Richard Corrigan’s Daffodil Mulligan has got into the brunch game, serving up a simple yet hearty menu to kick off Saturdays in style. We reckon there’s only way to kick things off here and that’s with a round of oysters – the Loch Ryan Rossmore ones are particularly good – and Bloody Marys. There are classic egg dishes on the menu to keep the brunch purists satisfied alongside the likes of prawn curry and maple glazed pork & chips. These take things very much into lunch territory but when they’re that good (especially the chips, in fact, order a side of them just so you don’t have to share) who cares whether it’s breakfast, brunch or lunch? There are puds too, if you’re not too stuffed, although the lemon tart is surprisingly dainty that you’ll definitely have room to squeeze it in. Don’t forget the Irish coffees either.
THE BEST PLACES TO BRUNCH
Looking for the best brunch in London? Whether you’re looking for a hangover busting fry up or somewhere to celebrate, here’s our pick of the best brunches in London.
Best brunch in London Highlights
Bombay cafe Dishoom serves up one of our fave dishes in town – THAT bacon and egg naan. Brekkie is served until 11:45am, seven days a week and is a collection of English/Indian breakfast fusion dishes. Special shout out goes to those naans, but the bottomless porridge and house chai is also pretty on point.
Eggbreak is a laid back restaurant in Notting Hill and it’s all about the eggs (clue’s in the name people!). The menu features some pretty filthy looking buns including THAT McMuffin with a sausage patty, American cheese, fried egg and hot sauce. Other faves include the crab cakes with poached eggs, sriracha hollindase and spinach, and the cornflake french toast with caramelised banana, blueberries and maple syrup.
From the new (and now only) Smoking Goat Shoreditch site you can practically see people tucking in to bacon and egg naan rolls in Dishoom opposite but Smoking Goat have some tricks of their own, namely the delicious Cured Tamworth Jowl & Fried Eggs Roti, which gives their Indian neighbours a run for their money. There’s lots more to love too, including fried chicken and curry sauce and smoked haddock with noodles.
Hash E8 is one of our fave brunches in London, hidden away on Dalston Lane do brunch all day long. The Pig Muffin, that’s sausage patty, bacon, pork belly, egg cake, bacon jam, cheese slice & hash browns in a muffin with chorizo and bacon jam is just YUM. But we also dig the French Toast stuffed with banana, chocolate and peanut butter served with maple syrup and there’s some banging sides too – PLUS it’s all pretty affordable.
DAFFODIL MULLIGAN
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: Closed
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Sunday: Closed
HIDE
Arguably one of the best restaurants in London, Ollie Dabbous’ Hide was awarded a Michelin star just 6 months after opening. We’ve been for dins and loved it but it’s true that it can get pricey in the evenings, so another way in is to head over for weekend brunch where the menu is just £48. Brunch begins with a bunch of snacks, including Porthilly oysters with Amalfi lemon; tempura aubergine served with Thai basil and green peppercorns; and flatbread cooked over charcoal with beetroot hummus and Graceburn creamy cheese.
There are four starters to choose from and we dug into the HIDE Croque Monsieur, a dense cheesy masterpiece, as well as cured organic salmon with chervil mayonnaise and pickled yellow courgette. From the mains, the Cornish crab linguine stole the show – served from pan to plate table side, we enjoyed the subtle spiciness and richness of this dish. The barbecued 50 day-aged beef short rib served with crispy potato cake and onion rings, virgin rapeseed béarnaise, with super sweet smoked tomato is out of this world, too. For £48 in one of the best restaurants in town, you just can’t go wrong.
WILD BY TART
The weekend brunch menu at Wild By Tart is a continuation of their farm to fork ethos, with a focus on seasonal British produce and sharing-style dishes. Don’t get us wrong, we love brunch. But we also like it when brunch dishes aren’t just all poached eggs and yoghurt, which is something they’re doing really well here. Ranging from brunch bowls to larger plates, savoury dishes like kedgeree croquettes with curry leaf aioli or breakfast tacos with slow braised pork shoulder, pico de gallo & coriander crema will make those without a sweet tooth happy, though the brown butter pancakes with bay ice cream & marsala blackberry compote is a real winner. If you want to make it an ever better start to the day, wash it down with a couple of the champagne & pisco cocktails.
BARBOUN
A Middle Eastern brunch is one of our fave ways to have the meal and Barboun rocks those Turkish delights in good fashion. The restaurant itself is super modern, stylish and very spacious and the food set-up is on point too. The brunch menu is tight and split across eggs, flatbreads and salads. We rate sucuk (Turkish sausage) and poached eggs, which comes with a beautiful spicy tomato sauce, yoghurt and a slice of sourdough. The flatbread options are pretty varied and the chicken, sweetcorn and mozzarella one hits the spot. The Turkish coffee is strong and comes with a Turkish delight on the side, we’ll take that with our brunch any day.
SEABIRD
Seabird, located on the top floor of The Hoxton, Southwark – yes that means there are epic views from the roof terrace – is one of London’s best seafood restaurants. There’s only one way to start brunch in a seafood restaurant and that’s with a spicy Bloody Mary and oysters; luckily Seabird has the biggest oyster list in town so you’re spoilt for choice on this front. There’s a few ways you could follow those up – a towering shellfish platter, a plate of charcuterie – but we reckon going for a mix of small and large plates is the best bet. The octopus roll with sobrasada aioli and a soft brioche bun is an absolute must as are the creamy jamon croquetas, and if you want fish but can’t decide which, go for the frittura mixta as you get fried squid, scallops, white fish, langoustines and some padron peppers thrown on for good measure. The papas arragudas – boiled salted potatoes with spicy mojo rojo – are great if you want a carb fix but don’t want anything else fried. The already famous manchego cheesecake, finished with a grating of cheese at the table, is on offer for dessert and trust us, you’ll want to save space for this baby.
PROVISIONERS
The rather dapper interiors of Provisioners, inside the Dixon hotel, isn’t the only draw here. Having recently launched their brunch menu, there are quite a few things to make this the first stop on your weekend food hunt. Temptation leaps out from the page: the black pudding and pork belly roti is a gem, the pork belly smothered in sweet coffee bbq sauce, red onion jam and a fried egg that is wrapped inside an Indian roti bread. The flatbread is a good shout too and comes loaded with avocado (could have been a little more ripe), creme fraiche, tomato jam and bacon. What’s not to like.
Read our review of the dinner menu here.
ASK FOR JANICE
If you want a brunch rec in Farringdon, Ask For Janice – as in the restaurant Ask For Janice, not just any old Janice you find on the street. The all-day spot, opposite Smithfield Market, is a pretty laid back kinda place, with industrial-chic interiors, plants hanging from the rafters, light streaming in from the huge windows and a bangin’ brunch menu. They’re not big on big plates so choosing a few small ones is the way to go here. There’s a lot of variety, from classics like bubble and squeak to the more unusual brown & white crab miso toast, though our fave is the baked eggs with merguez sausage, roasted peppers and yoghurt, served alongside toasted sourdough.
BOB'S LOBSTER
In 2018 BOB’s Lobster made the jump from street food trader to permanent site, opening in the revamped part of London Bridge station, though they haven’t forgotten their roots, parking the famous VW campervan inside the restaurant. And now they’re making sure we all get our seafood fix in the morning thanks to a brand new brunch menu. There are plenty of egg dishes on offer if you wanna stick to the breakfast vibes but the lobster mac ‘n’ cheese with lobster bisque bechamel, lobster tail meat and a sprinkling of fried shallots for texture, is a winner. In our books mac ‘n’ cheese is acceptable any time of the day or night. You can’t come to BOB’s Lobster and not have one of the signature rolls – the lobster and crayfish one is packed with meat and comes in the most buttery brioche. And if you can break away from the shellfish, the tuna tacos with wasabi guac and extra crunchy wonton shells are definitely also worth an order, although be prepared to fight over who gets the last one.
HOPPERS
Spice up your brunch by swapping the classic brekkie dishes for Sri Lankan small plates at Hoppers. You’ve got a few decisions to make as you have various meaty and veggie short eats and karis to pick from as well as a choice of hoppers, dosa and chutneys. The table doesn’t have to all order the same so you can mix and match, perfect if you’re feeling indecisive/greedy. From the short eats, we rate the green peppercorn squid with crispy chickpeas; the fiery devilled chicken wings; and the bacon and mushroom kothu, which has a bubble & squeak feel about it. You’ve then got to choose whether you want a namesake hopper (go for the egg one if you want to up the brunch vibe) or a dosa – the chilli cheese one is particularly great and it’s massive – then your chutneys or sambol and finally the kari you want to mop it up with. The aubergine one gets our vote every time. You can add in free-flowing Lion beer to make it bottomless but it’s worth checking out the other drinks; the watermelon and guava slushie is SO GOOD.
LINA STORES
It’s all about waking up the Italian way for breakfast at Lina Stores. The 100-seater, retro-styled mint green Italian restaurant and deli certainly looks the part and Head Chef Masha Rener’s Umbrian heritage is splashed across the menu. Tuck into the Tuscan fennel sausage with cannelloni, tomato and pane Pugliese, and watch that bright burnt orange egg yolk pop. The truffle scrambled eggs is decent but probs one to skip if your hank marnvin as the portion is a little on the mean side. The Amalfi Macedonia fruit salad with Amalfi lemon, ricotta and pistachio is excellent as are the Nutella-filled doughnuts if you want something sweet. Just be wary if you’re rushing for a train as service is on the slow side, so maybe save for a lazy morning.
FOLIE
It’s interior goals at Folie on Golden Square – with electric blue stools, a golden bar, low retro lamps, a floor so patterned you’ll get lost in it, soft leather booths and high gloss tables, it’s 60s and 70s glam all the way, and they’ve even gone for retro music to match. Chef Christophe Marleix has a designed a French-Italian inspired menu with brunch dishes like scrambled eggs with sea urchins served in their shells and chicken & basil croque monsieurs. Folie is also great if you just want to pop in for a morning coffee at the bar or even just to sneak in one of their excellent desserts. We won’t tell.
HASH E8
Hash E8 is one of our fave brunch spots in town, hidden away on Dalston Lane. The Pig Muffin, that’s sausage patty, bacon, pork belly, egg cake, bacon jam, cheese slice & hash browns in a muffin with chorizo and bacon jam is just YUM. But we also dig the French Toast stuffed with banana, chocolate and peanut butter served with maple syrup and there’s some banging sides too – PLUS it’s all pretty affordable.
SUNDAY BARNSBURY
Sunday Barnsbury does one of the best French toasts in town. It comes with creme fraiche and salted caramel and we recommend a side of bacon too, and the cornbread is also pretty on point with avo, halloumi and a poached egg. Portions are decent and this is proper neighbourhood cafe that you’ll wish you lived next to.
ALLEGRA
Found on the 7th floor of The Stratford, Allegra is a bar and restaurant complete with an outdoor terrace that makes for perfect al fresco dining. The chef behind Allegra is Patrick Powell, who was previously in charge at Chiltern Firehouse, so as you might expect he’s smashed it with the menus, which run from breakfast through to dinner and make use of produce grown on his own farm just outside London. Think truffle croque madame, oak smoked trout, and roast chicken with aioli and caramelised lemon. Cocktails are on point too, designed by Charlotte Charret and Alessandro Viscardi, formerly of the Bloomsbury and The Ned respectively, and feature unusual ingredients such as coriander cordial and pomegranate granita. For anyone that lives in Stratford, Allegra is an incredible restaurant to have on your doorstep and if we lived or worked around here we’d be regulars. For anyone else though it’s definitely worth making the journey to eat here, so we’d recommend adding it to your hit list asap.
PACHAMAMA EAST
For the eastern outpost of Pachamama (sister to the original one in Marylebone as well as the offshoot Chicama in Chelsea), the menu is still largely Peruvian in style but sets itself apart by featuring Asian flavours across too. You have plenty of choice when it comes to brunch with both sweet and savoury waffles and specials that range from a Sichuan chicken burger to smoked eel crepes to sofrito baked eggs with kale. And there are a handful of snacks and small plates from the main menu too, so you can really mix and match.
LITTLE BAT
Little Bat, sister to Callooh Callay, is best known as a cocktail bar but now they’ve got into the brunch game. They’ve got a varied menu, with a mix of small plates – the roast cauliflower and cheddar croquettes with chilli relish are a must – and main dishes. You can go lighter with the hazelnut crusted baked ricotta with asparagus and pickled radish salad or more indulgent with the chickpea, potato, parmesan and truffle rosti topped with bacon, a poached egg and hollandaise. They haven’t forgotten about the booze either – not only do they have brekkie-inspired cocktails and a bottomless option, they’ve got a DIY Bloody Mary Trolley so you can shake one up just the way you like it. With their open front windows, palm print furniture and bangin’ soundtrack, this is one brunch you’ll wanna linger over.
GALVIN AT WINDOWS
Michelin-starred Galvin at Windows on the 28th floor of the Hilton Park Lane – yes the views are pretty epic – has just got into the brunch game with a brand new Saturday menu from chef Joo Won. For the restaurant’s first ever brunch offering, Joo has gone all out with a real mix of dishes, from French pastries and sourdough toasts to classic eggs and lunch plates with an Asian twist. Joo’s Super Breakfast, with soft polenta, Burford Brown eggs, maple cured rib eye bacon, stir-fried chili oyster mushrooms and Anne Rose boudin noir is the way to go if you fancy an elegant take on a traditional brekkie. If you’re in more of a lunch mood, the teriyaki fillet of salmon is packed full of flavour but still light enough for you to have room for one of the puds, and with classics like chocolate fondant and Paris-Brest on the menu, you definitely want to save room.
34
Brunch is big business at 34, the menu is pretty extensive and features everything from your usual egg dishes to pimped up lobster mac’n’cheese and roasts on a Sunday. We’d recommend the salt beef hash with double fried egg and the cornbread with avocado. Then there’s the dessert menu (HELLO Jaffa mouse, banoffee sundae and every ice-cream flavour under the sun) and champers served from glasses shaped like Kate Moss’s boobies.
DISHOOM
Dishoom sure knows how to do it. All their sites have regular huge queues out the door and it’s not hard to see why, especially in the mornings. The naans are legendary – always bacon and egg or the wrestler’s naan (that’s bacon sausage and egg) if you’re particularly hungry/hungover – but the Dishoom spin on the fry up is pretty bangin’ too with spiced scrambled eggs, masala baked beans and buttered buns alongside your bacon, sausages, mushrooms and tomato. And you can get a vegan version if that’s how you roll.
JIM'S CAFE
Once an Italian coffee shop and ice cream factory and more recently a much-loved local caff, Jim’s is the oldest cafe on Chatsworth Road. After first opening its doors in the 60’s, the cafe has reopened and now serves up bangin’ breakfasts, lunch and dinner. Staying true to its heritage, the owners have restored the 196os decor and expanded into the old ice cream factory at the back. Taking every detail into consideration, Jim’s bake their own sourdough, muffins and pastries, serve up a range of homemade juices and even cure their own bacon.
EGGBREAK
Eggbreak, a collab between Ennismore, the peeps behind The Hoxton, and Soho House, is a laid back little joint located just around the corner from Notting Hill tube station on a quiet residential street. Inside it’s pretty simple and light, but it’s the menu that makes it worthy of a trip. Themed around eggs (yep the clue really is in the name) there’s a good selection that ranges from pure filthy to healthy and light – hey this is Notting Hill people, they don’t all want deep fried and dirty! The McMuffin is the one though especially if you’ve got a hangover you need to shake. Get down for some eggs-tremely tasty dishes…and you thought we’d gone pun free.
BARGE EAST
- Monday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Saturday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
- Sunday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Three friends teamed up to sail De Hoop (a 114 year old Dutch Barge) from Holland to East London’s Hackney Wick, and after mooring up along the canal they’ve converted it into a floating restaurant and canal side garden which seats a whopping 300 people. Their menu focusses on street food classics, like buttermilk fried chicken burgers; bacon and sage scotch eggs; deep fried apple tart; and roast beef buns, with locals East London Liquor Co, Beavertown and Three Choirs supplying the brews and cocktails. Whether it’s brunch, lunch or sometime in the evening, get yourself aboard.
