Well only one dive coaster actually, but a lot of pancakes! This week, Polle’s Keuken attempted to beat the world record for pancake stacking. With a lot of pancakes and some Efteling magic, the two bakers, Humphrey and John managed to beat the record with a stack of 242 pancakes(!) reaching 91.2cm high. That is a lot of pancakes to try and keep upright, and they had to remain in the stack for 5 seconds to break the record. There’s even some English in this video for those who don’t speak Dutch!
On the subject of the new dive coaster which we’ll see open next year in the park, it now has a name! It’s a little bit of a mouthful maybe but…ahem…
Baron 1898.
Tada! It doesn’t completely roll off the tongue, however we imagine it will end up getting called ‘Baron‘ for short. The theming looks great, but we don’t expect anything less from Efteling, a real theme park!
Although the weather is very changeable, both the U.K and the Netherlands have so far had a little bit of sunshine! Of course, when the weather is hot, what better way to cool down than with an ice-cream or an icy drink?
In Efteling, there is no shortage of these things!
Just the other day, Efteling posted a photo of their new Chocomel Frappe cart, where you can purchase…well, a frappé! As is standard in Efteling, the cart is beautiful, and we’re sure the frappés are too! We are left wishing for a Fristi cart of the same nature now 😉
Can someone send us one over?
Back on July 31st (we’re a bit late to the party on this one) a Magnum pop-up shop appeared in the park, where you can create your own Magnum. We’ll spare you the photos of the ice creams because they’re too delicious-looking, but the store is there until August 10th, so make sure to pop in and create your own Magnum. You get a choice of all kinds of toppings and sauces; it’s pretty magical 🙂
A pot of happiness!
Also, don’t forget the happiness stations! There are two in the park, one at Polle’s Keuken and one at het Witte Paard. You can create your own little pot of happiness here, with ingredients such as a range of different fruits and sweet treats, all swirled together with Wall’s ice cream. Yummy!
Of course, there are many more cool snacks available at Efteling!
At den Suykerbuyk you can grab yourself an oubliehoorn, which is absolutely delicious! There is a wide range of ice cream to choose from, and lots of choice of different fruits to go inside your over-sized ice cream cone.And how about popping into Polle’s Keuken for a cold treat? It’s not all pancakes pancakes pancakes in there! Oh no. They have ice cream too! Perfect if the heat is getting too much and you need some well-earned air-conditioning. It’s only polite to buy some ice cream whilst in there…
We could probably carry on talking about the many wonderful cold treats you can find in Efteling, but I’m sure those few are enough for any Efteling visitor to handle in one go 😉 Bon appétit!
Last year, it was pointed out to us by one of our followers that Efteling had a golden toilet. A. Golden. Toilet. Why had we never come across this before? And where could we find it? Well, the answer is: behind Polle’s Keuken.
So many times we have been rushing past that pancake restaurant to get to wherever it is we’re going, and we’ve not really paid much attention to the fact that there are toilets behind the building. If we ever did visit Polle’s, we’d be using the rest rooms inside the building. Naturally of course, on our last visit, we had to pay a visit specifically to see this golden toilet! The things we do for research!
Upon entering, it is very easy to spot the Royal Toilet cubicle, as it has a golden heart on the door. On the inside of the door, a message reads:
‘Royal Toilet, to honour our King, we kindly request that you use the toilet in a royal way.’
Take that message how you will! There is a Golden Toilet in both the male and female toilets.
…at least in the U.K it was. We learned last year that the Dutch have a similar celebration at a different time, but of course any day is a great day to make pancakes! We cracked out our Polle’s Keuken pancake mix that we bought back in August last year; it comes complete with a chef’s hat and a wooden spoon!
As much as we wish that we could share the lovely taste of the pancakes with you, we can’t, but we suggest that everyone should buy the mix if they get the chance to! You can buy it at the entrance shop, or at Polle’s Keuken.
Laaf Lastpost volunteered to model the chef’s hat, but declined any involvement in the making of the pancakes.
Aside from the obvious hundreds of great reasons to visit Efteling, Polle’s Keuken is high on the list of must-dos! It only opened on March 30th of this year, but the frequent line of customers waiting to get in tells us that it is already a favourite of Efteling guests.
Pancakes are available from 11:30 am, just in time for a late breakfast. We were there bang on that time, and it was very quiet the whole time we were there. Most of the lines forming outside seemed to come later in the day, for lunch and dinner. The first thing you’ll notice when entering the building is the theming.
The ‘Oven’
There is a massive ‘oven’ in the middle of the floor, with tables surrounding it, a bar to the far left of the room, and on your immediate left as you enter, is where the pancakes are born. There are a lot of tables inside and out, so don’t worry about getting a table! The waiters and waitresses are dressed in traditional chefs outfits, to complete the theme.
You will be handed a menu upon arrival at the restaurant, and then you can pick your table. Menus are available in English if you ask, which is great news, because there are a lot of items on that menu! There are savoury pancakes such as salmon with rocket and cream cheese, goat’s cheese with honey, apple and pecan nuts, and bacon with onion. The sweet pancakes include apple with cinnamon and raisins, pineapple with ginger, and hot cherries.
The Menu. Click for a closer look!
Got a child with you? They feed those here too! Children can get a heart-shaped pancake with toppings such as sprinkles that they can put on themselves; this is known as the ‘Pimp Your Own Heart Pancake’ option, and comes with a drink and a ‘surprise’.
Don’t like pancakes? You’re in the wrong restaurant! But joking aside, there are options at Polle’s Keuken for the folks who don’t fancy nibbling away at a pancake. You can order a ‘Family Cake’ or a ‘Royal Dessert’, which are for between 1 and 4 people. There is also a cake carousel located to the left as you enter.
Drinks include the usual tea, coffee and hot chocolate, but also available is a fresh mint tea or a latte macchiato. Beer and wine are also available from the bar. Another neat idea that Efteling had, was to bag up the special pancake mix and sell it in bags for 2.95 in the restaurant. You can also buy gift packs of the mix which comes with a chef’s hat and a wooden spoon (also available at the main entrance for around 6.95).
We had the Pineapple and Ginger pancake, and the Hot Cherries pancake. The Hot Cherries were snuggled inside the hot soft pancake, with whipped cream on the side, and it tasted divine!
Hot Cherries
The Pineapple and Ginger pancake was also surprisingly nice, considering the rather unusual combination. There was sugar and syrup on the table, along with salt and pepper, in case you ordered a savoury pancake.
Remember that ‘oven’ we mentioned that is located in the centre of the restaurant? Every now and then, it does something special…
We highly recommend Polle’s Keuken if you love pancakes, or cakes in general!
Of course, the U.K had Pancake Day back in February, however it seems that the Dutch are celebrating it today. There was also a pancake relay-race between two schools taking place outside of the restaurant. Polle’s Keuken has been open for a little while now, but today was the official opening, since it was officially Pancake Day!
Now there is no excuse at all to not go and eat lots of pancakes!
Have you checked out the Efteling UK Facebook page yet? Check us out for even more Efteling goodness!
If you are visiting Polle’s Keuken and you aren’t sure what is on offer inside, there is now a very large, fancy-looking menu outside of the restaurant in the style of a book.
Really, they are just tempting you in with their goodies! What’s next? Possibly the Disney trick of pumping out smells from the restaurant onto the street to lure you in 😉
We’ll spare you the photos of the ice creams because they’re too delicious-looking, but the store is there until August 10th, so make sure to pop in and create your own Magnum. You get a choice of all kinds of toppings and sauces; it’s pretty magical 🙂
