Where to have brunch in London
London is arguably peerless for its variety and quality of restaurants, but we still don’t quite do brunch or even breakfast with the panache of our transatlantic or antipodean cousins. But a handful of places are closing the gap, and if you’re looking to enjoy a leisurely, luxurious brunch over a lazy Easter weekend, here’s where to find it
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Central
The Breakfast Club
‘The little yellow café in Soho' dishes up grub throughout the day, but, as its name suggests, is mostly committed to top-notch, restorative breakfasts. The umpteen variations on American, English and Continental favourites include a veggie full English, a bacon, brie and maple syrup toasted sandwich, or, for the more calorie-conscious, good old Special K with freshly squeezed OJ.
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Christopher's
This upmarket Covent Garden restaurant styles itself an American bar and grill, so a first-rate, wide-ranging brunch menu is de rigueur. There's all kinds of fruit, granola, light salads, blueberry pancakes, French toast and bagels, eggs every which way, and more substantial dishes such as steak, eggs and fries.
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Dehesa
Soho's brilliant Spanish-Italian tapas bar-restaurant opens early for brunch. Think prosciutto with fresh figs, scrambled duck eggs with morcilla or churros with thick hot chocolate. If you're lucky (or early) you might just nab one of the two leather-backed window seats.
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| The Diner |
The Diner
Fun is key at this updated US diner in Soho, but food is taken seriously. Roadside recipes from across the pond are impeccably rendered: at brunch it's waffles with bacon and swiss cheese; French toast, eggs Benedict or Royale; Mexican breakfast; omelettes; or the monstrous Hungry Man breakfast which contains just about everything. The original branch is on Curtain Road in Shoreditch.
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Inn the Park
Oliver Peyton's underground retreat in St James's Park serves up a superb breakfast menu until 11am. Traditional British brekkie is the focus: there's a full English (plus, uniquely, a choice of several kinds of artisan bacon, sausages, black pudding and eggs), and kedgeree or kippers. There's also a couple of lighter options (fruit, muesli, porridge) and a very impressive range of juices.
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National Café
Where better to start a day's shopping or sightseeing in town than at the National Gallery's smart, high-ceilinged brasserie. Until noon there's a concise brunch menu that ticks off fresh fruit, yoghurt and granola, pastries and muffins, French toast, pancakes and maple syrup, various egg ensembles and a full English.
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Number Twelve
This welcoming, stylish hotel restaurant could teach most of its soulless, corporate rivals a thing or two. Head chef Santino Busciglio has just added a Sunday brunch menu to his Italian-influenced repertoire. Top-quality ingredients sing out in dishes such as boiled eggs with asparagus soldiers, soft-poached duck egg with pancetta or boudin and wild mushrooms, and there are salads, soups, seafood dishes and Sunday roasts.
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| Providores & Tapa Room |
Providores & Tapa Room
Kiwi chef Peter Gordon's Marylebone eatery is probably famed more than anything else for the exquisite brunch menu offered in the downstairs Tapa Room. Inventive, wide-ranging, universally delicious, it shows how one-dimensional our traditional British breakfasts are. Dishes include sweetcorn and blueberry fritters with avocado, tomato and rocket salad, a salad of kiwi fruit, grapefruit, grape, pineapple and melon with vanilla-poached figs, brown rice, apple, maple syrup and miso porridge with quince compote and many more.
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The Wolseley
The breakfast menu at the grand-looking brasserie on Piccadilly offers pastries, fruit, juices, a full English, and lots of eggy variations until 11.30am; from 11.30am there's an all-day menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, big dishes and still more eggs.
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North
Camino
Churros, Continental pastries, omelettes and bikinis (ham and cheese toasties) are among the simple but authentic morning munchies served from 8am at the Spanish bar-restaurant in King's Cross. The secluded, sunny courtyard is the best place to sit, weather permitting.
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S&M Café
Everyone knows and loves the retro S&M café for its bangers and mash; it's less often lauded for its hearty breakfast menu, centred around combos of sausage, bacon, egg, tomato, beans, bubble & squeak and so on. Or be more fancy with eggs Benedict, but definitely wash it down with a cup of good old PG tips.
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South
Harrison's
Balham's erstwhile, easygoing Balham Kitchen and Bar may have been taken over and renamed, but it's still pretty much business at usual, much to locals' delight. In fact, the menu's been improved in the changeover, with a new chef. Brunch ranges from grapefruit or porridge through to buttermilk pancakes with blueberries or smoked salmon with rösti and poached egg, as well as a splendid list of daytime options such as crab cakes with aioli and a cheeseburger.
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Normanby
A mainly savoury brunch menu is dished up at weekends at this stylish but comfortably pub-brasserie, a few minutes off the main drag in Putney. Think pint of prawns, wild mushrooms on bloomer, eggs Benedict, plus more substantial main courses – all cooked diligently and served with a smile.
Tate Modern Café: Level 2
Prepare for a day's heavy culture with brunch at Tate Modern's second-level café, which enjoys sensational views over the river. Healthy, fresh, veggie-friendly dishes are the mainstay (eg grilled polenta with wild mushrooms, spinach and parmesan) but there's also more breakfast-oriented fare (organic muffins, sausage ciabatta).
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| Smiths of Smithfield |
East
Ambassador
We love Exmouth Market's bar-café-restaurant Ambassador at all times of day – and brunch is no exception. Brilliant bloody Marys are a good way to kick off, followed by maple-syrup or banana-and-mascarpone waffles for the sweet-toothed, or fantastic eggs Benedict, perhaps, for a bigger salt hit. The alfresco tables out front are highly coveted in good weather.
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Rivington Bar & Grill
The breakfast menu at this fine brasserie (which has two branches, one in Shoreditch, the other in Greenwich) is short, sweet and very British. The finest ingredients are combined to make luxury version of old favourites such as beans on toast, egg and soldiers (made here with a duck egg) or an English breakfast.
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Smiths of Smithfield
The more casual ground floor of this three-storey multi-purpose barn of a bar and restaurant is the place to lounge around on sofas and enjoy a restorative brunch. More healthily, there's porridge, muesli and fruit; or go for mushrooms, smoked salmon, eggs or bacon on (or in) toast. Or there's the English breakfast, served throughout the day.
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Zetter
The airy, light-filled dining room of the Zetter hotel makes a great place for a sophisticated brunch, even if it is pricey. A full English is £16.50; the Continental buffet offers better value at £12.50; or go for something smaller like toasted bagel with avocado, pancetta and mozzarella; or pancakes with banana and maple syrup. In good weather you can sit in the cobbled courtyard outside.
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| A full English breakfast is perfect for brunch |
West
Electric Brasserie
When the sun's shining, few spots beat the Electric Brasserie's alfresco patio right on Portobello Road. The morning menu covers the whole gamut of breakfasts: go for porridge and prunes with brown sugar and milk, or fruit with honey and greek yoghurt, or defeat a hangover with a full English, eggs Benedict, or their brethren.
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Sam's Brasserie
The spacious, laidback, exceedingly amenable Sam's is a long-time favourite both of Time Out and of local residents. The comprehensive weekend brunch menu caters to all appetites and predilections: fruit salad for something light and sweet; eggs Benedict to fight a hangover; Spanish charcuterie with pickles for a salty, gastronomic snack; Cornish crab with avocado and lemon mayo for a hit of fresh seafood; even steak, chips and béarnaise for a red-blooded fill-me-up.
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Feature by Andrew Staffell. Photography Ming-Tang Evans (The Diner: Britta Jaschinski)
