Restaurants

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East

The Counter Café

The Bruncheon Club
You don’t book a seat at this brunch-based twist on an underground restaurant, you ‘join’ the ‘club’. You don’t get your own table, you pull up a seat with five other guests. And instead of being served in a typical restaurant setting, brunch is dished up in a spacious, elegant Hackney flat (or the quaintly scruffy garden if the weather holds). Bruncheon Club’s USP is to provide a fun communal dining experience that’s as much about making new acquaintances as it is tasting new flavours. But fortunately, the food’s a triumph too. Highlights from our set menu included a fiery, horseradish-packed Bloody Mary and a rich eggs royale, whose firm, perfectly formed poached duck eggs hail from Spitalfields City Farm. Getting in can prove a challenge, with flatmates Maya and Gregg running the club on a sporadic basis, and a capacity of six per sitting. But if it were run as a more regimented operation, it wouldn’t have the same homely charm. Book early, by email (thebruncheonclub@gmail.com).
A secret location in E8 (www.thebruncheonclub.blogspot.com). Hackney Central rail. Brunch served 11am-1pm, 2-5pm Sun (sporadically). Suggested contribution for breakfast for two with service: £24. Feature continues

The Counter Café
A light industrial estate where the Hertford Union Canal meets the Lee Navigation, opposite the Olympic Stadium – not the first bit of London you’d think of when looking for a buzzy café, but this once-unloved brick bungalow is terrific. It has been decorated unfussily but with care: rough holes through the interior wall open the counter up to the main room, airline seats face out to the street, tables on the pavement and out back catch any lingering sunshine. Hot dishes come off a short blackboard list, accompanied by less impressive pastries from self-serve baskets. The £8 Big Breakfast provides sausage, thick bacon cooked soft but with a bit of crunch, firm toast, eggs ‘as you like’ (in our case, scrambled to lazy perfection), plus a few garlicky twists: own-made potato cake, beans baked to sweetness with herby tomatoes, a ramekin of super-concentrated sauce. Antipodeans wield the serving spoons, so you get own-made ANZAC biscuits and properly punchy coffee; tea isn’t such a priority (our ‘green and jasmine’ came with a jug of milk).
The Counter Café, 4a Roach Rd, E3 2PA (07952 696 388/www.thecountercafe.co.uk). Hackney Wick tube/rail or 488 bus. Breakfast served 7.30am-5pm Mon-Wed, Fri; 7.30am-11pm Thur; 8.30am-5pm Sat; 9:30am-5pm Sun. Breakfast for two with service: around £16.

Also east...

Albion at the Boundary Project
Albion recently won the Best New Cheap Eats category of the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards. Terence Conran’s take on a traditional caff offers a nostalgic, fancy-free, all-day menu that includes breakfast baps, devilled kidneys and a full English.
Albion at the Boundary Project, 2-4 Boundary St, E2 7DD (7729 1051/www.albioncaff.co.uk). Liverpool St tube/rail. Breakfast served 8am-midnight daily. Breakfast for two with service: around £18.

L’Epicerie 56
This deli-café offers handy grab-and-go breakfast options such as daisy-fresh pastries or Moroccan wraps. The coffee is excellent.
L’Epicerie 56, 56 Chatsworth Rd, E5 0LS (7503 8172/www.lepicerie56.com). Hackney rail or 242 bus. Breakfast served 8.30am-7.30pm Mon-Fri; 8.30am-5.30pm Sat, Sun.

Leila’s Shop
This quirky café-deli has recently expanded into the former shop premises next door, thereby doubling in size. It serves a small, changing menu of simple yet classy dishes. Breakfast options might include fried eggs with serrano ham, or muesli with yoghurt and maple syrup.
Leila's Shop, 17 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP (7729 9789). Old St tube/rail. Breakfast served 10am-6pm Mon-Sat; 10am-5pm Sun. Breakfast for two with service: around £18.

Lower East
With its widescreen views of the Thames’s stately sweep eastwards, this NYC-styled eatery’s patio seating provides a great spot for a scenic outdoor brunch. Portion sizes are variable, with eggs Benedict gargantuan while the full English is disappointingly flimsy. And if the brackish, watery latte we sampled is anything to go by, stick to the filter coffee. But if in doubt, ask the staff. On our visit, they proved refreshingly candid in their recommendations.
Lower East, 28 Westferry Circus, E14 8RR (7536 2862/www.lowereast.co.uk). Canary Wharf tube/DLR or Westferry DLR. Breakfast served 7am-noon Mon-Fri. Brunch served 10am-4pm Sat, Sun. Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

The Pavilion Café
Situated picturesquely next to Victoria Park lake, this café is run by a tea merchant and an Australian chef. It serves an impressive range of rare teas and a top-notch farmhouse breakfast.
The Pavilion Café, Victoria Park, E9 5DU (8908 0030/www.the-pavilioncafe.com). Hackney Wick or Homerton rail. Breakfast served 8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri; 8.30am-5pm Sat, Sun. Breakfast for two with service: around £14.

St John Bread & Wine
The more informal sister restaurant to chef Fergus Henderson’s properly British St John in Farringdon sticks to the same recipe of great and often overlooked ingredients served with a minimum of fuss. This philosophy carries through to the stripped-down white walls and the bare wooden tables. The breakfast menu is similarly minimal, and offers a chalked-up choice of just a few items: porridge with prunes, yoghurt with figs, or brioche and fruit, for example. Although £5.40 might seem expensive for a bacon sandwich, it’s from Gloucester Old Spot pigs, served on slabs of St John’s own bakery’s exemplary bread with a pot of own-made ketchup. We also tried and loved pikelets (fat, sweet little pancakes) with strawberry jam. The tea is loose, the fruit juice is freshly squeezed and the only thing letting it down on our visit was some very sleepy service – it’s not nice watching 11 staff members tuck into their staff meal nearby while your own empty plates lie ignored on the table.
St John Bread & Wine, 94-96 Commercial St, E1 6LZ (7251 0848/www.stjohnbreadandwine.com). Liverpool St tube/rail. Breakfast served 9-11am Mon-Fri; 10-11am Sat, Sun. Breakfast for two with service: around £15.

The Luxe
The new sister to Smiths of Smithfield, John Torode’s latest bar-café-restaurant has an airy ground-floor dining room with tables spilling over into Old Spitalfields Market. In addition to big fry-ups, eggs Benedict, porridge and blueberry pancakes, there is a juice bar squeezing out ‘acid drops’ (melon, pineapple, apple and ginger), ‘veggie breakfasts’ (carrot, apple, tomato, celery, coriander and ginger) and more.
The Luxe, 109 Commercial St, E1 6BG (7101 1751/www.theluxe.co.uk). Liverpool St tube/rail or Aldgate East tube. Breakfast served 8am-5pm Mon-Fri; 9.30am-5pm Sat, Sun. Breakfast for two with service: around £16.

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