Please note that this pop-up has now ended. Fuwa Fuwa now has a permanent site at the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury, London.
You recall seeing those food videos of fluffy, thick and jiggly Japanese pancakes circulating on the internet? It all started in Japan and then triggered a food frenzy all over Asia. And guess what? That food trend has even arrived to London now!
Fuwa Fuwa literally translates as fluffy in Japanese. It can also be interpreted as soft, light and airy. That being said, what better way to name this Japanese Souffle Pancake stall! To all Londoners’ delight, Fuwa Fuwa is doing a three-month pop up at Westfield Stratford. The stall is right outside Waitrose at the Great Eastern Market section of the mall.
After work on Friday, we rushed to Stratford to visit the stall. Arriving at around 5.30 pm, the queue wasn’t as crazy as expected. But 30 minutes later, it certainly wasn’t the case anymore so we were most certainly lucky. The pancakes are made in batches which takes 30-40 minutes per round. You can watch from the counter how they make and cook the pancakes. It’s very enticing to see how thick and jiggly the pancakes were on the griddle.
Here is what we ordered:
Maple Syrup & Whipped Cream
The three of us each ordered one of the flavour combos. To start off, we got the classic combo with Maple Syrup and Whipped Cream. From all the other flavour combos, this turned out to be our most favourite. Sometimes less is more and the most effective topping is a simple maple syrup.
The pancakes were incredibly fluffy, airy and pillowy. They were amazingly soft and light. One thing though, the pancake themselves aren’t very sweet. But then that’s what toppings are for and the pairing of maple syrup plus whipped cream made it just right.
Miso Caramel
This Miso Caramel Pancakes make “mi-so” happy (pun intended). So these pancakes are topped with a caramel sauce and popcorn, as well as a dollop of whipped cream on the side. It generally tasted very nice but we would like more caramel sauce as it’s not very ‘saucy’. We didn’t get a clear taste of the ‘miso’ part in the caramel but got the savoury flavour from the popcorns. All in all we still liked it a lot but preferred the maple syrup one more.
Matcha Cream & Azuki Red Beans
This one was the one we were most anticipated for. The combination of Matcha and Azuki Red Beans is such a classic Japanese flavour combo thus we expected it to be the star of all pancakes from the menu. However, it didn’t live up to our expectations. The matcha cream was actually very delightful. It’s very light with a subtle hint of matcha. But the part we didn’t enjoy is the Azuki Red Beans. The red beans were most certainly not sweet enough. There was still a touch of bitterness and the red beans weren’t blend smooth enough.
In summary…
Were these pancakes worth the hype? It’s definitely unique and worth a try if you haven’t tried what souffle pancakes are. I would recommend sticking to the classic maple syrup & cream combo as the topping.
RATING:
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Food
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Value
Pop-up Location (this pop-up has now ended): Lower Ground Floor, Great Eastern Market, Westfield, Stratford
Nearest Station: Stratford
