Top 5 for breakfast
From the devilish coffee with chocolate and whipped cream at The Wolseley to bagels, chilli-scrambled eggs and smoked ham at The Grocer, Fay Maschler gives her round-up of the tastiest places to start your day...
- THE WOLSELEY160 Piccadilly, W1 (020-7499 6996). Mon-Sun £35Chances of a table are a bit better at breakfast time, but even in the mornings there is plenty of glam and power-eating at Chris and Jeremy's elegant gaff. Their devilish secret is in the detail, an approach which means a choice of a dozen varieties of coffee including The Wolseley Imperial - tall espresso with hot milk, Mandarin Napoleon and Cognac topped with chocolate and whipped cream. Birchermuesli can be taken with mixed berries. Crispy bacon roll is a nice take on the British builder's start to the day.
- THE GROCER ON WARWICK21 Warwick Street, W1 (020-7437 7776). Mon-Fri £34At this stylish all-day enterprise (formerly the Sugar Club), start the day as you mean to go on - enjoying the understanding that New Zealanders have of vibrant eating. Julian Sciascia, in charge of the basement bakery, sends up excellent sourdough, croissants, bagels, foccacia and other even more wicked carbohydrate temptations which can be paired with, say, chilli-scrambled eggs with smoked ham. Hang about to try items from chef David Selex's fusion menu which runs from raw to rotisserie, and then buy takeaway dishes in sleek pouches for dinner.
ST JOHN BREAD & WINE
94-96 Commercical Street, E1 (020-7247 8724). Mon-Sun £28
Opposite Spitalfields Market, this former bank has become a bakery and all-day eating house inspired by the ethos of Fergus Henderson, famed for his nose-to-tail approach to eating. Because you might want an Eccles cake or seed cake at 11am, breakfast served from 9am (10am weekends) is relatively restrained. Old Spot bacon sandwich; pikelets and jam; soft herring roes, and porridge and prunes are offered. Head baker and pastry chef Justin Piers Gellatly makes sure that there will be toast and honey - of the very best kind.
THE CINNAMON CLUB
The Old Westminster Library, Great Smith Street, SW1 (020-7222 2555). Mon-Fri £40
At this chic Indian canteen for the Palace Of Westminster, a full English breakfast is offered, complete with sausages from Sillfield Farms Of Cumbria, black pudding and bacon from Donald Russell and Martin Pitt organic eggs, but what a pity not to break the fast as Indians do. South Indian lentil-and-rice-flour uttappam has savoury toppings on its crisp surface. Bombay pao is a soft bun smothered with butter-enriched spiced vegetables. Or discover where East and West did deliciously meet by ordering smoked haddock kedgeree.
Prices estimate the cost of breakfast for two
