The best breakfasts in London

Inspired by the year she spent in Copenhagen, Alex Hely-Hutchinson’s Covent Garden café serves up a range of wholesome porridges for breakfast, plus birchers and toasties for maximum hygge. The banana cacao oats make for an indulgent start to the day, but it’s the spinach porridge (topped with the holy Insta-trinity of avocado, sriracha and a fried egg) that’s the surprise winner. Clumsies should slurp their coffee with caution: the mugs are so Nordic-chic that they don’t have handles.

Don’t miss: Those egg-and-kale oats.

Breakfast for two (no service): around £20.

This cute Clerkenwell café’s secret weapon is its co-owner, a qualified nutritionist who wields her knowledge for noble ends: a healthy breakfast that also ticks the taste box. The massive full english is entirely oven-roasted and includes genuinely tasty, gluten-free toast, while the frittata muffins are each loaded with three eggs and daily changing extras. There’s a spread of cakes and pastries by the kitchen, too, so grab a seat at the back for drooling purposes.

Don’t miss: The mighty delicious smoothies. They’re heaving with ingredients, including almond butter, coconut (desiccated, milk, butter, oil and cream) manuka honey, maple syrup... we could go on.

Breakfast for two with service: around £40.

Come on Saturday if you want breakfast at this handsome Borough Market restaurant – it fills up pretty much as soon as the non-existent lunch bell chimes, but before then you can lounge on their comfy banquettes in peace. The menu is pure Levant: think za’atar spiced flatbreads, Turkish eggs and breakfast pide topped with sausage, peppers, eggs and halloumi – plus refreshing juices and cardamom-scented Turkish coffee.

Don’t miss: Eschew their Arabica fry-up in favour of a more unusual brekkie. The ‘ful medamas’ is a bowl of broad-bean stew topped with Beiruti falafel and served with flatbread.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

The breakfast menu at this lauded, lavish New York-style brasserie covers the usual eggs every which way (boiled with soldiers, florentine, pimped omelettes), to American-style pancakes and almond waffles. The full english breakfast costs £15.75, but if you’d prefer something a little lighter (actually, a lot lighter), porridge, fruit salad or granola are all good options.

Don’t miss: Get a £10 panier for the table filled with pastries and freshly baked bread. And don’t forget to visit the boulangerie on your way out.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

This most fashionable of London restaurants is virtually impossible to get a dinner reservation at, unless you’re an A-list celeb. However, it does breakfast from 7am-10.30am on weekdays. Be warned: prices are very high. Eggs benedict costs £18, granola is £11 and pancakes are £14 – but the dishes are all excellent. No bookings are taken, so arrive early – and smile!

Don’t miss: Kale, cucumber and apple juice backs up the supermodel ethos.

Breakfast for two with service: around £50.

This riverside joint near Tower Bridge has plenty going for it – ace aquatic views from the sunny south-facing terrace, a luxe brass wraparound bar, striking herringbone flooring – but the glam-but-chilled breakfast menu is one of its best features. The eggs line-up is benedict or kiln-smoked salmon royale, both served on toasted english muffins or waffles; while the virtuous ‘super bowl’ is a hefty helping of quinoa, almonds, avocado and citrus wedges.

Don’t miss: The opportunity to breakfast outside by the river, even if the weather sucks – in the winter Coppa Club installs weather-proof dining pods on the terrace, which are replaced with wooden cabana-style huts strewn with flowers for summer.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

Even at an early hour, the dark-panelled dining rooms of this ever-popular all-day Soho restaurant buzz with the animated chatter of media types. The smooth service eases things along nicely, too. It’s largely classics on the breakfast menu: eggs all ways, porridge, kedgeree, full english. There are fruit smoothies and Scots will be heartened to see tattie scones and lorne (square) sausage.

Don’t miss: The pineapple, mint and chilli smoothie is an exotic touch in such traditional surroundings.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

The Covent Garden branch of this Bombay-styled café is ideally placed for morning meetings but has enough colonial knick-knacks to make you feel a million miles away from London. The Parsi power breakfasts and gently spiced chai are a hit among the masses. Green-chilli-flecked scrambled eggs are just as popular – a warming plate with traditional (and fluffy) pau buns served on the side.

Don’t miss: The bacon naan roll is a cult favourite, and you can grab it and go if you’re not sticking around for an Indian feast.

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

If coffee and a doughnut is the way you start your day, treat yourself to an upgrade. To coffee and a Cronut. From Dominique Ansel Bakery, the London outpost of the NYC joint behind the cult pastry of the decade. You can get them to go (there’s no longer a crazy queue, it’s all very civilised), though if you have time to linger it’s worth perching up at the window for people-watching, or better yet (if it’s warm enough) on the slim pergola-shaded back terrace.

Don’t miss: The exceptional house-made granola, the lesser-known (but equally delicious) kouign-amann Breton cake or – if you’re eating in – the béchamel-slathered croque monsieur.

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

It may be a gluten-free zone, but this branch of the Beyond Bread Bakery is a rousing success – particularly if you roll up for breakfast (served till 3pm each day). Of course, you’ll be wanting some bread, and the staff of life is everywhere – from the toasted banana loaf with blueberries to the grilled halloumi with hummus on sourdough. The full English is a cracker too (with more of that sourdough toast, of course).

Don’t miss: The strawberry pancakes and the Nutella waffles, just for the hell of it.

Breakfast for two with service: around £20.

The brunch-style breakfast menu at this rustic gastropub by Parliament Hill Fields is short but enticing. You can go the light and virtuous route by ordering, say, vanilla yoghurt with poached strawberries and nut crumble, but the heartier options are pretty irresistible, too: wild mushrooms with poached eggs and hazelnuts on toast, say, or chorizo sausages with double fried eggs, avocado and a kick of chilli. Treat yourself to brekkie here before or after a long, vigorous walk on Hampstead Heath.

Don’t miss: The Full Bull: sausage, bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, tomato, fried egg and toast for just £10.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

Like its siblings on Exmouth Market and in the City, this branch of much-loved Caravan does a roaring trade, thanks to a menu that garners ideas from across the globe. One of the myriad attractions of the breakfast menu is its veggie-friendly attitude: it’s easy to avoid meat if you’re so inclined, with items such as jalapeño cornbread with fried eggs, black beans, avocado, chipotle and lime guaranteed to tempt even the most hardened carnivore.

Don’t miss: For a light snack, Caravan elevates the humble field mushroom on toast to something spectacular.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

Despite its off-the-beaten-track spot on a residential road in Highbury, Fink’s is almost always full – and it’s worth hanging around for a table. The trendy and very tempting menu is great value and offers dishes that you won’t find elsewhere – even the avocado on toast (a bargain at just £6) comes with harissa and goat’s cheese. Service can get a little flustered thanks to the place’s popularity but it’s friendly and food doesn’t suffer for it. A warning to breakfast traditionalists: the menu does not feature eggs. But there are plenty of excellent savouries to take their place, and piles of irresistible cakes on the counter for the walk home.

Don’t miss: The toasted banana bread with (drool!) biscuit butter.

Breakfast for two with service: around £20.

On the days when you wake up with only a headache and some freeze-dried instant coffee for company, what you need is a sanctuary. With its serene but welcoming atmosphere and short but tempting food menu – sweetcorn fritters with guacamole, bacon and eggs, or bacon and sausage sarnies with mango chutney and a fried egg – Franks will fix your day before it’s even had a chance to go wrong. Good coffee, efficient staff, a playlist full of songs you remember fondly and generous portions gently transform you from duvet zombie to chipper day-seizer with minimum fuss.

Don’t miss: Seasonal dishes such as pecorino and mascarpone polenta with ham, fried eggs and a mint, shallot and pea salsa.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

Popular with pram-wielders and laptop-crackers alike, the Haberdashery has a painstakingly assembled make-do-and-mend aesthetic, friendly service and knock-’em-dead breakfasts. The food is solid and traditional: wholesome cereals, english or veggie breakfasts, french toast with maple syrup and cinnamon-coated bananas, a breakfast baguette of scrambled egg, bacon, sausage and tomato jam – all well cooked and flavour-packed.

Don’t miss: The early-bird deal: any breakfast plus a hot drink for £9.95 (before 10am).

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

Open from early until late (except on Mondays), this Austrian café serves breakfast dishes all day. It can be a virtuous meal, as in the Viennese breakfast of semmel (bread rolls) with jam, honey, and hot or cold drinks. But there is also the celebrated bergkäse (mountain cheese) omelette, which diehard fans consider the only thing you should order here – the nutty flavour of the cheese makes it a truly memorable dish.

Don’t miss: That bergkäse omelette. Bring on the morning cheese sweats!

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

The Dualit toasters on each table have been a feature ever since this enduringly popular hotspot opened. But really, with a breakfast menu this intriguing, why would you go for toast that you can just as easily make at home? Ottolenghi has put shakshuka, the North African dish of eggs, peppers and tomatoes, on London’s culinary map; and it’s raised baked beans to glorious heights in dishes with chunks of ham hock and fried eggs. This is probably what your first breakfast in heaven tastes like.

Don’t miss: Shakshuka at its best.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

Ignore the name of this Islington hangout: frankly, any day of the week works for us. The breakfast menu is a world of stomach-rumble-inducing indecision, the prices are low, the service is great and the food is magnificent. Sugar-dusted, fruit-filled french toast drizzled with salted-caramel sauce; perfectly ripe avocados with labneh, tabbouleh, poached eggs and harissa; waffles topped with pulled pork and yuzu hollandaise… basically anything your morning belly could want is on there. And it’s all nearly too big to finish. Nearly.

Don’t miss: The pancakes if you’re sweet-toothed; the corn fritters if you’re not.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

Despite its focus on superfoods, Andina also works wonders on the indulgent breakfast front. Alongside nut-laced chia seed puddings and seasonal quinoa-filled granolas sit the likes of sweet-potato pancakes topped with spiced honey, fruit and whipped coconut cream, or soft baps filled with confit pork belly – a South American take on the bacon roll. If you accidentally pig out, balance the books with a colourful superfood smoothie.

Don’t miss: Nibble a chia seed, cocoa-and-hazelnut milk and blueberry pudding if you’re feeling dainty; wolf the fried iberico pork with cauliflower-cream if you’ve got something to prove.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

An all-encompassing warehouse space with a wildly distracting open kitchen, this Hackney hangout is big on breakfast. There’s something for everyone here, whether you crave meaty pork and leek sausages in a fry-up, blueberry muffins, sweetcorn fritters with avocado purée or a bowl of health-giving homemade granola with chia seeds, Greek yoghurt and berries.

Don’t miss: Veggie and vegan classics with a twist: ‘beans on toast’ means a stew of smoky cannellini beans piled on garlicky sourdough.

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

The richly indulgent breakfast menu here has it all: English fry-ups, shakshuka and South American-style scrambled eggs, plus a waffle section owned by the signature duck ’n’ waffle – crispy duck leg confit on a sweet waffle, topped with a fried duck egg and mustard maple syrup. Temptation abounds: truffled and baked duck eggs are served with wild mushrooms, lots of melted gruyère and toast soldiers, while drinks options include cocktails, bubbly and hot chocolate.

Don’t miss: You literally cannot miss those views. Say good morning to the whole of the city.

Breakfast for two with service: around £50.

Jago is an all-day café (weirdly closed at weekends, when Brick Lane is at its busiest), but is at its best for breakfast, when light streams into the lovely conservatory. Eggy breakfast dishes from the short and surprisingly inexpensive menu include them poached with avocado, yoghurt and chilli butter; broken and spiked with ’nduja and tomatoes; and softly scrambled then topped with smoked salmon. There’s good coffee and fresh orange juice, too.

Don’t miss: The super-healthy cold-pressed juices will set you up for the day.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

Lucky, lucky ducks. Not only do the web-footed locals of Victoria Park have a gorgeous lake (complete with nesting islands, pagoda and splendid domed café) to swim in, they also get to snack on some of the best artisanal bread of any park café in London, baked in-house by the Pavilion team for its trendy all-day crowd (breakfast is served from 8am-3pm). The bread is put to good use for humans, too, in calorifically exuberant breakfasts such as the veggie barnstormer with homemade baked beans, fried mushrooms, fried eggs, avocado and halloumi. Tea and coffee are also first-rate.

Don’t miss: Sri-Lankan-influenced breakfast specials, such as curried poached eggs served with dhal, noodles and hoppers.

Breakfast for two with service: around £20.

Following the dramatic demolition of its premises on Amhurst Road in 2014, Rawduck is now quacking away merrily in its new home on Richmond Road. Breakfast (10am-noon) is a double-decker, split into ‘toasts, fruits and cereals’ (sourdough crumpets with Westcombe cheddar and lime pickle, say) and various eclectic egg-based dishes such as brown rice and miso porridge with kombu and poached egg. The food is backed by Rawduck’s trademark homemade drinks and fermentations.  

Don’t miss: The potable vinegars made with seasonal fruits – a zingy wake-up call.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

For the most part, the Spitalfields offshoot of Fergus Henderson’s pioneering, clattery nose-to-tail joint replicates the Smithfield original in miniature, but it’s got an early morning advantage over its alma mater: breakfast. It’s marvellous – a gutsy trip through trad classics such as devilled kidneys, ‘Scotch woodcock’ (toast with scrambled eggs and gentleman’s relish) and slabs of just-crisp blood pudding with house brown sauce. Even the granola – topped with poached apricots and rich yoghurt – is ace. Plus, there’s seed cake and madeira for the lushes. Historic stuff. 



Don’t miss: The smoky, superior bacon sandwich, slathered in homemade ketchup. God’s own sarnie.



Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

Breakfast (from 10am) is strictly of the ‘late’ variety at this all-day eatery from the guys behind the now-glorious Sebright Arms in Bethnal Green. Order at the counter from a menu that spans everything from Greek yoghurt with granola or avocado on toasted sourdough with pea shoots to shakshuka, mushroom vegan balls and the full works – a free-wheeling combo of poached eggs, avocado, chipotle-baked beans, fried potatoes and padrón peppers, plus Cumberland sausage if you need a meaty hit.    

Don’t miss: The delicious hangover-curing kedgeree – or its fish-free cousin ‘vegeree’.

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

A blast of Aussie sunshine in leafy Kew, Antipodea’s brekkie menu is packed with good stuff. Vegemite soldiers with your boiled eggs? Of course. Avo on everything? You bet. The treacle-cured bacon is the stuff of dreams, while eggs can be enjoyed every which way: benedict, Turkish, florentine, folded with chorizo. We salute the kitchen’s fondness for gruyère cheese too. It’s part of the Brew Café mini-chain, so expect a decent flat white on top of all that.

Don’t miss: The Melt, with ham, gruyère, poached eggs and pesto on toasted pide.

Breakfast for two with service: around £45.

Yep, it’s more sourdough. But bear with us, because Brick House is East Dulwich’s favourite breakfast spot precisely because of the quality of that award-winning bread – trust us, there aren’t many places where we’d queue just for the toast (which is served with vats of salty butter and homemade strawberry-vanilla jam). Its loaves are the unashamed stars of the simple breakfast menu, but you can still start the day here with pukka ham, egg and avocado combinations, or one of the delectable pastries – plus excellent coffee.

Don’t miss: The rum-laced, frangipane-topped Bostock brioche. Oh, and buy a loaf of the Peckham Rye on your way out.

Breakfast for two with service: around £20.

This buzzing Brooklyn-style café and cocktail bar in Balham comes courtesy of three school besties, who serve hip breakfast dishes with a side of silky smooth coffee. There’s inspiration here from all corners of the world, from poached-egg-topped courgette and feta fritters served with avocado and kale, to turmeric-tinged breakfast bowls heaving with chia seeds, nuts and fresh fruit, or salt beef and slaw-filled bagels.

Don’t miss: The Brother Special features scrambled eggs with beetroot-cured smoked salmon, and asparagus.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

This Herne Hill hotspot is the perfect place to load up on calories after a brisk morning swim – though you can eat here even if you haven’t braved a dip. Meaty and veggie full englishes take pride of place on the short brekkie menu; other popular choices with locals include huevos rancheros spiced up with chargrilled chorizo, and porridge with chocolate, bananas and hazelnuts. If you don’t want to undo all the good work from your morning plunge, plump for the granola made with goji berries and quinoa.

Don’t miss: The stonking Strongman’s Breakfast, loaded with all the fry-up must-haves, including lashings of black pudding. You’ll be done for the rest of the day.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

If your idea of a gentle awakening in the morning is a nice cup of tea listening to Radio 2, you’d better go elsewhere – you can hear the sound of deep house coming through Milk’s open french windows before you even reach this Bedford Hill joint. The coffee provides a good caffeine kick – Workshop always seems to feature among its suppliers – and the menu lists some interesting hot dishes, such as baked eggs with new-season asparagus.

Don’t miss: Buckwheat pancakes with all kinds of heavenly toppings (such as summery strawberries with wild woodruff, elderflower cream and almonds).

Breakfast for two with service: around £25.

A word-of-mouth favourite of Southwark Street’s many jobbing architects, journos and early rising tourists, The Table is an ace little spot for grab-and-go coffees, pastries and superlative sandwiches. It’s also a fine place to dine in, with a wider brekkie menu heavy on eggs, avocado and pancakes, as well as a vaunted vegan riff on a full english and clean-leaning pots of flaxseed granola and yogurt-infused chia with strawberries and poached rhubarb. More ‘old-school’ morning meetings could – should! – be bolstered with a breakfast cocktail.

Don’t miss: The takeaway breakfast sarnies. The ‘Early Bird’ of streaky bacon, fried egg and tomato jam on sourdough is a caff classic, elevated.

Breakfast for two with service: around £40.

Yes, Farmacy is vegan friendly, and yes, dishes are free from dairy, refined sugar, additives and other nasties. But no, it’s not at all preachy and its dishes are properly delicious. Breakfast here sets you up right for the day, with superfood smoothies, probiotic parfait jars and detox juices. The ‘protein omelette’ is our fave – a moreish chickpea pancake stuffed with roasted butternut squash, spinach, avo and tomato jam.

Don’t miss: Farmaceutical syringe shots to kickstart your day.

Breakfast for two with service: around £55.

It’s all about the all-day brekkie at this sweet Portobello Road café, but if you’re after a greasy fry-up, forget it – this place offers more wholesome deliciousness. If you’re into clean starts, wolf down one of their superfood-stacked dishes, from millet porridge, to acai bowls, to granola with coconut yoghurt. Slightly naughtier are the berry pancakes (made with buckwheat flour) or the three-egg omelette (cooked in coconut oil).

Don’t miss: Delicious lattes infused with everything from rosewater to turmeric to activated charcoal.

Breakfast for two with service: around £35.

Bill Granger has built a TV cooking career out of selling the Aussie dream: his London brasseries nail the concept with lots of sunlight, a casual vibe and easygoing photogenic dishes. You can go as healthy or as hedonistic as you like here: from one extreme (brioche buns stuffed with bacon and chilli-flecked fried eggs, washed down with an espresso, avocado and vanilla ice-cream frappé) to the other (chia seed pots topped with pomegranate and coconut yoghurt, with a green juice on the side). Everything is utterly yummy.

Don’t miss: The signature dish of ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter – cloud-like lightness.

Breakfast for two with service: around £45.

This bustling Sicilian café, with its perfectly formed pastries, posh cereal bowls and virtuous egg-based breakfasts, is a regular South Kensington stopping point for well-heeled local maters and their kids en route to the local prep school. Interior design nuts will swoon over the patterned pottery and vibrant colour palette, while the rest of us can just enjoy a serious slice of la bella vita at surprisingly un-SW7 prices, complete with iced coffee that comes in a martini glass and an array of hand-pressed exotic juices.

Don’t miss: Fresh cannoli – they come served on a platter with bowls of various nuts for dipping.

Breakfast for two with service: around £30.

Breakfast might look like an afterthought on The Ivy Kensington Brasserie’s all-day dining menu, but despite the less-than-imaginative options, you’re guaranteed to get impeccable food for a bright start to your day out west. Luxurious dishes such as the lobster benedict on brioche are highlights and really play to the westside London crowd.

Don’t miss: The Garden Breakfast is a lovely veggie twist on a full English.

Breakfast for two with service: around £40.

If you want to do more than a caffeine cut and run, sneak into a space at one of the tables and the staff will bring you own-made granola or pancakes, eggs on sourdough toast and other goodies, piled on to cutesy mismatched vintage crockery. A couple of simple hotplates behind the cake-laden counter do the job of a kitchen, making the poached eggs on avocado-spread bread with a mound of smoked salmon an even more impressive achievement.

Don’t miss: Any of the avocado dishes are champion here.

Breakfast for two with service: around £20.