How do you like your eggs in the morning? Whether poached and served with a side of avocado, slathered in Hollandaise sauce or scrambled and topped with Oscietra caviar, London’s restaurants never fail to deliver. With a thriving brunch scene to rival that of New York and Melbourne, the capital is home to some excellent breakfast and brunch menus that cater to every taste, from decadent diners craving truffle and caviar-infused eggs to purists seeking a staple fry-up. Read on for our pick of the best brunches in London.
Saltie Girl, Mayfair
Fancy pasta for breakfast? Head to Mayfair’s hottest new seafood spot, Saltie Girl, for its new Sunday brunch menu serving classics with innovative seafood twists. The luxury breakfast selection showcases egg dishes including mermaid’s nest with quail eggs, crab, caviar and chips; eggs on eggs with scrambled eggs, toast points and caviar and even breakfast carbonara with guanciale and poached egg.
Normally only available for lunch and dinner, you’ll also be able to enjoy a number of Saltie Girl favourites, such as the New England lobster roll, gnocchi with caviar, and the spicy crab roll. Wash it all down with the restaurant’s signature Saltie Mary — an elevated twist on a punchy brunch classic — or the Passionfruit (vodka, passionfruit and grapefruit bitters). Perfect for those who can’t get enough seafood, whatever time of day it is.
15 North Audley Street, W1K 6WZ, visit saltiegirl.com
Daisy Green, across London
Daisy Green, the popular Australian brunch brand which has been springing up on street corners across the capital, is famed for its aesthetically pleasing and equally delicious morning menu. With outposts in Bishopsgate, Richmond, Paddington, Marylebone and Soho, brunch favourites include the Dirty Daisy — crispy tater tots, chorizo, chipotle sour cream, eggs, green tomato and avocado salsa — and The Bondi: an Australian take on a Full English, featuring back bacon, poached eggs, chilli and fennel sausage, mushrooms, avocado, chilli pesto and charcoal sourdough.
New for this year, Daisy Green has collaborated with Real Drinks to create a booze-free bottomless brunch. Choose one savoury and one sweet dish — including warming shakshuka, sweetcorn fritters or the Healthy Start (chilli and maple celeriac toast, avocado, poached eggs, broccoli, spinach and grilled tomatoes) — to enjoy alongside free-flowing, naturally-fermented sparkling teas by Real.
Across London, visit daisygreenfood.com
Officina 00, Fitzrovia
Officina 00, Fitzrovia’s new restaurant and pasta workshop, has launched its Neapolitan brunch just in time for spring. Set in a bright, spacious dining room overlooking Whitfield Street, take a seat at the kitchen counter for a prime view of the kitchen and Officina 00’s pasta experts as they craft and develop a variety of styles. For brunch, the menu draws on inspiration from the distinct flavours of Naples — hometown of chef Elia Sebregondi — and features the best the southern Italian region has to offer.
Choose from macaroni fritti (fried homemade macaroni with cheddar and pepper, bechamel and peas), oven-baked gnocchi alla sorrentina, with smoked mozzarella, tomato and basil which is a classic Sunday Neapolitan dish, and the house sausage roll, reimagined using homemade pork and fennel sausage and aubergine caponata. For the occasion, chef Elia has also devised the focaccia sando: a colossal sandwich stacked with courgettes ‘alla scapece’, aioli and mint. Bellissimo!
67 Whitfield Street, W1T 4DE, visit officina00.co.uk
Bibo, Shoreditch
Putting a Spanish spin on brunch, Dani García’s Mondrian Shoreditch outpost Bibo brings all the flavour and revelry of a fiesta. Served from 11am to 3.30pm every Saturday and Sunday, highlights include fried chicken brioche with ras el hanout mayonnaise and tomato, eggs Benedict with jamón ibérico, and for those with a sweet tooth, the decadent caramelised torrija with blueberry compote and vanilla ice cream. For two people, García has devised his very own paella brunch menu, including whole lobster, roasted chicken, vegetable and the special golden paella with eggs and cecina.
Mondrian Shoreditch, 45 Curtain Road, EC2A 3PT, ennismore.com
Claridge’s, Mayfair
At £85 a pop, Claridge’s scrambled eggs ‘en brioche’ with Oscietra caviar is certainly one of the more expensive brunch dishes in the capital. If breakfast is too early for fish eggs in your book, the hotel’s extensive brunch menu, which is served in The Foyer & Reading Room from 7-11am Monday to Saturday, and from 8am on Sunday, has plenty of other dishes to choose from. There are eggs Benedict or Royale served with Périgord truffle, French toast with hazelnut chocolate, and buttermilk pancakes, to name a few, as well as a range of set breakfasts featuring dishes hailing from all corners of the globe — from England and Japan to the Middle East.
Brook Street, W1K, visit claridges.co.uk
Coya, Mayfair
Brunch at Mayfair’s Coya might just be the most energetic early-afternoon knees-up in London. Brunch bookings at the award-winning Peruvian restaurant open from midday and last until 4pm (although the unlimited Veuve Clicquot runs out at 3pm). The experience costs £150 per person but offers far more than runny eggs on muffins. Alongside contemporary South American dishes, including Arroz Nikkei made with Chilean sea bass, rice, lime and chilli, and Angosto Picante with sirloin, crispy shallots, aji limo and star anise, expect live entertainment in the form of Latin dancers and a resident DJ. How you sustain the tempo into the evening is up to you.
118 Piccadilly, W1J, visit coyarestaurant.com
Dishoom, across London
It takes a brave chef to revamp the traditional bacon butty, but Dishoom’s Naved Nasir has done so to much acclaim. While the restaurant’s signature black daal is the focal point of its all-day menu, the bacon naan roll, topped with cream cheese, chilli tomato jam and fresh herbs, plays a star role in its breakfast offering, which is served from 8-11.45am on weekdays and from 9am on weekends. The rest of the menu follows a similar style, with traditional breakfast dishes given a Bombay-inspired twist; think omelettes served with chopped tomato, onion, green chilli and cheese; fried eggs on chilli cheese toast; and Medjool date and banana porridge.
Across London, visit dishoom.com
Duck & Waffle, City of London
Prior to London being plunged into lockdown, Duck & Waffle was serving its popular brunch menu seven days a week. The menu is back, but currently only available between 6am and 4.30pm on Saturday and Sundays — which still gives you plenty of time to sample some of the destination restaurant’s signature dishes. Highlights include bacon-wrapped dates (we’re huge fans), cheesy polenta croquetas, duck Benedict and foie gras crème brûlée with pork crackling and marmalade brioche. Best brunch in London? It’s certainly up there (on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, like you didn’t already know).
110 Bishopsgate, EC2N, visit duckandwaffle.com
Four Seasons Hotel London, Park Lane
Those looking for brunch with a side of opulence can expect just that at Amaranto, the Four Seasons Hotel’s acclaimed Italian restaurant. Served every Sunday between 12pm and 3pm, the extensive brunch menu features something to please every member of your party, with signature staples, such as eggs royale and fluffy buttermilk pancakes. Wash it all down with lashings of Dom Pérignon, or opt for the cold brew espresso negroni to put some extra pep in your step.
Hamilton Place, W1J 7DR, visit fourseasons.com
Granger & Co., across London
Bill Granger’s tasty brunch dishes are loved the world over, finding fans first in Australia, where he opened his first restaurant, Bill’s, and later across the globe, with the UK outposts of Granger & Co. serving an informal menu of breakfast and all-day dishes in Chelsea, Notting Hill, King’s Cross and Clerkenwell. Visit for brunch before 12pm to sample signature dishes such as ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter, toasted coconut bread, and sweetcorn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon.
Across London, visit grangerandco.com
Ottolenghi, Spitalfields
Offering the fresh, bold flavours typical of a Yotam Ottolenghi menu, brunch at the chef’s spacious Spitalfields location does not disappoint. Served daily until 12pm, or 1pm on Sundays, expect brunch classics imbued with Ottolenghi’s signature Middle Eastern flair, alongside a plethora of freshly baked pastries and breads. Standout dishes include the shakshuka-braised eggs with smoked labneh, porridge with roasted plums and the infamous scrambled tofu with grated tomato and confit garlic — a true star of London’s buzzing brunch scene.
50 Artillery Lane, E1 7LJ, visit ottolenghi.co.uk
Pachamama, Marylebone
Another Peruvian restaurant delivering bold South American flavours and a party atmosphere, Pachamama prides itself on using the best British ingredients and housing one of the capital’s best-stocked Pisco bars. Brunch is served from 11am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays and features a waffle menu including options with Peruvian chocolate, toasted quinoa ice cream and cacao crumbs as well as fried chicken with maple syrup and a fried egg. Alternatively, there’s sea bass ceviche with sweet potato crisps and tiger milk, and yellowfin tuna with puffed rice and cucumber.
18 Thayer Street, W1U, visit pachamamalondon.com
The Parlour at Sketch, Mayfair
With its zany prints and neon signs, The Parlour at Sketch feels more appropriate for cocktails than it does brunch, but its menu of breakfast dishes, served daily from 11am-5pm, suggests otherwise. The focus here is on eggs, and you can have yours in six different ways, including scrambled and served with black truffle; poached with watercress soup and herb beurre blanc and Scottish smoked salmon. There’s also a selection of pastries and sweeter dishes, such as waffles, acai bowls and fruit salads.
9 Conduit Street, visit sketch.london
Stork, Mayfair
Inspired by the 2,000-mile migration of its namesake bird, Stork has launched the capital’s first brunch dedicated entirely to pan-African cuisine. Showcasing classic dishes, cooked with an African twist, the imaginative brunch menu is available between 11.30am and 3pm every weekend. Paying homage to the migration of African culinary inspiration to nearly every continent in the world via fabulous food and contemporary art, expect ackee tartelette, salted fish and yam fishcake and the signature pan-African breakfast of Agege muffins, spiced beans, scrambled egg, beef sausage, yam, hash browns and plantain.
13-14 Cork Street, W1S 3NS, visit storkrestaurant.com
Sumosan Twiga, Chelsea
The brunch offering at upmarket, Japanese-Italian party-restaurant Sumosan Twiga is certainly international. Every Saturday, between 1pm and 4pm, the restaurant’s Uptown brunch sees dancers, international bands and DJs provide a vibrant backdrop to a £150 set menu that includes chicken popcorn, burrata, penne arrabbiata and sea bass aubergine. Drinks are bottomless, of course, and comprise of the regulars — champagne, wine, beer — and a selection of inventive cocktails that put a welcome twist on the classics. Think sake mules, praline espresso martinis and Tommy’s rosolios. Plan for an earlier night or one mother of a hangover come Sunday morning.
165 Sloane Street, SW1X, visit sumosantwigalondon.com
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