature Stack pricing is set per number of pancakes in your stack no matter what Signature Dish you choose
Single Stack - £8.50
Double Stack - £10.50
Short Stack - £12.50
We all went for the savoury options but on reflection, I think I am definitely more a sweet pancake kinda gal and would return for Sweet Signatures especially the Peaches and Cream Stack with grilled peaches, cinnamon syrup, raspberries, blueberries, creme fraiche, mint and almonds.
All American Stack - Swopped out the Buttermilk pancakes for the Buckwheat, then toppings of 10 hour Shredded BBQ Brisket, Cheddar, Slaw, Mustard, BBQ Sauce, Onion Ring and Pickle. Great combination of favours and a generous portion of the brisket but this would have been better with perhaps one pancake as most of the brisket juices and sauces are soaked into the top pancake leaving you with two drier pancakes to eat through. You can of course add a side of several sauces of toppings to help work your way through the stack.
Piri Piri Stack - Buttermilk pancakes, Breaded Chicken Tenders, Piri Piri Sauce, Sweet Corn Slaw, Creme Fraiche, Piquante Pepper and Coriander. I loved the sound of this stack but I’m not a fan of piri piri so ordered mine minus the sauce and the pepper. Very wrong choice as this meant that there was no sauciness to get these pancakes dirty and the whole dish was rather dry. There was only two chicken tenders and it didn’t feel like there was enough for the three large pancakes.
Chipotle Pulled Pork Stack - Buttermilk pancakes, 10 hour Chipotle Pulled Pork, Chickpea Salsa, Avocado, Chipotle Mayo, Tortilla Chips and Coriander. A great stack of nice contrasting textures - full on fluff from the pancakes, succulent moist and juicy pulled pork, creamy avo and crunchy chips! You cant go wrong with this Savoury Signature.
All in all, I like what Stack & Still have to offer. I love the amount of ingredients and sauces and all the things you can mix n match. I reckon it would take you a few visits to find your ultimate pancake sweet spot - be that one, two or three pancakes, be it gluten free or buckwheat, be it with two toppings or several, or be it sweet or savoury. At under a tenner for a sweet treat or a savoury feast, what’s not to like!
Stack & Still Edinburgh is dog friendly and they will soon have dog-friendly pancakes on offer too!
They offer gluten free and vegan options across their menus and for their pancakes you can have low fat, protein, gluten free/vegan, buttermilk or buckwheat.
Stack & Still, The Assembly Rooms, enter via Rose Street, Edinburgh. www.stackandstill.co.uk
My Spoon Award : Silver Spoon 8/10
I was invited by Stack & Still to review their menu. Food and drink were complimentary but the views are very much my own.