Fufu Cafe – Japanese Souffle Pancakes Now in Vancouver

A new Japanese souffle pancake shop is coming to town! Fufu is short for Fuwa Fuwa in Japanese, and it means fluffy. That’s the very heart of these souffle pancakes.

Owners of Fufu were inspired by their visit to Japan a couple of years ago, seeing how popular these souffle pancakes were, and wanted to bring these deliciousness to Vancouver. They spent months on perfecting the menu and recipes and now they are opening the doors at Broadway and Birch.

These pancakes are made-to-order, so it takes about 15-20 minutes from whipping up the batter to cooking the pancakes to perfection.

Lucky for me I was invited to a media preview and got to sample most of the menu items. Let me give you a run through. Shall we?

Food

Fufu Classic Souffle Pancake – this comes with 3 souffle pancakes and in two options:

• Stacked Soufflé Pancakes, butter, maple syrup, ‘fufu’ icing sugar – this is truly the classic way of eating pancakes. The maple syrup they use has a deep, rich flavour, reminded me of the brown sugar pearl flavour, and it’s not overly sweet.

• Soufflé Pancakes with Salted Cheese Whipped Cream, icing sugar – the cheese cream was made with mascarpone. There’s just enough saltiness in the cream while not tipping into the “savoury” zone. This was for sure my 2nd favourite flavour – now keep reading to find out about my absolute fave!

Matcha Mochi Souffle Pancake – 2 stacked soufflé pancakes, shiratamako mochi, house-made matcha sauce, matcha whipped cream, double chocolate raspberry ice cream, white chocolate flakes, matcha powder – let’s face it, who doesn’t love matcha flavoured anything? Solid matcha flavour in the cream, but what surprised me was the mochi. It had a proper chewy texture all the way through, and there’s a hint of sweetness in it so it’s not bland. I’ve had some really bland ones at other places.

Mixed Fruit Souffle Pancake – 2 soufflé pancakes, mixed seasonal fruits, classic whipped cream, dry raspberry flakes, icing sugar – another classic way of enjoying pancakes. You can’t go wrong with this option if you are a traditionalist. I wonder what kind of fruit they would use in the winter when berries are not as readily available or more expensive to buy.

Tapioca Pearl Milk Tea Souffle Pancake – 2 stacked soufflé pancakes, earl grey milk tea sauce, tapioca pearls – no doubt this was my favourite of them all! Love the earl grey milk tea sauce – it was fragrant and creamy. The pearls were also cooked well. Soft yet still chewy in the centre, with light caramel flavour. I personally thought there were too many pearls on the plate, but that may be just me. By the way this is only available after 3pm, with limited quantit. Not sure how “limited” this is but I can imagine this being sold out quite quickly.

Lastly, every week they also have a featured item in rotation. Out of the three, we tried Lemon Crème Brûlée Soufflé Pancake – 2 stacked soufflé pancakes, house-made lemon crème brûlée sauce, lemon yogurt ice cream, seasonal fruits – the brûlée idea was interesting. I didn’t really taste much of lemon flavour in the sauce but the lemon yogurt ice cream was awesome (did I mention they source their ice cream from Rocky Point Ice Cream?)! Together it was a very enjoyable plate.

Not only do they serve sweet pancakes, but on the weekend they also serve savoury brunch items including Smoked Salmon and Avocado as well as Eggs Benedict. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to try them but I’m super curious!

In addition to the pancakes, they also carry pastries from Remi Patisserie. Their beverage menu covers all the bases, with coffee beans supplied by Agro. I tried the Passion Fruit and Pineapple Soda and the tropical flavours really came through.

Final Thoughts

Overall I really enjoyed the texture of the pancakes. They were truly fluffy, airy, just melt in your mouth (they may need a bit more practice on timing but when they got it right, it was good). Even though the location isn’t exactly around other eateries, I expect them to be busy with lines for the next little while. I was also excited to learn that this is an independent shop and not a franchise from Japan. Obviously Japanese franchises have to uphold a very high standard and I know some are coming to Vancouver really soon. I’ve never been to Japan for the souffle pancakes, so I can’t wait to see how Fufu fairs out against these big guys.

FuFu Pancake Cafe
1266 West Broadway, Vancouver
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