As for how these pancake dates came to The Good Doctor, executive producer David Shore isn't quite sure himself. "I honestly don't remember if it's in [the original Korean drama upon which the show is based]," he tells TV Guide with a laugh. "I'm pretty sure that's ours though ... our thing for the two of them. That'd be a nice thing for people to do: enjoy their pancakes for dinner while watching The Good Doctor."

- David Shore's interview with TV Guide (Nov 7, 2017) [source]

The pancake dates are certainly created by the US writers. In the original K-drama, it was not pancake but Triangle Kimbap 삼각김밥 (seaweed covered rice ball) which is one of Korean convenient stores' best selling products. Dr. Park Shi-On had a kind of obsession with Triangle Kimbap.

“Triangle Kimbap is food like Park Shi-On. I mean, triangular shaped food is rare except for Triangle Kimbap, isn't it? I wrote it because both of them are similar in terms of rarity. Autistic people are likely to be sensory-dependent, and many of them are also sensitive to the shape of the food they eat. Therefore, I imagined that Shi-On enjoyed eating Triangle Kimbap not just because it is more convenient to eat but because he likes its strange shape."

I got this triangle kimbap mould from Tina & Andrew :D finally putting it into use!

I’ve seen these but it’s my 1st & only one just bcos I usually make the kimbap rolls as opposed to the triangle kimbap.

Here’s my filling. I used canned chicken breast (from Costco).

Mixed with ketchup, Korean tartar sauce & ssamjjang.

First, you load your rice. It’s important to press it down hard! Then your filling of choice.

Fill the other half of the mould with rice as well. Then close & give the sides firm taps so the rice loosens itself from the edges.

You’ll then slowly open the mould & the rice should have all become one & on one side of the mould only. Turn over & place on a sheet of seaweed.

Fold sides.

“Roll”

Yes, it’s awkward. Why? Bcos the size of the mould & the size of the seaweed isn’t right...... I found the mould to be too large for 1/2 sheet of seaweed. 2/3 of the seaweed sheet would have been right but then longitudinally, it wouldn’t work out either... so I just decided to go with half a sheet & have open ends instead of not knowing what to do with an awkward 1/3 sheet. You know what I mean?

Made 5 in total.

I packed SO much rice in the mould, where each one is close to my usual bowl of rice o_O so yeah, the mould fits A LOT. I think the flavour of my filling, as well as the rice:filling proportion was good. I tried to make it 1/3 for each of the layers, & it seemed pretty good.