The best brunch in London

An utter gem halfway up the Roman Road, Mae + Harvey has quietly been offering one of the best brunches in London for a while now. Chefs Daisy Matthews and Joseph Morrisey keep the menu constantly updated, and, in our experience, never seem to miss. The cooking is consistent, confident and extremely tasty. Don’t let Mae + Harvey’s cool, loose-limbed vibe mislead you: this is fun food, prepared by people who have a tangible love for what they do.

Don’t miss: The chicken sandwich is legendary (and one of the only things on the menu that never changes). Masterful deployment of celery.

Akub, chef Fadi Kattan’s Palestinian restaurant on an extremely cute residential backstreet in Notting Hill, does a serious line in brunch. Fresh mint and sage tea, as well as potent Arabic coffee accompanies decadent bowls of fatteh (short rib for the meat eaters, aubergine for the vegetarians), oozy slabs of grilled Nabulsi cheese drizzled with nigella seed oil, cauliflower and corriander fritters and rich fava bean stew.

Don't miss: The barkuk baklawa with phyllo pastry, plums and pistachio.  

Lucky, lucky ducks. Not only do the web-footed locals of Victoria Park have a gorgeous lake (complete with nesting islands and a pagoda), they also get to snack on some of the best artisan bread of any park café in London. Yards of outdoor tables and smoothly pulled coffees make this a lovely watering hole for humans, too. Calorie-loaded American and British classics are cooked in a straightforward style using flavourful ingredients, many of them brought in from Borough Market. Brunch is served all day, every day, from 8am.

Don't miss: Specials such as the Sri Lankan brekkie complete with dhal and hoppers.

The brillianty boho, Ab Fab styled Julie’s does an excellent brunch, because of course it does. Swagger to this Holland Park spot, sit among the expensive antiques and fabrics bold enough to make your grandma blush, and get elegantly wasted. Why order a bloody mary when you can have a green tomato martini? From 11.30am every Saturday and Sunday, the menu takes no prisoners; lobster roll, boudin noir with a poached egg and shishito pepper, and quail eggs florentine are some of the more demure offerings.

Don’t miss: If you really want to push the boat out, then order a seafood tower buckling under the weight of trout pastrami, prawns and dressed crab and oysters.

This is brunch, Thai-Americana style. Head to The Hoxton hotel in Shepherd’s Bush for the endlessly delicious Chet's diner, which serves up a sublime brunch from 10am-4pm every day. If you're after something sweet then there's banana french toast with caramel-battered milk bread, pecan pandan cream, condensed milk and maple syrup. Or try spicy chicken ‘n’ roti waffles, a hefty pancake stack with blueberries and maple syrup, or a spicy pork patty scone with crispy chilli oil, thai sausage, wok fried egg and coriander. 

Don't miss: Throw a five-spice cinnabun onto your order or live in a world of regret.

Claiming to be the 'the world's first Nigerian tapas restaurant', Tottenham's Chuku's is the place to go in N15 for weekend brunch. For £40 per person you'll get three sharing plates from the restaurant’s regular menu – add on thoney suya prawns or lamb ayamase for a few quid extra – as well as three cocktails. There are also puddings of chin chin cheesecake, plantain waffle, or yam brownies available.

Don't miss: Chuku’s most popular cocktail; The Eze. A potent tequila, lemonade, mint, and zobo combo. 

Think all brunches are twee affairs with checkered tablecloths and delicate, genteel vibes? Think again. Painted pitch black and with its walls slathered in band posters, legendary Camden rock ‘n’ roll bar The Black Heart offers a wilder sort of brunch every Saturday. Alongside a menu of no less than five different Bloody Marys – each so richly stacked with garnishes that you could fill up on those alone – are entirely vegan dishes towering with pancakes, waffles and arguably London’s finest fake meat. And it’s that meat substitute that’s really worth shouting about: chef LD’s signature ‘mocken’ is entirely made in-house and, from its ‘skin’ to its ‘gristle’, it’s everything you could want from mock meat.

Don’t miss: The chance to combine LD’s towering Grand Slam and a ‘Hellvis’ Bloody Mary. A lot of food, but a lot of good food.

You can’t help but feel quite smug sitting in Kolamba’s airy little courtyard on a Saturday. While you’re sipping on a chilli margarita and tucking into boiled eggs smothered in turmeric and coconut gravy, you’re getting eyed by flustered Carnaby shoppers, not to mention the hungry hordes queueing outside Dishoom next door. No shade to Dishoom, but they’d do well to jump ship. Kolamba’s brunch offering is faultless and full of surprises: there are punchy Sri Lankan takes on toasties and avo and eggs, plus an extensive menu of meat, fish and vegetables (the pineapple fry, a perfect sweet-savoury union, is by far the stand-out).

Don’t miss: Aunty Mo’s ‘Chatti’ Roast – not a roast dinner, but a melt-in-your-mouth beef stir fry starter. To die for.

Jackson Boxer – of Brunswick House and Time Out's hottest chefs in London fame – has been lowkey hosting one of the most interesting new restaurants in central London. Tucked away on the second floor of Selfridges, Jackson Boxer at The Corner is a classy getaway with big windows, big flavours and plenty of opportunity to forget that you're eating in a massive shop. Brunch is a weekend affair, and comprises the elegant likes of fried eggs with brown butter and crispy sage, date and coconut pancakes with black treacle butter and avocado, tahini and yuzu toast.

Don't miss: Cocktails are also a strong point – sip a pickle martini and try not to go so boozed that you end up spending a month's wages when you stumble back onto the shop floor. 

This serene Aussie-style café-restaurant is something of a quiet classic in this part of town. Come the weekend, the standard breakfast menu (lots of eggs and avocado, as you’d expect) expands into brunch territory with a host of sizeable salads and burgers, waffles and pancakes. A perfect respite from the hordes at Tate Modern.

Don’t miss: The breakfast stack – a gargantuan pile of ham hock and chorizo baked beans on a toasted bagel, with two poached free-range eggs and hollandaise sauce.

If your idea of a gentle awakening in the morning is a nice cup of tea while listening to Radio 2, you’d best go elsewhere – you can hear the sound of deep house coming through Milk’s open french windows before you reach the Bedford Hill site. The coffee provides a good caffeine kick, and the menu lists some interesting hot dishes, such as a fish sando with panko fried red snapper and a pork-patty muffin with streaky bacon. Seasonal dishes include the likes of summery beef tomatoes and crunchy kale salad with pomegranate dressing.

Don’t miss: A blissful banana bread with halva butter and pumpkin seed tahini.

Brunch lasts all weekend at this Islington hangout ft. a garden: the dishes on offer will induce stomach-rumbling indecision, the prices are great, the service is sparkling and the food is magnificent. The menu comes stacked with things like sugar-dusted, fruit-filled french toast drizzled with salted-caramel sauce and avocados on sourdough toast with lemon, rocket, nuts and seeds... basically anything your brunch belly could want is on there. 

Don’t miss: The ever changing special; at last look it was Mexican chilaquiles with roasted tomato salsa folded through corn tortillas, topped with sour cream and queso fresco.

A row of waving Taiwanese fortune cats and a large gold gong greet you as you walk through the door of family-run Tooting restaurant, Daddy Bao. Given they’re both symbols of wealth and luck, I have high expectations for the lantern lit, flower-filled spot’s brunch menu. As fate, or the chef, would have it, I’m not disappointed as we tuck into sharing plates of sesame aubergine, szechuan cucumber, spring onion pancakes with salted egg yolk and bacon chilli crisp, and chicken dumplings. Then it’s on to the main event: the baos. The shitake mushroom and beef brisket dishes are drool-worthy, but it’s the familiar yet punchy prawn toast royale with gochujang hollandaise – a Taiwanese twist on eggs benedict – that’ll get bums on seats. You’ll feel like the cat who got the cream.

Don’t miss Did we mention the prawn toast royale?

Stepping inside this pretty pink restaurant feels like a warm welcome home; colourful cloths cover every table, there are plush cushions and faux flowers, while quirky artwork lines the walls. On top of this quaint interior come bold flavours and innovative brunch dishes from the kitchen of chef patron Ravinder Bhogal, which span Asian, African and Middle Eastern cuisine. Feast on prawn toast scotch eggs, butterbean and chorizo stew, fishcakes with mint stuffing and spicy hollandaise, and a long list of quirky cocktails every weekend. 

Don’t miss: The light and fluffy saffron malpuas, served with pistachio ice cream, which makes for a perfect sweet treat.

Swap the mopeds for Lime bikes whizzing past on the pavement, and eating on The Laundry’s terrace is a dead ringer for brunching on a Florentine piazza. A former Edwardian laundry is now an all-day restaurant and wine shop. When it comes to brunch, try The Dirty Laundry stack – made up of hash browns served with a roulette of sauces. There's also sautéed mushrooms with poached eggs, served on sourdough and slathered in creamed cheese. 

Don't miss: In the drinks department, the cucumber margarita hits the spot. 

If you’ve got a hankering for American-style eggs-n-bacon, but can’t quite stretch to the US airfare, we’d suggest a visit to west London’s Sunday in Brooklyn. It’s a buzzy spot with indoor greenery and big, bright windows, by way of many a Williamsburg brunch haunt, and the food hits the sweet spot between diner classics and healthy-ish fare. Cheesy scrambled eggs are served on glistening brioche buns and potatoes are sautéed homestyle. It’s just like New York, only in Notting Hill.

Don't miss: The pancakes are enormous, and come slathered in a thick hazelnut maple praline sauce so glossy you can check your reflection in it.

Expect your vegan chums to be particularly perky every Saturday and Sunday between the hours of 11am and 4pm, as these legendary plant-based Mexican street food slingers will be serving up their 'Bangin Brunch'. Expect crispy corn tortillas with scrambled tofu, beans and 'chorizo' or fried 'chick'n' on waffles with chilli maple syrup.

Don't miss: The cocktails; a Bloody Maria, Hibiscus Bellini and Breakfast Margarita with guava. 

There are few London brunch spots worth queuing in the rain for. This is one of them. An Aussie-style neighbourhood cafe, it's bright and casual and, unsurprisingly, knows a thing or two about eggs. It operates a walk-ins only policy, which often leads to a conga line curving off Uxbridge Road during peak weekend brunch hours. The menu is loyal to classics like scrambled and poached eggs and also experiments with dishes like smoked tofu benedict and turkish eggs, the only item left unchanged over the last five years. The staff are equally sunny-side up. Get in line.

Don’t miss: The Nutella french toast; slathered in hazelnut chocolate, maple syrup mascarpone and coated with cornflakes for extra pizazz. Proper sticky carby goodness.

Eclectic breakfasts are served until noon during the week at this easy-going Stokey coffee house, but the kitchen tweaks its offer for brunch at the weekend. Staples such as four-grain porridge and breakfast sandwiches stuffed with egg, creamed spinach and walnut gremolata are joined by the likes of pork collar tonkatsu, and squash and comice pear salad. To drink? Juices, teas and house-made softies (beet and rhubarb drinking vinegar, anyone?). 

Don’t miss: The sensational house preserves. 

Destination neighbourhood dining in Peckham – that’s the schtick at Kudu, a good-looking restaurant specialising in South African-inspired small plates. Done out like a sleek, vintage lounge bar, its weekend brunch deal (11am-2.30pm) involves some thrillingly clever takes on the classics – from shakshuka with burnt kale to sourdough waffles with home-cured salmon, crème fraîche and poached eggs. There are cocktails by the glass or jug, too.  

Don’t miss: Those house waffles. 

From the outside this black-painted building looks rather severe, but step inside and suddenly you’re in a bright and airy space that feels more like colonial-era Delhi than modern-day Clerkenwell. This is the place for an elegant yet laidback weekend brunch. The food is very good too: the huevos benedictos are a perfect balance of spicy chorizo and creamy hollandaise sauce, while the gluten-free pancakes with banana, cocoa nibs, maple syrup are an indulgent treat that veers close to pudding territory.

Don’t miss: The house Bellini and other treats from the stunning cocktail list – the guys at B&H were among the first to bring the New York trend of bottomless brunching to our shores.

Vegans will have a brunch-shaped field day at WAVE, which stands for We Are Vegan Everything. Breakfast brioche, avo toast, and mac and cheese – topped with coconut bacon, naturally – make up the powerful plant-based menu. For those who like it sweet, there's a banana smoothie bowl with coconut milk, topped with granola, coconut flakes and chia.

Don't miss: The house mushroom sausage roll, wrapped in flaky puff pastry.

With its serene but welcoming atmosphere and short but tempting food menu – think bresaola, manchego, basil, roast red pepper and pickled white cabbage flatbread or a treacle-cured bacon sarnie with smoked garlic and tomato chutney – Franks will fix your day before it’s even had a chance to go wrong. Good coffee, efficient staff, generous portions and a playlist full of memorable tracks will gently transform you from a duvet zombie to a chipper day-seizer with minimum fuss.

Don’t miss: The menu changes regularly, but grab some treacle-cured back bacon, which is always on offer as a side.

This friendly all-day Dalston café bills itself a ‘modern greasy spoon’ and has perfected the art of curing hangovers – thanks to its devotion to hash browns and all things pork. Its quirky brunch dishes (available Wednesday to Sunday) strike the perfect balance between wholesomeness and the restorative powers of fried bacon – although they also sneak in a surprising amount of veg, from kale to homemade beans. The ‘Posh Pig’ muffin is particularly good, and the vegetarian options are genuinely decent, too. Expect to queue at weekends.

Don’t miss: Sides, which include a ‘bucket of bacon’ with maple syrup.

Lantana’s weekend brunch menu rings the changes when compared to the standard menus on offer throughout the week. A few classics (smashed avocado) sit alongside more unusual assemblies including a teriyaki salmon poke bowl and nasi goreng with brown rice, chilli sambal, roasted peanuts and a fried egg. The corn fritters are surprisingly hearty, stacked with streaky bacon, roast tomatoes, poached egg and chilli jam.

Don’t miss: An epic barbecue beef-brisket hash, with sweet onions, crispy potatoes, pickled jalapeños and a fried egg.