A city centre restaurant has won a pancake race against time to open for the most fitting occasion of the year.

Bernie and Nick Wright and their team were confident they would complete their Dutch dash and have their new restaurant ready in time for Shrove Tuesday.

Go Dutch Pancake House will now ensure it is pancake day six days a week as they bring a new concept to continental cuisine and also take Paragon Square a step closer to becoming an established dining quarter.

Nick, whose career was in IT, began planning the restaurant 18 months ago when the opportunity of redundancy arose as his employer, Humberside Police, merged support departments with the South Yorkshire force.

Bernie, a teacher at St Mary’s College in Hull, became the main breadwinner as the couple researched and planned the pancake project having gained inspiration from family holidays in the Netherlands.

Nick said: “We go to a lot of pancake restaurants in the Netherlands, the kids love them and that’s where the idea came from.
“I saw the computer generated images of the new-look Paragon Square and decided that’s where we had to be. We wanted to open in this location and create a mini Amsterdam square in Hull.”

It took time as the former building was demolished, a new property built and then finished internally to the standard required for a modern, stylish continental restaurant.

Meanwhile the couple conducted the most painstaking research online and in person to make sure the food and the surroundings are as close as possible to authentic Dutch offer.

Nick said: “I heard about a Canadian lady who was fascinated with Dutch food in the same way that we are and who opened a successful restaurant 12 years ago – in Canada! We managed to track her down and, after a telephone conversation with her, she was kind enough to pass on the details of a Dutch chef in the Netherlands who had advised her and who was happy to meet up with us in Amsterdam.”

Their contacts led Bernie and Nick to a mill which is a favourite of Dutch pancake restaurants and which is now supplying the flour for the secret pancake recipe at Go Dutch.

Nick added: “I guess the flour is our USP because as far as we know they don’t supply anyone else in the UK. We use it to make our basic pancake, and the toppings are very much up to the individual customer.”

Diners will have the chance to Go Creative with their pancakes by selecting their own sweet or savoury toppings. Alternatively they can order from a range of special pancakes that have set ingredients such as the Go Mexican, Go Italian or Go Elegant pancakes.

The bar will offer some of the finest bottled beers from the Netherlands and Belgium as well as liqueurs which may also find their way into the dessert pancakes. A remarkable wine glass chandelier is part of the restaurant’s unique décor.

The venture has created ten new jobs and has been welcomed by Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, as a stylish addition to the city centre dining scene.

Kathryn said: “We’ve been watching Go Dutch with interest and I’m delighted that Nick is now open, bringing something completely different not just to Hull city centre but also to the region as a whole.

“There have been a lot of improvements to Paragon Square. Stanley’s Brasserie has built a reputation for delicious fare and Go Dutch is an important piece in the jigsaw, with high quality food and service indoors and outdoors.”

Luc Perquin, General Manger of the Mercure Hull Royal Hotel and a HullBID Board Director, is from the Netherlands and is looking forward to experiencing a taste of his homeland.

He said: “It is great to see a new business opening on Paragon square. Pancakes in all their varieties are a Dutch tradition and I recommend this to anybody to go and have a try.”

For more information, visit the Go Dutch Pancake House website: http://godutchpancakehouse.co.uk/

Pictured: Nick Wright of the Go Dutch Pancake House with HullBID City Centre Manager Kathryn Shillito and chef Benjamin Martin.