London’s best brunches

Brunch at Antipodea is an Aussie affair. Sipping your flat white in the conservatory-style dining room, you could almost be in Melbourne. Apart from, you know, the British weather. The line-up includes a huge selection of eclectic treats: all manner of eggs (poached, Turkish, folded with chorizo, soft-boiled with Marmite soldiers), plus treacle-cured bacon sarnies, acai smoothie bowls, sweetcorn fritters, coconut and chia pudding and more besides. There’s an offshoot in Richmond.

Don’t miss: The brew melt (ham, gruyère, vine tomato, poached eggs and pesto served in a toasted pide).

Brunch for two with service: Around £35.

Aussie brunch runs every day at Beany Green in Broadgate Circle, where the killer menu spans everything from shakshuka with charcoal toast to coconut tapioca pudding. Their ‘fancy’ bacon roll includes Holy Fuck hot sauce in hollandaise form, and of course they slice and dice avocado every which way. If this brunch spot doesn’t have you feeling sunny, we don’t know what will. Also try the other branches in Little Venice and Regent’s Place.

Don’t miss: The banana bread sandwich, piled with mascarpone, berries, honey and almonds.

Brunch for two with service: Around £30 (‘bottomless parties’ £39.50 pp).

Berber’s sexy low lighting eases you gently into the day ahead and the smoky, meaty smells snap you right back to your senses, so cosy up on a banquette and enjoy. There’s plenty for carnivores to love here (the mangal breakfast sharer is a meat-fest), but veggies can feel just as satisfied with a plate of ‘campfire’ Moroccan pancakes loaded with quince, sweet labneh and pecans or a ‘full Israeli’ mezze-style breakfast for two.

Don’t miss: The sweet and spicy harissa bloody mary.

Brunch for two with service: Around £40.

Diners will struggle to choose just one of the enticing cooked brunches on offer at this cheery Covent Garden café – there’s brioche French toast, toasted granola, crispy confit duck hash and even bubble and squeak. High-quality, fresh ingredients and ample portions justify its pricing, and attention to detail is a strong point – look out for the cucumber-infused tap water. Piles of arty magazines and a super-soulful soundtrack make it far too easy to spend all day here. There’s a branch in Sloane Square, too.

Don’t miss: The signature hashes – perhaps wild mushroom and crispy polenta or salt beef with spinach and green tomato chutney.

Brunch for two with service: Around £35.

Brunch is served every day of the week (from 9am Mon-Fri; 9.30am Sat; 10am Sun) at Green Lanes’ Blend, which explains why it’s usually filled with local mums and their nippers. Keep your brekkie simple with a ham and cheese croissant or superfood-filled porridge, or live it large with amaretto-laced French toast or a full-on fry-up. The convivial daytime vibe is aided by pretty pendant lighting and lovely works of art on the walls. Service can slow a bit at busier times, but Aussie coffee will make the wait pleasurable.

Don’t miss: Treat your kids to the ‘toddler-approved’ mini menu – the lovely early-day options are cheap as chips.

Brunch for two with service: Around £25.

From the outside this black-painted building looks rather severe, but step inside and suddenly you’re in a bright and airy space that feels more like colonial-era Delhi than modern-day Clerkenwell. This is the place for an elegant yet laid-back Saturday brunch. The food is very good too: their huevos benedictos are a perfect balance of spicy chorizo and creamy béarnaise sauce, while the gluten-free pancakes with toasted hazelnuts and caramelised banana are an indulgent treat that veers close to pudding territory.

Don’t miss: The house bellini and other treats from the stunning cocktail list – the guys at B&H were among the first to bring the New York trend of bottomless brunching to our fair shores.

Brunch for two with service: Around £35 (without cocktails).

This buzzing Brooklyn-style café and cocktail bar in Balham comes courtesy of three school besties, who serve hip weekend brunches alongside gallons of silky-smooth coffee. The brunch menu has something for everyone, from sticky pastries and fruit-topped cereals to eggs most ways, but also check out ‘Bob’s Your Uncle’ (pork belly, fried egg, cucumber, spring onion, sriracha and tomato relish). There are other branches in Angel and Spitalfields.

Don’t miss: ‘Step Sister’ (sweet potato, courgette and feta fritters with kale and turmeric yoghurt).

Brunch for two with service: Around £25.

The grown-up Chelsea sibling of Marylebone’s Pachamama, Chicama is all about seafood served with oodles of local pizzazz. Weekend brunch (11am-4pm) mixes contemporary Peruvian small plates, such as sea bream ceviche, with specials ranging from sweetcorn pancakes with crab and ají amarillo hollandaise to fish brioche buns with spiced red cabbage. Chicama’s flirty young staff, bubbly vibes and deep Latin beats are guaranteed to set your pulse racing.

Don’t miss: The tapioca marshmallows (listed as a snack).

Brunch for two with service: Around £35.

You know about The Palomar and The Barbary – well, this King’s Cross beauty comes from the same crew, and it doesn’t disappoint. Weekend brunch (10am-3.30pm) follows the house style, so expect revved-up riffs highlighting the flavours of modern Jerusalem: Machneyuda’s polenta with asparagus, mushroom ragout and parmesan (a must-order); josperised aubergine with green tahini; ‘Shikshukit 2.0’ (two dense lamb kebabs on soft pitta). Thrilling food served in a killer space designed by co-owner Tom Dixon.

Don’t miss: The nibbles – perhaps a lion’s gate pretzel with green harissa or a ‘pizza from the past’.

Brunch for two with service: Around £40.

A spin-off from Peckham’s popular Mr Bao, this hip Asian hangout is a dark, buzzy, atmospheric spot dedicated to fluffy Taiwanese buns and more. Weekend brunch (11am-4pm) is served alongside the regular menu, and there’s some classic stuff on show – including two bao benedict dishes and a ‘Full Taiwanese’ – a spring onion pancake, Taiwanese sausage, smoked bacon, Asian beans, spiced eggs and a bao bun. This big Daddy is also cheap, great fun and really friendly.

Don’t miss: The braised tofu and kimchi bao from the regular menu.

Brunch for two with service: £20 (plus £18 for a bottomless hour).

Sipping a gloriously red blood-orange bellini just out of reach of Carnaby Street’s weekend crowds is enough to make you feel like Dehesa is your own little secret. This calm and classy dining room serves a Spanish-style brunch that’s a far cry from your trad Brit offerings. Sweet options include waffles topped with caramelised apples and whipped yoghurt, while savoury pulls such as grilled Mahón cheese with roasted tomatoes, potato cake and chargrilled courgettes are the sorts of dishes that are just made for brunch.

Don’t miss: Whatever they’ve made with chorizo. Always choose the chorizo.

Brunch for two with service: Around £30.

Dominique Ansel Bakery should really rename itself MTJC: More Than Just Cronuts. The London outpost of the NYC joint behind the cult croissant-doughnut-combo also does a mean line in brunch – not just patisserie and proper puds but savoury stuff too (think double-dipped buttermilk chicken sandwiches, Basque shakshuka, lobster rolls and ham hock muffins). Be sure to go on a warm day, so you can sit on the slim pergola-shaded back terrace (easily the nicest spot) and feast on the sensational, béchamel-slathered croque monsieur.

Don’t miss: That legendary croque. Sooo good.

Brunch for two with service: Around £35

If you think the main menu at this City high-flier is rich, wait until you encounter its weekend brunch. The line-up covers English-style fry-ups, Belgian waffles and the signature duck ’n’ waffle (crispy duck-leg confit topped with a fried duck egg and mustard maple syrup). Plus spiced ox-cheek doughnuts, foie gras crème brûlée and baked duck eggs with wild mushrooms, melted gruyère and soldiers. Prices are also sky-high – but here, it’s a clear case of go big or go home.

Don’t miss: Those views. Say good morning to the whole of the city. 

Brunch for two with service: Around £50.

Airy, elegant and laid-back, Farmacy has ‘meet me for brunch’ stamped all over its chic interior. The free-from menu suits vegans, vegetarians and anyone avoiding gluten or dairy. But, happily, ‘no additives’ doesn’t mean ‘no taste’. In fact, dishes such as sweet potato cakes and calzone are packed with flavour and interesting textures. Stylish salads and hearty ‘earth bowls’ sit beside brunch classics including the (meat-free) English breakfast.

Don’t miss: The Farmacy burger – trust us, you won’t miss the meat.

Brunch for two with service: Around £60.

Despite its low-key location – a residential stretch between Stroud Green and Crouch End – this neighbourhood eatery is always abuzz with local punters, many of whom come for the all-day brunch offer (9am-5pm). There’s steak and eggs for the carnivores, a ‘full vegan’ for the flesh avoiders and comfort food for everyone else – think homemade granola with hung yoghurt, pancakes with maple syrup, a chuck burger with fries or chicken and avocado salad. Sandwiches, jackets, cakes and pastries provide the back-up.

Don’t miss: The mushroom and potato rösti with poached egg, labneh and chilli.  

Brunch for two with service: Around £30.

If your idea of brunch is a virtuous bowl of granola or some sort of chia seed concoction, you’re in the wrong place. Meat is the order of the day at Hotbox, with deliciously indulgent dishes including smoked hash, St Louis pork ribs and smoked chicken with árbol chilli and mezcal ‘mop’. That said, the veggie options don’t feel like an afterthought – don’t miss the truffled egg toast with asparagus. Oh, and portions are huge – a bonus if you’re planning to make the most of the bottomless Prosecco, mimosas and cocktails (note the two-hour time limit).

Don’t miss: The bloody marys – they’re served in huge tankards and there are five to choose from (including one made with smoked dripping). 

Brunch for two with service: Around £30 (plus £25 per person for ‘bottomless booze’).

‘Easy Rider’ meets east London hipster at Jim’s Café, a greasy spoon reborn with a little help from Hackney-based motorcycle collective Black Skulls. As a drop-in it’s very cool and custom-built for the neighbourhood. The short breakfast menu doubles for brunch – so rev up with crab kedgeree, a buttermilk chicken sandwich or salt beef hash with sautéed kale, crispy potatoes and a fried egg, plus a non-alcoholic brew. Hair of the dog? Shots, cocktails, indie beers and ciders await.

Don’t miss: A visit to the adjoining Black Skulls shop for some gear.

Brunch for two with service: Around £30.

Destination neighbourhood dining in Peckham – that’s the shtick at Kudu, a good-looking restaurant specialising in South African-inspired small plates. Done out like a sleek, vintage lounge bar, its weekend brunch deal (11am-2.30pm) involves some thrillingly clever takes on the classics – from shakshuka with burnt kale or boerewors (sausage rolls) with egg, German mustard and crispy shallots to sourdough waffles with home-cured trout, crème fraîche and poached eggs. There are cocktails by the glass or jug, too.  

Don’t miss: The chocolate babka bun with candied kumquats and miso caramel.

Brunch for two with service: Around £25 (£40 with cocktails).

If you’re feeling foggy-headed as you step through the door at this machismo-heavy Scottish restaurant, go for the ‘Dirty’ Scottish breakfast bap – a monstrous sandwich that’s apparently been precision engineered to wipe out hangovers, packing in three versions of pig (bacon, black pudding and a square of Lorne sausage), plus a fried egg, caramelised onions and a ‘tattie scone’ (like a hash brown). It’s a dense, heavy beast, but there are lighter options too, including smoked salmon with creamy scrambled eggs and the obligatory avo on toast.

Don’t miss: Three types of bloody mary – including one with whisky.

Brunch for two with service: Around £30 with coffees, or £40 with cocktails.

If your idea of a gentle awakening in the morning is a nice cup of tea while listening to Radio 2, you’d best go elsewhere – you can hear the sound of deep house coming through Milk’s open French windows before you reach the Bedford Hill site. 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 confit duck rillettes on toast with burnt grape agridulce, elderberry and strawberry umeboshi.

Don’t miss: Buckwheat pancakes with greengages, chewy walnut meringue, green fennel seed crémeux, walnut praline syrup and fennel pollen.

Brunch for two with service: Around £25.

A completely different kettle of salt cod to its sibling in EC1, this branch of Spanish/North African hybrid Morito is an expansive, high-ceilinged concrete-chic space – civilised, minimalist and very cosmopolitan. The weekend breakfast/brunch (9.30am-noon) is a refreshing change from the usual avo-on-sourdough clichés, so arrive early for Moroccan pancakes topped with goat’s curd and thyme honey, Turkish menemen eggs with sujuk sausage or the ‘Full Catalan’. Excellent breads and pastries too.

Don’t miss: Poached eggs with spinach and chilli butter.

Brunch for two with service: Around £25.

Bacon and eggs get a revamp at this palace to Peruvian food: at the centre of the brunch menu you’ll find quinoa or sweet-potato waffles topped with crispy rashers and fried eggs sunny-side up. There are light ceviches too, but Pachamama’s brunch is really about hardcore chomping – think Peruvian-style jerk chicken with a fiery ají amarillo mayo. Alternatively, share the brunch tasting menu with unlimited Prosecco. Similar deals are on offer at Pachamama East in Shoreditch. 

Don’t miss: The Peruvian chocolate waffles with toasted quinoa ice cream and cacao crumb.

Brunch for two with service: Around £50.

Here’s the brunch drill at Parlour: show up and place your order, then hit the bread station where you can have free rein on yesterday’s loaves and slices: simply help yourself, choose toasted or plain and take your pick from the various jams and spreads on offer. Don’t carb-load too crazily or you’ll struggle to finish the ensuing brunch dishes, such as hash browns with eggs any style, ‘the banjo’ (fried egg and bacon bap with Oxford sauce) or the massive ‘(No Subs) Full Parlour Breakfast’. Lovely juices and drinks are another plus.

Don’t miss: The double bloody marys (£8 a shot).

Brunch for two with service: Around £30.

For breakfast/brunch, read ‘petit déjeuner’ at this deliciously traditional French eatery within a mock-Tudor outhouse on the fringes of Tanner Street Park. Pique-Nique is from the people behind Casse-Croûte, which means it’s ‘parlez français’ all the way when it comes to the food and service – so brush up on your lingo before ordering chausson aux pommes, croque monsieur or an omelette nature. To drink, it has to be café au lait, espresso or jus d’orange presse – s’il vous plaît.

Don’t miss: The bread – or, more precisely, the brioche with confiture (preserve) and beurre maison.  

Brunch for two with service: Around £15.

Anything connected to Yotam Ottolenghi gets our vote, and this Fitzrovia small-plates goodie is no exception. True to form, warm, buzzy Rovi has a breakfast menu, although the line-up screams brunch to us: okonomiyaki with prawns, kimchi and fried egg; grilled manouri cheese with peach, bacon and za’atar honey; green shakshuka with duck egg; jalapeño cornbread with scrambled egg and avocado – plus, of course, pancakes, bircher muesli and toasted banana bread. To drink, you can go hot or cold, alcoholic or soft.

Don’t miss: The crumpet with Swiss chard, poached egg and hollandaise.

Brunch for two with service: Around £35.

Having wobbled in Shoreditch, the current incarnation of Santo Remedio near London Bridge is simply brilliant. Low-lit, inviting and spread over two floors, it seduces punters with easy-listening Latin grooves, flickering tea lights and some inspired food. Craving brunch? Kick off with some homemade salsa dips or a pot of guacamole (with or without grasshoppers!) before hitting the bigger plates – perhaps chicken mole enchiladas or motuleños (corn tostadas with black beans and fried eggs, plus salsa roja, cotija cheese, grilled bacon and plantains).  

Don’t miss: The messy ‘torta ahogada’ – a ‘drowned’ pork belly baguette topped with pink pickled onions.

Brunch for two with service: Around £40.

As part of the funky, riotous Bone Daddies group, Shack-Fuyu likes to do things differently – and that includes serving a belt-bustingly generous Sunday brunch. In practice, that means a yuzu kosho bloody mary or a strawberry bellini on arrival, followed by a choice of Anglo-Asian small-plate dishes (burnt cauliflower with jalapeño salsa, crispy duck bun etc) and a single big dish (perhaps grilled salmon with chilli teriyaki) plus a dessert for the table. Wash it all down with bottomless Prosecco.

Don’t miss: The buttery kinako ‘French toast’, served with green-tea-flavoured Mr Whippy-style ice cream.

Brunch for two with service: Around £80 with unlimited Prosecco.

Arguably Lewisham’s best, this little birdie of a restaurant knocks out seriously good British-Asian small plates during the week, but its weekend brunch menu is more intriguing still. Sure, it does Euro standards like the bacon butty, but we’re otherwise in global-explorer territory: poori chana masala with red onion and coriander; coconut pancakes with peanut caramel and pineapple salsa; Sri Lankan appams (pancakes made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk).

Don’t miss: The appam with egg and chilli aubergine.

Brunch for two with service: Around £30 (including drinks).

Weekend brunch (from 10am) is of the all-day variety (and often ‘bottomless’) at this sheeny eatery from the guys behind the now-glorious Sebright Arms. Order at the counter from a menu that spans everything from Greek yoghurt with granola or avocado on toasted sourdough with pumpkin seeds and pea shoots to shakshuka, mushroom vegan balls, sweet and savoury waffles, as well as the daunting 12-hour pork hash – a free-wheeling combo involving long-cooked meat with two poached eggs, fried potatoes, peppers, chorizo and brown sauce onions.      

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

Brunch for two with service: Around £25 (without drinks).

Minimalist and airy, this independent little pancake spot in Flat Iron Square does one thing: pancakes. But boy, does it do them well. Dutch owner Patricia Trijbits is passionate about quality, so in addition to gluten-free and dairy-free (vegan) options, there’s proper maple syrup – even for the kids – plus glitteringly fresh fruit, top-notch bacon and so on. You’ll find many a pancake pilgrim here, partaking in these fluffy stacks of joy.

Don’t miss: The ‘Dutch Babies’ – baked pancakes, not unlike a giant Yorkshire pud (there are both savoury and sweet options), cooked in a cast-iron skillet.

Brunch for two with service: Around £30.