How Should Pancakes Be Served?

I'm not a pancakes or waffles person at all. I don't fancy them or want them for breakfast or lunch or dinner. Not my kind of food. I don't even like biscuits. I can't tell what makes pancakes good, but I can definitely tell if the pancakes suck. And of course in this day and age, presentation counts for a lot. When I'm having a meal with the man or the friends, pancakes always appear at brunch or tea tables.

At this cafe that we happened to pop in for a cup of coffee (it was conveniently located), we ordered pancakes to share. Let's call this Cafe M. When the plate of pancakes came, I blinked. There wasn't a wow factor. For $14 + $4 of berries, I expected a lot more from this plate. The pancakes were pedestrian. There were no sides of butter, cream or jam. There was maple syrup though. 

Cafe M's plate of pancakes looked sad. While it was a mini-stack of perfectly fine traditional flat pancakes,  and tasted... okay, they simply looked like something that even I could do at home. I never thought that this Cafe M (it shall remain un-named) serves decent food. It's at best, mediocre, especially for its prices charged. At least for that day, the company was lovely and made up for the sub-par food. 

When the man and I needed lunch, we avoided abovementioned cafe, and walked a farther 250m down to Twenty Eight Cafe. He ordered pancakes. His pancakes arrived looking really good. I was impressed. (Their other savory items on the menu were decent too.) The cafe opted to serve Japanese soufflé-style pancakes. The man loved them. He could have them for breakfast or lunch. Or as a full-on dessert. *gulp

It was a $16 plate, all-in. There were cream and jam and maple syrup on the side, as well as tiny strawberries and a sprinkling of walnuts. All these made for a better presentation. I'm not looking for IG-worthy compositions. I just want a 'nice and cheerful' plate. Not just that, the fluffy buttermilk pancakes looked like adorable little clouds. Now, that plate totally looked like something I can't do at home.