Johan and Mariette Tegrotenhuis are tight-lipped about what goes into their poffertjes.
“There are lots of recipes out there on the internet, but nothing comes close to what we have,” Johan said.
The husband and wife team have served the tiny Dutch pancakes from a small van at Dandenong Market since 2001.
“I was in the building industry. I was retrenched because I was getting too old and too expensive,” Johan said.
“We bought the van from another lady. We just tweaked it a bit and just ran with it.
“There was an opening at Dandenong Market which we grabbed with both hands.
“We were determined to make this work. There were no ifs and buts.
“We stuck at it and stuck at it.
“It was relentless, both trying our hardest to make it work.”
Dutch Poffertjes has built a loyal following over the 17 years since.
They have customers who first tasted the poffertjes when they were children now bringing their own kids along.
“We haven’t changed anything – the recipe is still exactly the same,” Johan said.
“A lot of people appreciate that we’re not changing anything.”
He said they cook their pancakes “with love, lots of love”.
“A lot of people have got no idea about how to cook them,” he said.
“It’s the technique. Ingredients are crucial.
“Temperature, timing and all these factors…
“We still cook on the original pans. It should be cooked on a single pan.
“It’s like cooking a steak.
“You seal your steak first and you let it rest. This applies to poffertjes.”
Johan said the dish was breakfast, lunch, a snack or dessert.
“In the west of the Netherlands you see them everywhere,” he said.
“We are Dutch ourselves.
“Sometimes customers say in the Dutch language ‘I wonder if these people are really Dutch’.”
They get quite a surprise when he responds in the same tongue.
“People who’ve never had poffertjes, I tell them ‘these things are extremely addictive’ and they crack up laughing,” he said.
“They take the first one…
“They saltiness of the butter, the sweetness of icing sugar, with maple syrup on top…holy moly.”
