1st Look: Flipper’s S’pore Menu With Prices, Including $17.80 Soufflé Pancakes

The 58-seat eatery takes over the space formerly occupied by d'Good Cafe. The Singapore franchised outlet is Flipper's first in Southeast Asia - it also has branches in cities like Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and New York. The local franchise is owned by the same parent company that runs Gong Cha in Singapore. Like its international outlets, it sports a clean, modern look with neon signs everywhere.

There's a glass-partitioned kitchen in the cafe where you can watch the staff make the pancakes on Japan-imported copper griddles (which the OG Tokyo branch also uses). Plans for the staff to train at Flipper's Omotesando flagship outlet were scuppered by Covid-19 travel restrictions. Instead, they trained for two weeks at Flipper's Taipei and Kaohsiung branches under a Japanese trainer from the Tokyo HQ.

Other than French butter, the ingredients for the pancake batter are mostly flown in from Japan - like the milk, Hokkaido Kitahonami wheat flour and atas Kanagawa Hinata eggs, characterised by their vividly yellow egg whites and bright orange yolks. Soufflé pancakes get their pillowy texture from the egg whites used, which are beaten till the mixture has a meringue-like consistency.

While fellow famous Japanese pancake cafe Gram Pancakes uses a mould to shape its pancakes into perfectly round discs, Flipper's soufflé stacks are made free-hand, like at Tokyo artisanal pancake joint Riz Labo Kitchen (which recently shuttered its short-lived stall at Picnic when the latter closed down).

It's pretty fascinating to watch Flipper's staff drop a dollop of velvety pancake batter - with an ice cream scoop - onto the copper griddle. A second dollop is added after the first one has browned, to pad up the little pancake's height. Each batch of soufflé pancakes takes about six minutes to cook, though customers are advised to expect a waiting time of 20 to 30 minutes for their orders.

Because there isn't a metal mould to transfer heat to cook the sides of the pancakes, they are served golden brown on top, but pale and soft around the sides.

Due to the pandemic, Flipper's has temporarily removed physical menus from its cafe. Customers are provided with a QR code to scan for an online menu. There are six soufflé pancake flavours available for now: the original Kiseki Pancake Plain, Matcha Azuki, Hazelnut Chocolate, Millennial Strawberry, Fresh Fruits and a savoury Eggs Benedict.

Each pancake order comes in a stack of three, except for the Millennial Strawberry and Eggs Benedict, which have two pancakes each. The soufflé munchkins are unabashedly, intensely eggy (we're told that it's 'cos of the special Hinata eggs chosen for the batter). Good for mopping up the silky house-made whipped cream, which is blended with Canadian maple syrup and French butter.

Pancake texture-wise, Flipper's version is so soft and airy, it almost feels like we are eating a mouthful of foam. But we still prefer Riz Labo Kitchen's memorably bouncy stacks, which have a mochi-like softness and bite due to the rice flour used.

Check out the pancake flavours below:

Three 'fuwa fuwa' (Japanese onomatopoeic slang for jiggly) soufflé pancakes served with a simple dollop of maple whipped cream.

Available as an opening promotional item, this photogenic millennial pink pick has two extra thick soufflé pancakes stacked like a burger and layered with house-made cream cheese, strawberry cream and strawberry jelly. It's then garnished with more fresh Chitose strawberries.

These pancakes are dusted with Kyoto matcha powder and Hokkaido kinako (roasted soybean) powder, and served with adzuki paste, matcha honey and whipped cream.

The chocolate flavour here is a tad fancier than the rest - it comes with cream that's infused with Valrhona Equatoriale Noire 55 dark chocolate, and is topped with hazelnut praline, a choc feuilletine shard and half a caramelised banana.

This platter has poached Hinata eggs on soufflé pancakes, along with grilled tiger prawns, little avocado, Norwegian smoked salmon and sautéed spinach. It's drizzled with paprika-spiked hollandaise sauce.

There's a selection of Insta-friendly, ombré-hued drinks here, like this rose-flavoured milk beverage with fresh strawberry cubes (it tastes like a very sweet Bandung drink).

Flipper's will also be serving seasonal, limited-edition pancakes year-round. This includes flavours like shine muscat grapes (pictured), yubari melon and white peach.

Flipper's Singapore opens Nov 6 at #B1-56 Takashimaya SC, Ngee Ann City, 391A Orchard Rd, S238873. Online reservation available from Nov 9 via www.q4what.com/flippers. Open daily 10.30am-10pm. www.facebook.com/flippers.singapore.

PHOTOS: KELVIN CHIA