UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT CLOSED IN 2021
Look at this feast! I like to imagine that I can eat dishes like this quite comfortably. Failing to do so feels like I’m letting down Leslie Knope and any other breakfast devotees I admire. But I can tell you right away: I absolutely failed to demolish this dish. I managed about half of it and then didn’t eat again for the rest of the day.
Alabama’s is a newish place in the Northern Quarter in Manchester, and it made a lovely spot for a weekday brunch – not busy at all, perfect for a leisurely battle with this stack. They serve meaty as well as vegan options, and had some savoury brunch dishes, but I only had eyes for the pancake section. All the pancakes can be either vegan or not, and there were a few tempting options, including some with apple and cinnamon, some with berries, and this chocolate peanut butter beast. As I told Dr HH afterwards, it’s not often that I wish I’d ordered something with fruit, but this was one of those occasions – a bit of fruit might have lightened the dish somewhat (though I can’t pretend I would have been able to finish it under any circumstances).
The pancakes themselves were huge, fluffy, and delicious. As well as peanut butter and chocolate sauce, they were topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, elevating it to true decadence. Even just looking at the pictures now makes my stomach hurt, in the best way.
Decadent breakfasts are one of my favourite things, so I think this is a truly great additional to the Manchester vegan scene. Maybe if I give it a year I’ll be ready to tackle it again…
Herbivores' Heaven 
That is definitely the kind of meal I couldn’t finish, either, but would adore anyway. It’s always fascinating to me to see how American food translates abroad. I checked their menu and giggled at chicken with pancakes! It’s obviously not that far off from chicken and waffles but it would never occur to me to substitute pancakes.
It’s so charmingly fusion food, with banoffee sauce and vegan black pudding, too. I somehow want to eat there.
Haha, good point about chicken and pancakes! To a Brit, chicken and waffles is pretty weird so you can see why we’d think chicken and pancakes no less weird. Is black pudding (vegan or otherwise) a thing in the US too?
Those are REALLY puffy pancakes! Though I feel like they are lying about the American part- I feel like we rather have flatter and larger pancakes. Like the size of dinner plates (at least that what I expect when I eat out, lol) At least they are sticking to the tradition of a breakfast too large to reasonably eat in one sitting.
As Student Turned Doctor says, I am always interested in what people call “american” cuisine, because I think there are food favorites, but few that we call “American” but there’s lots of pride with regional favorites.