2000's
2000 - Scandalous Characters From The Olympic Games
Now for a change of direction, but just as challenging, was The Doncaster Party room. Allen requested a series of ‘panels’ celebrating the coming Olympic Games to Sydney. Knowing Peter Von’s sardonic side, he wanted them funny, but authentic looking, as if taken from old newspaper reports. Delving deep into his old engravings, Peter Von began to put together the set of The Scandalous Characters from the Olympic Games of Yesteryear. They are still there to this day.
2001 - Glen Waverley, Melbourne
In 2001, with the Glen Waverley Pancake Parlour getting ready to open, another airborne device was considered. Peter Von designed a truly Jules Verne-ish Rocket in full Victorian era garb. Again, there were the Pancake Tossing Race competitors, but this time in rocket ships, each one different.
2003 - Eastland, Ringwood
In 2003, at the Eastland Shopping Centre, there was a generous space ready for a largish device coupled with the ongoing formula for matching mechanical mural. Peter Von had always wanted to do something three-dimensional as a tribute to the old graphic of the saluting dog in the chef’s cap we have used as decoration so often. So it was not difficult to persuade Allen (if not Helen) that they desperately needed a Steam Powered, Dog Steered Pancake-Delivering Gyrocentrifice for the main area ... basically a fancy helicopter. (Just don’t let Peter Von hear you calling it that!)
2005 - The Giant Coffee Pot at Highpoint
In 2005 Peter Von embarked on his final device for The Pancake Parlour restaurants: The Giant Coffee Pot!
2007 - Fountain Gate, Narrewarren
After Peter Von’s retirement in 2006, CEO Simon Meadmore commissioned world-class designers Kube for the new Fountain Gate restaurant, which opened in December 2007. This expansion into the South-Eastern suburbs became the most expensive and attractive store in The Pancake Parlour’s 40-year history.
In an interview for Food and Drink, Simon Meadmore said:
In the past three to four years, we’ve undergone a major redesign. We really needed to: each year in the past five years has been our most successful ever.
Meadmore worked with a variety of designers to achieve his new vision for The Pancake Parlour – a look that is bold and new, but still honors what is unique and loveable about the past:
We used an artist who does a lot of sculptural work and is actually a sculptor himself as well, and we worked with a young team of graphic designers to do all of the two-dimensional work – all of that’s the original art you see printed on the walls.
We also worked with a normal restaurant architect who has also done a bit of design work.
Lovers of Peter Von’s quirky designs and contraptions need not fear: they are still there. The Granny Plane, which had pedalled purposefully every day and night for more than 12 years at Forest Hill Chase, is a case in point. It was decommissioned when Forest Hill closed, then totally rebuilt for the new Fountain Gate Pancake Parlour.
2010 - Melbourne Central, City
Melbourne Central is an urban-city precinct – a destination for fashion, shopping, eating and entertainment – and the historic Shot Tower was saved from demolition in 1973. The centre now stands proudly underneath an 84m high conical glass roof.
Melbourne Central opened in 2010. It was a hit from the moment its doors swung open and has been extremely successful every since. Located in the Melbourne Central complex, and overlooking the iconic Shot Tower, its design continues the exciting new approach created by CEO Simon Meadmore and his teams of designers.
The focal point of the restaurant on leve 3, is a magnificent tree based in the middle of the restaurant. The timber base is from Duke's Dock and dates back to 1875. Duke's Dock was one of the few surviving relics of Melbourne's extensive shipbuilding industry and the Pollywoodside docked there in the 1940's and 1950's.
2011 - Warrigal Road, malvern East
One the most exciting of the new developments is the Warrigal Road restaurant in Malvern East, just near the exit from the Monash Freeway. It is a dazzling statement of The Pancake Parlour’s new direction in architecture and design.
There has also been a subtle culinary revolution too. Meadmore and Managing Director Gerhard Wittwer constantly seeking ways to create new dishes that delight customers, using the best possible ingredients and organic where available.
Meadmore says:
We’ve had a history in family business that someone in our family is eating in the restaurant every day. So we’ve always been pretty keen to have things that we’d like to eat, and we pretty much always eat organic at home.
We always think it helps us from a marketing point of view: we think people will come back more often if there’s a good salad, or a steak that tastes a bit better than the average steak. I think it’s just part of what we do, having good food.
Part of taking The Pancake Parlour into the future has been the expansion of the Wine List and a new Cocktail List, featuring the most delicious drinks anyone could find in Melbourne. It is the result of months of testing by Meadmore and Wittwer, who now know enough to write a book!
Nothing stands still at The Pancake Parlour, which delights in both treasuring the past and discovering the future.
2012 - Highpoint Renovated
The fabulous renovations at the Highpoint restaurant were finished in January 2012. With an exciting modern look, the major refurbishment followed the unique design of the more recent restaurants Melbourne Central and Malvern East and features larger even more comfortable booths, whimsical graphics and a smaller version of the dazzling Malvern East bar.