The full English is alive and well but you can also feast in Syrian, Turkish, Indian and Middle Eastern-style too. Whether you go healthy with avocado on toast, or go all in with oysters and caviar there’s plenty of evidence in central London that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.
Jikoni
Head to TV chef Ravinder Bhogal’s pretty pink and peach Marylebone dining room for a wildly eclectic weekend brunch (11:00 am to 4:00pm). The restaurant’s ‘no borders kitchen’ tag is exemplified by dishes ranging from cornbread with creamed corn, fried egg and jalapeno relish to buckwheat dosa with pumpkin thoran and coconut and garlic chutney.
Fallow
Fallow’s glass-walled dining room is always as busy as nearby Piccadilly Circus, and with good reason. Ex-Dinner by Heston Blumenthal chefs Jack Croft and Will Murray have a knack for creating exciting, flavour-packed and sustainable food and their breakfasts are no exception. ‘Royale’ with sausage patty, cheese, bacon and fried egg served in a croissant roll embossed with the restaurant’s logo is a stylish and cheeky take on a McMuffin.
Masala Zone Piccadillly Circus
Housed in the historic Criterion building, Masala Zone boasts one of the most stunning and ornate dining rooms in London complete with a gold mosaic ceiling and marble walls studded with semi-precious stones. Despite the opulence, you can breakfast on Bihari cup omelette with pao toast or lamb keema dosa and fresh chutney without breaking the bank.
Honey & Co
Feast on a Middle Eastern-style ‘Big Breakfast’ at Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich convivial and much-loved Bloomsbury restaurant. Start with a generous selection of mezze including hummus and labneh and follow with green shakshuka made with Cornish farm eggs and spinach and served with garlic yoghurt and sesame bread.
The Barley Mow
Part of the acclaimed Cubitt House group that’s overseen by chef director Ben Tish, this Mayfair pub features a handsome ground-floor bar and elegant first-floor dining room. At breakfast, there’s an enticingly meaty menu that includes devilled kidneys on toast and a sugar pit-cured bacon butty.
The Grill by Tom Booton
Start your morning in style at this swanky yet informal hotel restaurant. Sink into the soft tan-leather seating and enjoy executive chef Tom Booton’s playfully luxurious take on breakfast that features confit egg yolk with warm hollandaise foam, truffle and mushroom and truffle brioche soldiers.
Maison Francois
The look might be French 'grand brasserie' but you can still get a great full English at this stylish Mayfair hot spot. The entente cordial continues in dishes such as grilled kipper with sauce verte and mushrooms on toast with sauce pistou.
45 Jermyn Street
For a none-more-British breakfast, it’s difficult to beat this all-day restaurant that’s part of Fortnum & Mason. The menu of kedgeree, kippers and crumpets is as comfortingly classic as the timelessly elegant surroundings.
Mount Street Restaurant
Breakfast among art-festooned walls at this upmarket pub dining room, set above the wildly popular Audley Public House. Kickstart your day by adding a dram of whiskey to your porridge that is sweetened with honey from the pub’s farm in Somerset, or indulge in an Oscietra caviar omelette.
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Celebrated chef Ollie Dabbous might be known for his imaginative tasting menus, but his team at this minimal, stylish restaurant overlooking Green Park also know how to cook a mean breakfast. Viennoiserie including saffron buns with cardamom, pistachio and rose are made on-site and there’s black truffled scrambled eggs on toast as well as caviar and oysters for those in search of something more savoury.
Imad’s Syrian Kitchen
This bright and buzzy dining room in the culinary Soho hub of Kingly Court is home to the celebrated cooking of Syrian refugee chef Imad Alarnab. Breakfast specialities include the rich and satisfying fatteh; fried flat breads layered with chickpeas, tahini and ghee.
Ottolenghi Chelsea
As the doyen of Middle Eastern cooking, Yotam Ottolenghi of course delivers the signature flavours and ingredients of the cuisine on his breakfast menu at the cool and chic Chelsea branch of his cafe/deli group. So there’s shakshuka with labneh and rose harissa flavouring the scrambled tofu. But there’s a real breadth to the offering with the likes of Dutch pancake with orange, coconut and raspberry and porridge with roasted plums.
The Wigmore
Michel Roux Jr’s pub (part of the Langham Hotel) is as deluxe as you would imagine. A handsome space decked out with marble-topped tables and parquet flooring. The recently reinstated breakfast menu is haute pub too with avocado on toasted sourdough, roasted Piquillo pepper and plant-based feta or breakfast stovetop toastie with fried egg, red Leicester, maple bacon and hot sauce.
Zahter
Breakfast the Istanbul way at this charming and vibrant restaurant, set over three floors just off Carnaby Street. The traditional Turkish breakfast of Serpme Kahvalti features an array of small sweet and savoury dishes to share including Turkish sivri peppers, feta & çeçil cheese, dulce de leche and a Turkish bread basket.
