A Stack of 10 Places for Pancake-Lovers

There’s a reason pancakes are often the indulgence of choice for those celebrating Shrove Tuesday—or Fat Tuesday—the feast of treats that leads up to the Lenten fast. While the flapjack’s origins are as humble as it gets, pancakes are almost always a little bit special, be they for breakfast, for dinner, or the 2 a.m. meal in between that takes place almost exclusively at all-night diners.

For those who like their pancakes in the American tradition—fluffy, eggy, piled into syrup-drenched mountains with a pat of butter—diners are still the way to go, be they in Pawtucket, Rhode Island or Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Those who prefer a slightly thinner, lacier dish may opt instead for the ethereal pancakes served at Quebecois sugar shacks, or even the enormous pannenkoeken eaten in the Netherlands. Still others may want whisper-thin crepes—perhaps best enjoyed from a Japanese vending machine.