Best restaurants for breakfast in London

Have some breakfast with a side of epic views from Aqua Shard. The wrap-around windows give vistas of all of London, but the sky-high location is matched by sky-high prices, so save this for a special occasion. The set weekday breakfast at £19.50 per person includes a selection of cold pressed juice alongside tea or coffee. You then have the option of a full English, avocado on toast, French toast, eggs benny or an omelette.   

Booking ahead is essential for breakfast at this much-loved and bright dining room overlooking Borough Market. Built on a mezzanine in the iconic Floral Hall, it’s as pretty as a picture. More decadent options include lobster benedict and grilled Orkney kippers, whereas your more typical dishes such as an open omelette and avocado on toast with orange, chili and poached eggs are also available. Feeling hungry? Go for the Full Borough, which features Roast’s signature home-made sausages.

The industrial-chic interiors of this City-based restaurant are perfect for breakfast and the menu is suitably trendy. If you’re feeling hungry, hearty plates such as burnt stem broccoli with charred sweet potato, spiced black bean salsa, green chutney, coconut yoghurt and curry leaf oil should fill you up nicely. As would the fried jalapeno cornbread with fried eggs, avocado, chipotle mayonnaise, green chilli, coriander and lime. More traditional options such as the Caravan fry, fruits and grains are also available.  

Stepping into Mayfair destination Isabel’s opulent interiors, with gold fabric-lined walls and row of polished brass lamps, is like stepping into a Versace boutique. For breakfast, it’s ace. Choose from pastries and toast from the bakery or more standard options from the breakfast counter – think Greek yoghurt with granola, seasonal fruit and nuts. For heartier options, the main menu dishes up the likes of soft-boiled eggs with sourdough soldiers, poached eggs with avocado and chilli on buckwheat toast, or fried egg with smoked trout, spinach and potato cake.

The Italian restaurant in The Ned’s infamous food court serves up a simple and crowd-pleasing breakfast. Its City location means this is an ideal place for an early and energy-boosting breakfast meeting – the huge, tall-ceilinged room means discreet matters can be discussed without the chance of being overheard. Eggs are the forte and come in every shape, size and form, but for an Italian spin, go for the ‘cacio e pepe’ scrambled eggs, or the pizzaiola eggs.

This celebrated French restaurant is more English-leaning in its breakfast offering, although a few French favourites are available – bonjour, croque monsieur! Stack up on the two-course set breakfast menu, priced at £18.50 per person, or have a field day with the a la carte, which showcases dishes such as the full English, smoked haddock with spinach and hollandaise, or pancakes with berry compote. The vegan options are also good, with wild mushrooms, spinach and salsify on toast being our fave.

The fact that there’s a caviar trolley wheeling about at this restaurant is already enough to tell you about the levels of luxe – measures that reach the breakfast offerings, too. Expect potato, jamon and a fried duck egg or scrambling prawns. Even more egalitarian dishes such as crumpets with marmite are pimped up with a fried duck egg. The Bloody Mary is ace at this place, so this is also an ideal place for curing that hangover.    

The breakfast menu at Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett’s Nopi is varied and intriguing. Standard dishes are replaced with exciting ones such as coconut tapioca with passionfruit and granola; black rice with coconut milk, banana and mango; and scrambled tofu on sourdough with rose harissa and a fried egg. Other solid winners include the shakshuka and mushroom on sourdough with a poached egg. The warm and bright dining room makes for a relaxing atmosphere, too.

Despite the high-end look and Mayfair location, this Italian has a distinct local canteen feel to it, which makes it approachable and wonderfully sweet. The Anglo-Italian breakfast feature delights such as focaccia with scamorza and Parma ham; and chia seed pudding with poached apricot and balsamic vinegar. With its wide selection of cold-pressed juices, botanical drinks and shakes, it would be silly not to give one of them a go – the matcha, pistachio, cashew, vanilla, coconut oil, dates and Himalayan salt shake, say?   

In a pair and feeling hungry? We dare you to try the Hawksmoor Breakfast to share between two – it comes with a smoked bacon chop, sausages of pork, beef and mutton, black pudding, short-rib bubble & squeak, grilled bone marrow, trotter baked beans, fried eggs, grilled mushrooms, roast tomatoes, HP-sauce gravy and…unlimited toast. Wow. If tthat all sounds a bit much to you, rest assured that there are several other breakfast options available too, but they are on the meat-heavy side (there’s a dedicated steak and eggs section). Fruit and grains are also up for grabs, but let’s face it, that’s not why you’re here.   

The Cinnamon Club in Westminster has opened fully for breakfast from 7.30 to 10am, and if it's anything like its outstanding Indian evening grub, you're in for a royal treat. Bombay scrambled eggs anyone? Or what about a layered paratha or kedgeree with smoked haddock and poached egg? Less adventurous, but crowd-pleasing dishes such as a full English is also up for grabs. The five-star cuisine and handsome dining room make this a smart spot for an early business meeting, too.

Breakfast here is enough to draw the crowds in alone (this is where the Burgerdict was invented – a merge of burger and Eggs Benedict, featuring a poached egg on top of a beef patty with special hollandaise), but the two-part restaurant’s distinctive atmospheres also help. The buzzy bar area is great for a quick brekkie, but the back of the restaurant offers a more serene feel with eccentric English décor. The kedgeree with rice, flaked smoked haddock, curry, poached eggs and mango chutney is a winner.    

This Nordic restaurant goes totally international with its breakfast offering, but who ever wanted herring for breakfast, eh? Dig into treats such as blueberry, blackcurrant and lemon chia parfaits or a carrot and chia cake with cream cheese frosting. For sturdier stuff, opt for potato rosti with fried eggs, or a bacon and egg ‘Brezsant’ (dry-cured crispy bacon with a fried egg and lye roll). A full English, eggs benny and delicious smoothies will see you through the morning, too.

The breakfast waffles at this City hotspot on the 40th floor of Heron Tower are cause for all the hype, so it’s a natural option for your dish of choice when you go. The signature stack of waffles topped with a confit duck leg and a fried egg with a oozy, runny yolk, is well worth the trip. Elsewhere, sweet waffles with toppings of the likes of caramelised banana, peanut butter and jelly, and blueberries complete the line-up. Non-waffle options are available too.

This French-inspired New York brasserie naturally serves up fresh pastries in the morning alongside a wide-ranging breakfast menu. Try the crab scrambled eggs; caramelised grapefruit; smoked salmon bagel; or chorizo with fried eggs and smashed avocado for a lovely start to the morning. For a touch of luxury, opt for the lobster Royale; an omelette Arnold Bennett; or perhaps some caviar? In a nod to its New York origin, big and fluffy American pancakes feature with the choice of fresh banana with maple syrup and almond waffles with berry compote and cream.  

The clue’s in the name with this one, and it does exactly what it says on the tin: it serves up a cracking breakfast across its many sites in London. We especially like the Hackney Wick one for its canal views. Breakfast staples such as the Full Monty (a full English), Eggs Benedict and stacks of pancakes make it a crowd-pleasing spot, and you can have fun with some punny dishes such as the Ham So Excited pancakes.

The Ivy group’s Soho site is a lot flashier than the other sites, to suit the location’s buzzy character. Bold artwork and colourful interiors make for a cool breakfast spot. The breakfast menu is pretty much the same across all the Ivy branches, but our top picks would be the smoked salmon crumpet, the grilled asparagus with poached eggs or the hot buttermilk pancakes. Feel refreshed by the peach and elderflower iced tea or maybe the pun-named ‘Beet it’ juice with beetroot, apple, lemon and ginger.  

Huge floral displays, nets at the windows and pretty-looking food tick all the millennial-craving boxes at this Marylebone outpost of the popular chain. The menu is seasonal, but breakfast staples such as The Ivy Full English come with plenty of stuff to fill you up, and eggs come presented in any imaginable way. From the ‘light and healthy’ section, you can choose between the likes of smoked salmon crumpets, caramelised ruby grapefruit and organic granola.

The group’s well-groomed and colourful interiors are very much alive and well at this City outpost, and so is its extensive breakfast. Hot buttermilk pancakes go down well, but how inviting does the lobster and asparagus gratin sound? If you want to play it safe, everything from organic granola, avocado benedict and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon are ready to be devoured. Wash it all down with one of the up-lifting and energising juicers and coolers.

This Soho institution has been serving breakfast to hungry Londoners since 1926, and the art deco-inspired room still looks the same as it did when it opened. The breakfast menu has evolved somewhat to include 21st century’s demands, so you’ll be pleased to see Quo Vadis' home-made granola with berry compote and Neal’s Yard dairy yoghurt as well as avo on toast featuring. But elsewhere, old-time classics such as the full English and bacon sandwiches are still the most popular. Don’t miss the bakery-fresh bread with jams and marmalade, either.

The breakfast at St John’s does feature bread, but (sadly?) not wine. The daily-changing menu is always concise, but inviting nonetheless. You might expect the likes of fruits and grains to form the healthy options, whereas bacon sandwiches, scotch woodcock and blood cake with fried egg and brown sauce might represent the more indulgent offerings. The cinnamon rum bun offers sweeter notes. The design is as sparse as the menu, but we think that’s proof that classic never goes out of fashion.

This townhouse eatery is known for its breakfasts and brunches, served across its two floors – upstairs, a serene and clean-lined dining room, downstairs, a buzzy café. Go for the Breakfast Special for a fuss-free and generous filling: a choice of muesli or fruit salad is followed by either a sugar-cured prawn omelette or eggs on toast with your choice of toppings. A juice or smoothie and tea or coffee is also thrown in. Elsewhere, the usual suspects are given intriguing flavour twists.

This sibling of Village East and the Riding House Café in Victoria’s new Nova development is named after its proximity to the station and, with 330 covers, can accommodate almost as many diners as a rush-hour platform at a London terminus. Sadly, Nova isn’t as charming a setting as Bermondsey or Fitzrovia but the designers have made a good go of trying to create something with character amid all the plate glass, even if the scene outside looks more like Singapore than central London. There’s a similar internationalism given to the menu that namechecks fashionable ingredients and techniques such as freekeh and ceviche. Just like Riding House, Rail House is best as a buzzy breakfast venue thanks to plenty of appealing early-morning options and all that natural light, or come back later for cocktails and draft beers in the first-floor bar.

Part of D&D’s first London hotel, this British restaurant dishes up a wonderful breakfast, made for lazy mornings. Its weekday menu features intriguing stuff like sweetcorn pancakes with cherry tomato relish, avocado and sour cream; and a smoked Suffolk streaky bacon and fried egg bap with chili and red pepper relish, alongside more classical variants such as a full English, oats and omelettes. Fresh and healthy juices complete the line-up. The weekend sees all of this pimped up to bottomless.