Dudley's pancake house in Barnet

For the past two years, each time we have driven past this little restaurant I have wanted to try it as it looks so inviting.

Last week, on the way back from the hospital we popped in and were horrified at the prices. The pancakes were £10.45 each!

Jim ordered one with a combination of ingredients like mushrooms and ham etc and it was presented unfolded on a massive plate, but was actually no bigger than the ones they make in the mobile vans you see around the place, which are folded.

It was ok, but pretty tasteless and certainly not worth the money.

I opted for a homemade burger, which I asked for rare.  The patty turned out to be just over a cm thick and consequently very well done (but not in the good sense!).

With a cup of tea and a smoothie we paid just under £30 - a rip-off.

Won't be going there again!

Smoked mackerel kedgeree with broccoli

Smoked mackerel for dinner but no idea what to do with it that would be yummy and exciting (I usually put it in pasta with a creamy sauce, but had a creamy sauce last night).

Found the above recipe on the web. First hitch was that it required pilau rice, so looked for a pilau rice recipe.  Had the wrong type of rice (basmati required) and the wrong spices (no cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks or saffron threads) but did have ground fenugreek, coriander and cumin, so substituted.

For the main bit I had to sub spring onions for the bigger, rounder variety... but I was able to conjure up some hard boiled eggs.

VERDICT: The rice was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be doing that again and on the whole the dish was pretty good, but the smoked mackerel did overpower all the other flavours, so I can't say that I'd recommend it.