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Breakfast muffins, bacon naans, full English burritos, and more to start the day the right way
Start the day with one of the city’s best things between sliced bread.
For a complete list of bacon butties, there’s a map for that too.
Read MoreCrispy dough envelope fillings of spinach and feta, spiced potato or the left field choice of mozzarella and mushroom. Gozlemes are a breakfast staple across the city and great ones are offered alongside cheese and sausage bread (hot dogs are definitely sandwiches) and simits while baklava takes pride of place. —Feroz Gajia
Fiery lamb mince slathered onto a cooked flatbread, egg cracked on top. Circling through the rotating oven it emerges with meat sizzling in its own fat. Rolled, handed over, paper ripped, the wrap is devoured at a temperature far too hot. The burns a permanent reminder of the pleasure experienced. —Feroz Gajia
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The menu might have changed, but Catalyst’s bacon and egg salad sandwich on pain de mie, and breakfast flatbread filled with soft egg, avocado, pickles, and taramasalata still prove flavourful and thoughtful food exists in Holborn at 8 a.m.. —Feroz Gajia
Also featured in:
The gigantic St John bacon sandwich is a London classic. Unusually, the rare breed meat is unsmoked but cooked over open flame, which brings a charred — and, yes, smoky — flavour to the sandwich. Bread is toasted on the same grill and is spread generously with butter and homemade ketchup. This isn’t one for the brown sauce fans. —Helen Graves
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It begins with the bread: a rhomboid ‘Gilchester Bun’ named after the Northumberland farm whence sister site E5 Bakehouse sources its heritage flour. Split, toasted and buttered, its ‘chew’ demands a bit of jaw action but nothing beyond the capabilities of a hungover human. Stuffed inside is good frazzly Blackhand bacon and two boiled egg halves seasoned up with salt and cracked pepper. —Hilary Armstrong
For the early risers out at dawn Piggy’s Cafe is a ritual and a treasure. Offering the legendary sandwich stuffed with seared scallops and Bacon on buttered baps. The meeting place where simple pleasures are enjoyed... Until they move the whole thing out of London. Go while it still stands. —Feroz Gajia
Also featured in:
Probably Dishoom’s most famous dish. For good reason. Wildly inauthentic and proud. Naan, generally, is an underrated vehicle for any sandwich, which goes someway to explaining the triumph here. Bacon, (and egg), chilli jam, a little yoghurt, and chopped coriander — all on a chewy little folded naan, which soaks up the rendered fat. Eat quickly. —Adam Coghlan
There’s one dish here that no one else in London does — a British breakfast burrito fused with the Mexican-American tradition of wrapping a fry up in a tortilla. Chef-owner Isabel’s El Paso breakfast burrito revels in inauthenticity with its scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, cheese, pinto beans, pico de gallo, and is even better with sour cream and hot sauce. —Jonathan Nunn
Ordering a croque madame for breakfast is a bold move, particularly one that’s punching aged Comte. It comes bubbling under a blanket of golden bechamel and that all-important fried egg. The egg isn’t necessary, of course, but does make the sandwich seem more breakfast-appropriate. A sharply dressed side salad makes finishing the whole thing more achievable. —Helen Graves
Also featured in:
The Mother Flipper breakfast muffin is the reason Brockley Market shoppers spend so much time wiping egg off their faces. The muffin comes toasted and buttered, stacked with a coarse-grind garlic and herb sausage from The Butchery, a free-range egg ripe for poppin’ and a slice of American cheese. There’s an option to add candied bacon and a potato rosti for an extra £1 each — tricky to handle but worth the mess. —Helen Graves
Whitechapel Bakery Rinkoff supplies the special recipe 8-inch subs that are the signature of this outstanding sandwich van. The Sub Contractor is filled with bacon, herby sausage, fried egg, white pudding and ketchup as a homage to the classic English breakfast — albeit with added fancy truffle mayo. This sub is only served on Saturdays at Brockley Market, for fear that its City shop customers might fall asleep at their desks. —Helen Graves
One of Balham’s top attractions, the Convict sandwich at Milk is a hangover slaying stack of protein. Based on an Egg McMuffin, it’s got oak smoked Tamworth belly bacon, a secret recipe for sausage patty from a local butcher, ‘folded’ eggs, house-made chipotle ketchup and a tousled hairdo of grated Lincolnshire poacher. Egg McExtra. —Helen Graves
Also featured in:
Warm pita, hummus, aubergine, boiled egg, salad, pickles with tahina, amba and zhoug. Listing what a sabich contains is cause for salivation always. To have the gluttonous forethought to partake in it for breakfast is devious and deserves a treat. Luckily H&C have bakes in abundance, so treat yourself twice. —Feroz Gajia
Crispy dough envelope fillings of spinach and feta, spiced potato or the left field choice of mozzarella and mushroom. Gozlemes are a breakfast staple across the city and great ones are offered alongside cheese and sausage bread (hot dogs are definitely sandwiches) and simits while baklava takes pride of place. —Feroz Gajia
Fiery lamb mince slathered onto a cooked flatbread, egg cracked on top. Circling through the rotating oven it emerges with meat sizzling in its own fat. Rolled, handed over, paper ripped, the wrap is devoured at a temperature far too hot. The burns a permanent reminder of the pleasure experienced. —Feroz Gajia
The menu might have changed, but Catalyst’s bacon and egg salad sandwich on pain de mie, and breakfast flatbread filled with soft egg, avocado, pickles, and taramasalata still prove flavourful and thoughtful food exists in Holborn at 8 a.m.. —Feroz Gajia
The gigantic St John bacon sandwich is a London classic. Unusually, the rare breed meat is unsmoked but cooked over open flame, which brings a charred — and, yes, smoky — flavour to the sandwich. Bread is toasted on the same grill and is spread generously with butter and homemade ketchup. This isn’t one for the brown sauce fans. —Helen Graves
It begins with the bread: a rhomboid ‘Gilchester Bun’ named after the Northumberland farm whence sister site E5 Bakehouse sources its heritage flour. Split, toasted and buttered, its ‘chew’ demands a bit of jaw action but nothing beyond the capabilities of a hungover human. Stuffed inside is good frazzly Blackhand bacon and two boiled egg halves seasoned up with salt and cracked pepper. —Hilary Armstrong
For the early risers out at dawn Piggy’s Cafe is a ritual and a treasure. Offering the legendary sandwich stuffed with seared scallops and Bacon on buttered baps. The meeting place where simple pleasures are enjoyed... Until they move the whole thing out of London. Go while it still stands. —Feroz Gajia
Probably Dishoom’s most famous dish. For good reason. Wildly inauthentic and proud. Naan, generally, is an underrated vehicle for any sandwich, which goes someway to explaining the triumph here. Bacon, (and egg), chilli jam, a little yoghurt, and chopped coriander — all on a chewy little folded naan, which soaks up the rendered fat. Eat quickly. —Adam Coghlan
There’s one dish here that no one else in London does — a British breakfast burrito fused with the Mexican-American tradition of wrapping a fry up in a tortilla. Chef-owner Isabel’s El Paso breakfast burrito revels in inauthenticity with its scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, cheese, pinto beans, pico de gallo, and is even better with sour cream and hot sauce. —Jonathan Nunn
Ordering a croque madame for breakfast is a bold move, particularly one that’s punching aged Comte. It comes bubbling under a blanket of golden bechamel and that all-important fried egg. The egg isn’t necessary, of course, but does make the sandwich seem more breakfast-appropriate. A sharply dressed side salad makes finishing the whole thing more achievable. —Helen Graves
The Mother Flipper breakfast muffin is the reason Brockley Market shoppers spend so much time wiping egg off their faces. The muffin comes toasted and buttered, stacked with a coarse-grind garlic and herb sausage from The Butchery, a free-range egg ripe for poppin’ and a slice of American cheese. There’s an option to add candied bacon and a potato rosti for an extra £1 each — tricky to handle but worth the mess. —Helen Graves
Whitechapel Bakery Rinkoff supplies the special recipe 8-inch subs that are the signature of this outstanding sandwich van. The Sub Contractor is filled with bacon, herby sausage, fried egg, white pudding and ketchup as a homage to the classic English breakfast — albeit with added fancy truffle mayo. This sub is only served on Saturdays at Brockley Market, for fear that its City shop customers might fall asleep at their desks. —Helen Graves
One of Balham’s top attractions, the Convict sandwich at Milk is a hangover slaying stack of protein. Based on an Egg McMuffin, it’s got oak smoked Tamworth belly bacon, a secret recipe for sausage patty from a local butcher, ‘folded’ eggs, house-made chipotle ketchup and a tousled hairdo of grated Lincolnshire poacher. Egg McExtra. —Helen Graves
Warm pita, hummus, aubergine, boiled egg, salad, pickles with tahina, amba and zhoug. Listing what a sabich contains is cause for salivation always. To have the gluttonous forethought to partake in it for breakfast is devious and deserves a treat. Luckily H&C have bakes in abundance, so treat yourself twice. —Feroz Gajia
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