This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
When you book your stay at the Rathbone direct through the website you get a free continental breakfast every morning of your stay but sometimes, the most important meal of the day is worthy of more consideration.
Breakfast is the meal we miss most often, whether it’s because we’re in a rush, we can’t be bothered to prepare anything or we can’t find the inspiration but whatever your reason for skipping, there are no more excuses!
London is full of amazing places to eat breakfast and around the Rathbone you’ll find dozens of great restaurants, diners and cafés. Here are our choices of the best breakfasts in London…
Quo Vadis
Quo Vadis is a classically trendy restaurant in the heart of Soho. It has a long and frantic history; it was once owned by artist Damien Hirst and the kitchen was presided over by enfant terrible of British cooking Marco Pierre White but today, chef Jeremy Lee’s breakfast menu is simple, classic and delicious.
The full English breakfast is £12 and the menu includes kippers, porridge, the quintessential bacon rolls and eggs, however you like them, served, according to the menu, with buttery fried bread. Delicious!
Show me on a mapThe Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is fast-becoming one of the most popular places for breakfast in London and if you name a place to eat after one of the most popular films of the 80s, it better be good – and it is!
‘Decorated’ with holiday selfies, notes scribbled on the walls and postcards from all over the globe, the ‘Full Monty’ English is £11.75 and as well as the classic breakfast derivatives, there’s a nod to the tastes of the Deep South with, amongst many other delights, their famous chorizo hash browns, a packed breakfast burrito and buttermilk pancakes with bacon and maple syrup.
It’s also worth having a look at their website if you’re into 80s computer games…
Show me on a mapThe Riding House Café
The Riding House Café is a five minute walk from Oxford Circus and they serve comfort food and breakfast classics including kedgeree, what they call a ‘full and proper’ English breakfast, eggs any which way you like and of course light and fluffy buttermilk pancakes. You can even top up with a portion of chips!
The restaurant is quirky and more than a little bit retro (the wall lamps are made from stuffed squirrels) and you can sit at individual tables, at the grand communal dining table lit by a colossal candelabra or catch the buzz at the bar but wherever you sit, you can watch Fitzrovia’s media darlings rush by!
Show me on a mapBenugo
Just off Oxford Street and a few minutes’ walk from the Rathbone, Benugo is a trendy, eco-aware chain of cafés serving a great choice of create-your-own wraps, sandwiches and salads as well as freshly-baked pastries, muffins, yoghurt pots, fruit salads, muesli and classic bagels with smoked salmon, eggs and bacon and cheese.
There’s a great breakfast choice for vegetarians and vegans and they only use high-quality, locally-sourced ingredients, standing them apart from the usual sandwich and coffee outlets dotted all over the city. This is breakfast with a conscience!
Show me on a mapBalthazar
Close to Theatreland in the heart of Covent Garden, Balthazar is the London version of a New York institution which is, in turn, an interpretation of a French bistro /brasserie! Breakfast at Balthazar isn’t the cheapest you’ll find but chef Robert Reid has created an interesting, mouth-watering breakfast menu including the classic full English with a veggie alternative, homemade granola, waffles, eggs of all types including Benedict, Florentine and Royale as well as delicious teas, coffees, juices and smoothies.
Master baker Jon Rolfe’s bread is a ‘must try’ and the décor is somewhat grandiose with red leather banquettes, antique mirrored walls and mosaic floors but it’s a great place for breakfast in London.
Show me on a mapThe Diner
What more can you ask for than comfortable leather seats, endless cups of coffee and breakfast served throughout the day!
A ten minute walk from the Rathbone is The Diner, a traditional all-American diner serving the best type of comfort food. Menu highlights include piled-high stacks of pancakes, eggs any way you want, big fry-ups, Tex-Mex and their famous create-your-own muffin with, amongst other delectable ingredients, fried eggs, sausage patties, bacon, hash browns and cheese.
It’s as American as it gets but that’s the charm so come hungry!
Show me on a mapKoya
When you think breakfast, do you ever think ‘Japanese Udon noodles’? No? Well maybe it’s time you started!
Ten minutes from the Rathbone in Soho is Koya, a quiet Japanese noodle bar full of Japanese people – the best sign you can wish for that it’s authentic. They serve traditional Japanese breakfasts including Okayu, a porridge dish with pickles, tsudukani and egg; Kinoko which is porridge and shiitake mushrooms as well as grilled fish with rice, miso soup and pickles.
They also do a fantastic Japanese-English hybrid breakfast consisting of fried eggs and bacon but with shiitake, Udon noodles, porridge and miso soup, all washed down with Japanese tea. They don’t take reservations so you’ll have to take your chances but it’s worth the short wait.
Show me on a map