Looking to find the best London breakfast and brunch spots? Well you’re in for a treat. If Melbourne is the home of the innovative brunch, then London has seized the concept and run with it: there are no end of great places to enjoy a towering plate of PBJ waffles with salted caramel ice-cream or wild mushrooms and poached egg on sourdough toast with dukkah and micro-cress. I’ve made it my mission to seek out some of the best places – it was too hard to pick just 10.
We’ll start with a classic: Duck & Waffle, perched on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, overlooking the iconic Gherkin building, with an unrivalled view of London down below. Breakfast here, by head chef Dan Doherty, is full on luxe: the ‘full Elvis’ waffles come with PBJ, brulee bananas, chantilly cream and fresh berries. Or you can go savoury, with ox cheek benedict waffles, or Colombian eggs and avocado on toast. The food here is so good it will distract you from that view.
Duck & Waffle
110 Bishopsgate
London EC2N 4AY
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 3640 7310
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://duckandwaffle.com/
For power-breakfast types: Chiltern Firehouse. It’s a lot easier to get a table in this celeb-tastic haunt in the mornings, and they do some of the best French Toast in the city – with a creamy, almost custard like texture inside. Pancakes are also excellent, and eggs benedict come on American style biscuits with a spicy hollandaise. Meetings will also go with a swing at Blixen – comfortable, laid back, and with an excellent breakfast menu – including warm banana bread with whipped vanilla butter.
Chiltern Firehouse
1 Chiltern Street
London W1U 7PA
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7073 7676
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.chilternfirehouse.com/
Blixen
65A Brushfield Street
London E1 6AA
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7101 0093
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.blixen.co.uk/
Ottolenghi – especially the newest and largest branch in Spitalfields – is another must. The pastries are irresistible but don’t let that distract you from the hot dishes on offer, including sticky black rice with coconut milk, banana and mango at their NOPI restaurant, and a beef brisket hash with gremolata and a fried egg. You can always take a box of cakes away for later
Ottolenghi Spitalfields
50 Artillery Lane
London E1 7LJ
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7247 1999
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/spitalfields
With a similar Middle eastern inspired menu, there’s Honey & Co, justly famous for their incredible babka and Israeli breakfast dishes, including the spicy roasted aubergine and egg ‘sabich’, stuffed into a home made pitta bread with tahini, and a fritatta stuffed with buttery leeks, herbs and feta cheese. You’ll also be tempted by the cakes. Give in to that temptation.
Honey & Co
25A Warren Street
London W1T 5LZ
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7388 6175
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://honeyandco.co.uk/
New on the block is The Good Egg, with another Ottolenghi alum at the pastry helm: this Jewish-style deli offers house baked babka, Jerusalem bagels with house-smoked fish or pastrami – and a spicy shakshuka which has customers queueing down the street. They’ve recently started offering challah French Toast with date syrup and pistachions – and a halva-stuffed croissant. Book ahead.
The Good Egg
93 Church Street
London N16 0AS
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7682 2120
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.thegoodeggco.com/
For a more eclectic fusion offering, try The Modern Pantry, now with two branches: head chef Anna Hansen has created a unique menu which features a sweetcorn, feta, scallion and Medjool date waffle with bacon and maple syrup, and a Kashmiri masala beetroot, carrot and potato hash with poached egg, yuzu and miso hollandaise, and optional smoked salmon or pulled pork. Or there’s the original Kiwi fusion restaurant, The Providores and Tapa Room, where Peter Gordon’s breakfast menu offers grilled chorizo with sweet potato and miso hash, a soft boiled egg, garlic labneh and star anise cashew nut praline.
The Modern Pantry
47-48 St John’s Square
London EC1V 4JJ
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7553 9210
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.themodernpantry.co.uk/
The Providores and Tapa Room
109 Marylebone High Street
London W1U 4RX
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7935 6175
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.theprovidores.co.uk/
If it’s classic American diner breakfasts you’re after – head to Outsider Tart: where the huge portions match the generosity of the owners. This may be the only place in London where you can find the classic Amish dish of pork and cornbread called ‘scrapple’, the One Eyed Monster – johnnycakes with a fried egg, ranchero sauce and cheese – and amazing sour cherry cheesecake brownies bigger than your head.
Outsider Tart
83 Chiswick High Road
London W4 2EF
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7096 1609
Email: n/a
Website: https://www.outsidertart.com/
Also offering US-style portions is east London’s Hash E8 – now famous for their enormous pork belly benedict, huge stacks of perfectly fluffy pancakes, and sweet potato beetroot hash with poached eggs and a veritable lake of hollandaise.
Hash E8
170 Dalston Lane
London E8 1NG
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7254 0322
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.hashe8.com/
Sunday in Islington is a way off the main road, but if you manage to find your way there you’ll be rewarded with excellent corn fritters topped with hot smoked salmon and poached eggs, or French Toast stuffed with banana, caramel sauce and creme fraiche. There’s a lovely garden out back which is ideal for sunny days.
Sunday
169 Hemingford Road
London N1 1DA
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7607 3868
Email: n/a
Website: https://www.facebook.com/sundaybarnsbury
For a generous brunch that’s got all the ethical credentials you could possibly want – try Poco, from Observer Food award winner Tom Hunt. Sustainable, local produce comes into its own: a huge plate of house smoked trout, kale, poached egg and labneh on sourdough toast will set you back less than £8.00. Don’t miss the ethereally light churros with thick chocolate sauce, either.
Poco
Broadway Market
129 Pritchard’s Road
London E2 9AP
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7739 3042
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://pocotapasbar.com/
It’s also worth a trip to South London to the rapidly expanding M1LK in Balham – baked eggs with roasted squash, feta and sage is wonderful, and their daily-changing pancakes are worth saving room for too: if you like the sound of ‘buckwheat pancakes with blood orange jam, hazelnut popcorn britle, vanilla bean marscapone’ – and who wouldn’t?
M1LK
18-20 Bedford Hill
London SW12 9RG
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 8772 9085
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.milk.london/
Also down south – the excellent Toast E.D. in Dulwich, Pedlar in Peckham – don’t miss the pumpkin doughnuts – and the outstanding The Dairy in Clapham: they’ve just started a weekend brunch menu which we can’t wait to try.
Toast E.D.
36-38 Lordship Lane
London SE22 8HJ
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 8693 9021
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://toastdulwich.co.uk/
The Dairy
15 The Pavement
London SW4 0HY
United Kingdom
Telephone: 020 7622 4165
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://the-dairy.co.uk/
There’s nothing wrong with a Full English – but seek out some of the best London breakfast and brunch spots, and you can get your morning off to a much more exciting start.