Breakfast culture in Britain is one of its finest culinary assets. A fry up, or full English, is world famous, and world beating when done properly. The porky combination of fine rashers of bacon, a nice meaty sausage (or two), black pudding and eggs any which way – though fried or scrambled reign here – is hard to beat, more so when garlic-hewn mushrooms and a soft tomato are brought into play. Beans? Unnecessary, really, but each to their own.
But there are other elements in the repertoire which deserve a renaissance: kedgeree was once breakfast fare and for all its simplicity (rice, smoked haddock, cream, curry powder) and it is here where poached eggs are preferable. And a word too for devilled kidneys – lamb kidneys in a spicy and umami-laden sauce – which make for a glorious start to the day. As does a rich porridge, another one of our triumphs. Just skip the pancakes.
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One can breakfast in style at the Connaught hotel but the smart money heads down Mount Street to this dining room above the Audley pub. Very smart money: there’s £50m worth of art lining the walls — no surprise when one learns that operator Artfarm is owned by the art-world supremos behind Hauser & Wirth.
Full English or continental? Either is excellent, though one senses that chef Jamie Shears’s loyalty lies with unabashedly rich British breakfast cooking: devilled kidneys on toast, bacon chop, or omelette Arnold Bennett.
When? Mon-Fri 7.30-10.30am, Mon-Sat 9-11am
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Claridge’s/Maybourne Group
This is pretty well the perfection of an English breakfast: well-flavoured sausage, sweet-cured bacon, perfect scrambled eggs as you like them. There’s an extensive breakfast menu: good oat porridge or a chia and linseed version; a breakfast roll with bacon, sausage and egg, £21; French toast or buttermilk pancakes with irresistible toppings and a very good fruit salad with pineapple, coconut and mango, £16. The breakfast tea blend is excellent and marmalade and jams are made in-house. It’s perfectly executed with attentive service in one of the grandest settings in London – when I was there, so was the Japanese emperor. What a treat.
Full English or continental? Both are offered and both good, but why overlook such a good fry-up?
How much? Full English breakfast, £40, but granola and other dishes from £11
Matthew Donaldson for the River Cafe Cafe
This may sound like a misprint but it is the obvious next step in the development of the River Café – an actual cafe in a bright room with outdoor terrace, just across from the restaurant, which serves breakfast from 9am as well as lunch and supper. Think the kind of simple Italian menu that you crave in London, only more expensive obv, and made with characteristically good ingredients. It’s the River Café, pared down. There are very good cornetti, £5-6, crescents made with a sweet light brioche with apricot, chocolate or vanilla cream. Yum. The bruschetta show that you don’t need complicated ingredients for a memorable mouthful: the one with vesuvio tomato and olive oil, £6 – essentially tomato slices on lightly toasted bread – was dreamy. And the orange juice, £6 – ubiquitous but rarely notable – was delicious too.
Full English or continental? Continental; you won’t have any luck asking for a fry-up
How much? Cornetti from £4; tea and coffee from £3; a plate of strawberries £15
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They don’t make them like this anymore, which is why the Regency, in the backstreets between Victoria and Pimlico, has featured in everything from glossy magazine shoots to Guy Ritchie film locations when a bit of keeping-it-real grittiness is required — though the only chance of argy-bargy is if anyone takes a seat before placing their order. Newly relaunched and with new owners, the food is the same. It’s worth visiting once if you’ve not before. But be warned, this is pretty much just a tourist destination now, not a working person’s cafe.
Full English or continental? Conti-what? Vast sectors of the central London economy, from high-vis jackets to pinstriped suits, are kept going by the Regency’s cooked breakfast combos. Here nearer lunchtime? Add some proper chips to your fry-up.
How much? Set breakfast from £6.95; beans on toast, £3.40
When? Mon-Fri 7am-2.30pm, Sat 7am-noon
17-19 Regency Street, SW1P 4BY, 020 7821 6596
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Dean Street is part of Soho House, which should mean that it’s members only, except it has a hotel upstairs, too, so anyone can come and experience the private club vibe without the bother of an annual fee. The lack of much natural light in the moodily lit room should be a solace to anyone nursing a hangover.
Full English or continental? British classics is the culinary theme and kippers, kedgeree and tattie scones are all ticked off, but this being Soho House, the lighter choices are excellent, from an egg-white omelette to seed porridge with banana and muscovado. There’s even a plain pink grapefruit and a half portion of a full English.
How much? Full English, from £12; egg white omelette, £11; pink grapefruit, £4.50
When? Mon-Fri 7am-noon, Sat-Sun 8am-noon
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Everyone’s favourite Indian chain comes with one massive drawback of huge queues: usually less of an issue on weekday breakfasts, but not so, alas, at the weekend. Eggs come with almost everything as per the Parsi cafés of Bombay that are Dishoom’s inspiration but there are vegan alternatives as well. Wash it all down with a mug of milky house chai.
Full English or continental? Naan rolls are what the place is justifiably famous for — sausage, egg or streaky bacon daubed with cream cheese and tomato-chilli jam, sprinkled with coriander and wrapped up in a fluffy warm naan. Or try the spicy chicken keema buns for a change.
How much? Bacon naan roll, from £9.50; keema per eddu, £15.90
When? Mon-Fri 8-11.45am, Sat-Sun 9-11.45am
The Delauney
Sometimes you crave just the simplest thing at breakfast, like the perfect bacon roll, made with a soft white roll and an abundance of rashers. And that’s what the Delaunay serves up: delicious crispy streaky bacon and the right sort of bun. Best with a nice hot cup of breakfast tea, here a proper pot made with tea leaves. Simple, but you don’t often get it this good.
Full English or continental? Neither — the best thing here is the bacon roll.
How much? Crispy bacon roll, £10.50
When? Mon-Fri, 7-11.30am; Sun, 8-11.30am
Wolseley Hospitality Group
Given that The Wolseley, a sister of the Delaunay, channels the concept of a Continental restaurant that takes you from breakfast to supper, it’s interesting that its menu offers some of the most traditional elements of an English breakfast. The porridge is perhaps the best in London. The devilled kidneys are delicious and the kedgeree with poached egg, if a little sticky, is nicely flavoured. There’s a good, substantial cooked breakfast, £24.50, and — be still, my beating heart — grilled kippers with mustard butter. The vienoiserie — croissants et al — are very good, but the “Specialities” are best, some of which are available at lunch. If I hadn’t been full, I would have tried the bubble and squeak with fried duck egg and wild mushrooms. Next time.
Full English or continental? At the Wolseley? Traditional, always
How much? The English, £24.50; cold dishes from £3.95
When? Mon-Fri, 7-11.30am; Sat-Sun, 8-11.30am
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Fancy eating breakfast in a fancy Michelin-starred restaurant? That’s the deal at Hide, even if we’re pretty sure that the Red Guide inspectors weren’t evaluating chef Ollie Dabbous’ way with a toaster when they were handing out their gongs. Ask for a table upstairs if possible: the views of the Green Park trees are lovely in all seasons.
Full English or continental? You can get a full English anywhere, so go for the cheffy twists instead: seasonal fruits in a chilled lemon verbena infusion, ripe honey mango with Thai basil and kaffir lime, or a croissant laced with blackcurrant leaf.
How much? Full English, £28; fruit plates from £12; viennoiserie from £6
When? Mon-Fri 7-11am, Sat-Sun 9-11.30am
The River Restaurant at The Savoy
The Savoy
Arnold Bennett was not just the author of popular novels from the 1890s to the 1930s but was chief literary critic of the Evening Standard, and the Savoy is of course a short walk from Fleet Street, where this paper’s offices were. It was the Savoy that created this special baked omelette for the great man and it remains a destination dish. As a substantial breakfast goes, it’s hard to beat: eggs, Gruyere (or Comte) cheese, eggs, smoked haddock and béchamel, all served hot in a little chafing dish.
Full English or continental? Have the omelette, it’s the star here for a reason
How much? Omelette Arnold Bennett, £20.
Terry’s
A greasy-spoon caff and lunch time spot for proper British home comforts, Terry’s serves its fry-ups on vinyl red-checked tablecloths while electric chandeliers hang overhead and walls swarm with framed photos and vintage crockery. It’s catnip for Instagrammers on holiday but worth a detour to the backstreets of Southwark for any hungry Londoner, too.
Full English or continental? With seven fry-ups on the menu, from vegan and veggie to a porky-protein heavy “Hamlet”, this is not the place to drop by for Bircher muesli. There are, though, two “Continental breakfast” options: eggs benedict or royale.
How much? Fry-ups from £9; eggs Benedict £12.50
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With titular chef Tom Booton gone (more on his next move another time), the Dorchester’s flagship restaurant is now under the watchful eye of executive chef Martyn Nail. He’s kept the breakfast menu similar but added statement dishes such as an Omelette Arnold Bennett, kiln-smoked salmon on a potato rösti with keta caviar, and a fruit Jalouise. Elsewhere on the menu are dishes such as a Welsh rarebit crumpet with treacle-cured bacon and eggs, American-style pancakes with cherry compote, and a notably lavish eggs royale, with royal oscietra caviar, for £120.
Full English or continental? The Full English or the Omelette Arnold Bennett
How much? Breakfasts from around £20
When? Mon-Fri, 8–10.30am; Sat-Sun, 9-11.30am
Sam’s Kitchen
West Londoners seem to prefer brunch to breakfast but local restaurant saviour Sam Harrison (of Sam’s Riverside and Waterside) has both bases covered at his pair of daytime cafes in Hammersmith and Chiswick.
Full English or continental? Harrison’s restaurants proper major in native seafood, so we’d recommend either the Portland crab English muffin or Severn & Wye smoked scrambled eggs. There’s lots of nice veggie stuff too: grilled polenta, spiced oat granola and lemon and ricotta hotcakes.
How much? Full English, £18; smoked salmon scrambled eggs, £13.50; granola, £8.50
When? Mon-Sun, 8am-3pm (Chiswick -5pm)
Steven Joyce
Breakfast is not a seven-till-eleven affair at this 24-hour restaurant on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower in the City, where early birds can watch the sun rise over east London whatever the time of year.
Full English or continental? The sweet-and-savoury combo of the namesake dish — confit duck, fried duck egg, mustard maple syrup — is arguably at its best in the wee small hours after a night of carousing in nearby Shoreditch; City suits breakfasting at a more civilised hour may prefer a Greek yoghurt with granola, and swerve the cocktails.
How much? Duck and waffle, £24; full English, £18; Greek yoghurt, £8
When? Mon-Fri 6-10.30am, Sat-Sun 6am-4pm; late-night menu midnight-5.30am
If Covent Garden is somewhere you avoid like the plague it can be a delightful surprise to see how lovely the area is first thing before all the tourists turn up. This café between Covent Garden and Holborn is a very pleasant place to soak up the area’s calm morning atmosphere; there are sister branches near Sloane Square and on the South Bank
Full English or continental? A global breakfast vibe makes The Black Penny one of London’s best veggie-friendly brekkies: “The Gatherer” and “The Forager” pile on things like grilled haloumi butterbean hummus and grilled haloumi or there are Middle Eastern-style egg dishes. There’s a plate called “The Hunter”, too, if bacon and sausage are non-negotiable.
How much? “The Forager,”, £15.90; “The Hunter,” £17.90
When? Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, Sat 9am-4pm
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen
Full English or continental? Bacon and sausage are very much not on offer; shakshuka is likely to be the most familiar thing here, or there are cheese and pepper-topped pastries, and pita with tahini and fava beans.
How much? Shakshuka, £13; warm pitta with date molasses and tahini, £4.50
When? Mon-Sat 8.30-11.15am
Steven Joyce
The French might not be famous as a nation of breakfasters (not for nothing is le pétit dejeuner seen as diminutive to lunch) but this buzzy St James’s brasserie offers the best things about a Gallic breakfast (coffee and pastry) alongside French-accented interpolations like mushrooms on toast with pistou.
Full English or continental? Absolument an omelette (cheese, ham, smoked salmon), ideally preceded by some freshly baked pastries: pain au chocolat or Suisse or, of course, croissants with salty butter on the side. To drink, there’s a cafetiere of French press espresso.
How much? Omelettes from £12; croissant £5.50
When? Mon-Fri 7.30-11.30am, Sat 9-11.30am
Matt Writtle
The Pellicci these days are brother and sister Nev and Anna, above, though the memory of their grandparents Priamo and Elide (the namesake “E”) are as much a part of East End lore as the Kray twins and Ray Winstone (all one-time regulars). Seven tables seat 33 diners in a wood-panelled interior reputed to be the oldest café in the country (est. 1900).
Full English or continental? A full English all the way, the only choice being between meat and veggie versions and the portion size. Or the feted Big Bang sandwich.
How much? Full English breakfast from £13.40; vegetarian breakfast from £12.60; pancakes from £9.20
When? Mon-Fri 8am-3.30pm, Sat 8am-3pm
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd
Almost any smart hotel in central London will offer a slap-up feast for breakfast; Belgravia’s the Goring, with its royal warrant, is one fit for a king or queen. The hotel is the only London five-star still in family ownership, and the dining room is looking absolutely spiffing after a recent multi-million pound refurb.
Full English or continental? Full English; not only is the quality of ingredients unimpeachable, it comes with so many extras (juice, coffee, tea, toast and pastries), there’s no need to eat until suppertime.
How much? Full English breakfast, £39; à la carte items from £8
When? Mon-Fri 7-10am, Sat-Sun 7.30-10.30am
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There are some places which are so good and reliable, you find yourself returning again and again, and that’s 45 Jermyn Street, the Fortnum’s restaurant, for you. Even better in summer you can sit on the outside tables. The breakfast menu has all the things you want to eat, and then some. Orkney kipper? Tick (£16.75) Welsh rarebit? So good at breakfast, preferably with bacon (£10.25/£11.25). Full English breakfast (£22.50)? Excellent, obviously. And how about kedgeree? Yum. (£22.50). Last time I went I had a generous bacon sandwich, £10.50, with fine rashers. No finer way to start the day.
Full English or continental? Keep things British with classics of kedgeree or Orkney kippers: both healthier options than the crushed avocado with toast and Virgin Mary sauce, according to the menu’s calorie count.
How much? Full English breakfast, £22.50; kipper with lemon, £16.50; bacon sandwich, £9.50
When? Mon-Fri 7.30-11am, Sat-Sun 8-11am
The Table Café Southwark
“We brunch it best” is the motto of this South Bank favourite, which serves Aussie-style brunch classics (sweetcorn cakes, Buddha bowls, full veggies) as soon as it opens its doors for breakfast until mid-afternoon closing time. A sound choice before seeing a show at Tate Modern or a matinee at the Globe.
Full English or continental? This is not the place for light appetites; there is a full English, but pretty much everything comes as a very full plate: smoked ham hock and chorizo hash; fried chicken pancakes or waffles; bagels jammed with poached eggs, hollandaise and halloumi.
How much? Full English, £14.50; ham and chorizo hash, £13; sweetcorn cake, £12.50
When? Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, Sat-Sun 9am-4pm
Patricia Niven
One of the nicest things about eating in Tel Aviv is the breakfast scene of a city where no one seems to start work until midday and Jaffa oranges for fresh juice were first produced down the coast. Channel some of that sunny energy at this chicly modern Middle Eastern style café on one of London’s prettiest restaurant streets.
Full English or continental? Why choose anything? Order the “big breakfast” for the table to share and sit back for an avalanche of breads, dips and mezze followed by eastern Med egg dishes: shakshuka, bureka or sabicha. Otherwise, who needs toast when there’s warm fig, orange and walnut loaf with butter and marmalade?
How much? The Big Breakfast, £27.50; individual egg dishes, £17.50; fig loaf, £8.50; pastries from £4.80
When? Mon-Fri 8-11.30am, Sat 9-11.30am
The Park
Jeremy King pretty much invented the idea of breakfast as an event when he opened The Wolseley, above, in 2003; now the veteran restaurateur has sprinkled his stardust over west London at the Park, which looks like the poshest American diner imaginable. Come after an early-morning stroll around Kensington Gardens opposite (it’s dog-friendly by day).
Full English or continental? The continent in question here is North America, which means cinnamon buns or cream-cheese bagels, squishy French toast or stacks of buttermilk pancakes and, for any health-conscious Californians, a vegan-friendly coconut yoghurt chia pudding.
How much? Cinnamon bun, £6; buttermilk pancakes from £12.50; coconut yoghurt chia pudding, £9.25
When? Mon-Fri 7-11.30am, Sat-Sun 8-11.30am
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Famous as the restaurant where the signature dish is a smoked cod’s head, breakfast at Fallow is a little less confrontational, though no less creative. Summer mornings on the terrace are particularly nice, but big windows fill the room with light whatever the time of year.
Full English or continental? Continental, of sorts: the “royales” are a must, with various fillings (salmon or pork bellies, steak or sausage) dribbled with the likes of sriracha mayo and walnut ketchup and sandwiched in a pair of croissant rolls. Excellent UK ingredients include London honey with the granola and British dairy cow for the steak and eggs.
How much? Royales from £16; granola, £8; steak and eggs, £24
When? Mon-Fri 7.30-10.30am
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A first bricks-and-mortar site for sarnie sensation Bangers, with spartan furnishings aimed more at on-the-go City workers than remote-working Shoreditch creatives, though the no-frills surroundings should not suggest skimping on ingredients: the meat for the signature smashed sausage sandwiches comes from Lidgate butchers (Nigella’s favourite).
Full English or continental? Neither is on offer. Instead, chose from seven bacon, sausage or veggie sandwiches (freshly baked brioche or toasted English muffin) or Leon-like pots of salmon and avo or overnight oats.
How much? Egg and smashed sausage sandwich, £8.50; bacon butty, £7.50; granola and yoghurt pot, £4
When? Mon-Fri 7.30am-2.30pm, Sat-Sun 8.30-3.30pm
The Barlow Mow is a pub, but a very Mayfair one; there’s sports TV in the bar, but also etched glass and art-deco detailing and, in the white-tableclothed first-floor dining room where breakfast is served, a cabinet displaying a collection of Neal’s Yard cheese — no surprise when one learns that menus are overseen by chef-director Ben Tish, a mainstay of classy London restaurants for 20 years.
Full English or continental? The healthy option includes granola with Neal’s Yard Greek yoghurt, but when a breakfast menu includes items from the carvery — sugar pit-cured pork loin with Cacklebean eggs, potato rosti and English mustard hollandaise — resistance seems futile.
How much? Carvery specials, £22; granola, £9; full English, £18
Bar Bruno
A true bastion of old Soho, Bar Bruno is an Anglo-Italian cafe that serves the merriest of London, those who need filling up and filling up quickly. A fry up here goes some distance to assuaging even the most perilous of hangovers, though there ought to be consideration too for the bacon and egg ciabatta, where greasy bacon and floppy eggs bed themselves snugly into Italy’s newest bread.
Full English or Continental? A full English, or fry up, is the only choice here. But feel free to pick up cannoli for afterwards. Dip them in milky coffee outside if the weather is fine and watch Soho sail by.
How much? Between £12 and £15, depending on how many items are chosen, with a cup of tea.
Matt Writtle
Hoko conjures memories of Hong Kong, a city replete with noodle shops and open air food stalls and where breakfast is as important a meal in the city as any. Establishments in Hong Kong, called cha chaan teng, are likened to a greasy spoon or an American diner and have a telling aesthetic: bright, with plenty of plastic, and where food comes out quickly. Hoko transposes this to Brick Lane, bringing Asian-Western inflections on green and orange plates.
Full English or Continental? A fry up, though not as you know it. Set B, for example, is made up of satay beef noodles, fried ham — a la bacon — and egg as you like it. Set C combines char siu pork on macaroni with soft toasted bread and a fried egg.
How much? Around £14, though more with add-ons.
When: Weekends only, between 9-11.45am
Good game: Dosa and guinea fowl kari, coriander chutney, tomato chutney, coconut chutney
John Carey
Fine, not British per se, but Indian food is embedded into the country’s very fabric, and to that end an Indian breakfast is as British as most other things. Really, we should take better notice of breakfast as we do curries for dinner. Take the dosa, a South Indian speciality made with fermented and ground black lentils. This, a batter, is fried to become a thin and crispy pancake, which may be then filled with masala potatoes, cheddar, scrambled eggs, paneer and much more. Condiments bring excitement too, from chilli sauce to coriander chutney.
Full English or Continental? Neither. Get a dosa, or try idli with sambar (rice cake with fiery chilli sauce), or uttapham, which is a fermented rice pancake topped with tomatoes, onions, and chilli.
How much? Dosas start at £5.25, but you should try an assortment of breakfast items and snacks, which would probably take you to the £20 mark.
When? Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 11am
BAFTA
Did you know you could swan into the private Bafta club on Piccadilly and sit down to breakfast? Well you can, and it’s as grand and sumptuous as you might imagine. Though closed to the riff-raff from lunch time onwards, breakfast is open to all and is taken in a light-filled room with a glass-edged ceiling and a chef who’s been there for almost 20 years. Anton Manganaro has cooked for the stars, and will for you, whether you order a tremendous fried breakfast (take heed of the black pudding and bubble and squeak, served a la fritter) a sausage and duck egg muffin, or a well-spiced kedgeree.
Full English or Continental? Full English.
How much? You’ll be well sated for £20.
When? All week between 8-10am.
