pancakes have always been popular in japan (as far as i can recall). i remember the heavenly and savory smell of pancakes that filled my house at times when i was little. back then, pancakes were mostly homemade. grandmas and moms would prep them for breakfast or lunch or 3 o'clock snack to fill your appetite with the buttery dream!
however, this "homemade" concept started to evolve due to the emergence of popular pancake restaurants in japan starting in around 2010. pancake business bloomed. in metropolitan areas* in particular, people lined up to eat a "magical" plate of golden joy. (*here is a helpful article about tokyo's best pancake restaurants!)
well, in terms of trends, some say that pancakes are "things of the past" but the popularity does not seem to fade. people simply enjoy the soft and fluffy thing, which is as round as our mother planet!
today kazuto and i had our late lunch @ paanilani in onna. it was our second visit. their signature "nuts nuts pancake" (tasty with bananas!) was sold out by the time we arrived around 2pm, so we ordered "chopped chocolate pancake" for the first time and the usual "butter milk pancake."
as you can see in the picture, the chocolate earth was full of stars, looked starry, and tasted good as expected. the traditional earth was pretty natural, just the way i liked it.
