Beware of the Pancake Stalker

I have my fair share of serendipities and odd tales with strangers to tell, each unique experience makes for great meal time conversations and laughter. In a way, I go about my life collecting these stories because I reckon it spices up my life.

But this one, this one I'm gonna share is a little odd.

One day in July, I decided to go have dinner myself while waiting for a friend to join me in town. Cedele it is for they have wonderful supposedly "healthy" sandwiches. The joint at Wheelock is not bad with its decor too. It's an all time fave.

So I ordered this Beef Burger and a glass of white wine. It was nearing 9pm and they were running out of ingredients. So I was approached countless times by their server asking if they could give me this bread over the other, this vegetable over the salad. I was famished hence anything goes. I did not even kick up a big fuss. Quietly sipping my Chardonnay, I was in a world of my own till one of chefs came out with a plate of heart shape blueberry pancakes.

I looked at him bewildered as he stuttered in a foreign-accented English, "Complimentary pancakes," he said.

"Oh for what?" I asked. I thought it was a mistake. Wrong table.

"It's complimentary pancakes." He repeated, looking awkward. I thought I was putting him on the spot because he cant speak English so I said my thanks and accepted. Then I pulled on of the servers and asked if this was a mistake or something to appease me for making me wait and changing my Beef Burger.

"Urm yes." One hesitated in replying me. I was getting impatient. I do not wanna be charged for something I had not ordered so I grabbed another server to question. A girl this time.

"Err you see, sometimes in our restaurant we like to randomly give out pancakes." I finally believed. But after a few minutes, the girl returned and said, "Miss, actually the chef wanna ask if you are interested to be his friend. So he made you these pancakes."

I freaked out. "So what is your answer?" The girl pressed on. I was curious to know who that was but I did not wanna give out my number so I said, "Could I finish my dinner then decide?" She said ok and left. But returned 10 minutes later, "So what is your decision?" I was annoyed. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I JUST SAID? "Well then. I do not wanna give him my number but perhaps I will go thank him later... (for wasting his company's resources and risk getting fired - just to get some girl's number)" Stiff smile.

So my friend arrived and I begged him to finish the pancakes with me because it was way too much. They were damn fine though. Deliciously fluffy. But my friend refused to even touch the pancake for fear of being clobbered to death by the chef.

Then we were finally leaving and I asked to thank the chef. He refused to come out of the kitchen. Took him 5 years later and he emerged. It was the same dude who first came to me with the plate of pancakes. Quite malu since the staff were trying not to laugh. He asked me in mandarin if my friend were my boyfriend. I said no. "I didn't even get your number!" He lamented. I insisted that the pancakes were real good and I'll see him around.

But I never return again because I was so freaked out. Then one evening in August, I was dragged there by friends. We were served the "complimentary pancakes" again! And this time, I merely accepted those goodies without questioning anything. I thought, "Fine! If you wanna waste your cafe's resource, that's your business but I'm not gonna give you my number." So we wolved down the heart shape pancakes and left. I decided to never return again, or writing to Cedele to inform them of such phenomenon.

Then a few days ago, I read from a food blog:

...a waitress brought a plate of blueberry pancakes to our table.

Uh-oh, order screw up, I thought to myself.

Instinctively, we informed her we didn't order the pancakes and in fact, we were about to call for the bill. But she insisted that we accept the pancakes and immediately, the skeptic in me thought it could be one of those "promotional items" where they introduced something new to diners, trap them into playing for something they didn't order (Sushi Tei used to do this).

Then she mentioned,"It's from the Chef" for undisclosed reasons and believe me when I say the 3 of us were flabbergasted. Bewilderment soon turned to sheer amusement because the pancakes were HEART-SHAPED! As in "L.O.V.E-I-heart-you" heart-shaped! I know it sounds secret-admirer-creepy but we weren't folks who would reject free pancakes. I don't have a picture because I didn't think there would be anything blogworthy after that many visits. Howdy-doo I was wrong!

Never mind it seems like something out of a Garry Marshall movie, it ain't everyday when people like us receive treats of affection from the Chef. Served with orange butter (which I likey very much) and maple syrup, it was filled with bounteous goodness of fresh blueberries. Arh, creepy or not, it was fun slicing through the hearts.

That is not all, someone commented after this post:

Hmmm...me too when I was with my cousin some time back...except we had heart shaped pancakes with Marks and Spencer-ish choc coated raisins in it...creepy as it was,we polished it off (it was soooo good) and then I haven't been back since haha...wee bit freaked out...we put it down to me being there frequently OR the chef being in lurve with my cousin... =)

Holyshit! What is going on?

No matter. I reckon this is either a guerilla marketing technique or the pranks of some really bored chefs trying to spice up their lives. Or a run at who can get the most numbers from girls.

Why don't you try it? Dress up a little and go have lunch at Cedele with your group of girlfriends. Who knows! You might just get some complimentary heart shape pancakes for free.

And if you do, give me a holler!

PS: Sorry boys. I think only the girls get it this time. But you can still try nonetheless. Good luck!