Your guide to the sumptuous brunches and beautiful breakfasts Covent Garden has to offer.
Breakfast – the most important meal of the day. We’re inclined to agree, especially when they come as wonderful as they do in Covent Garden. The area is known for its great restaurants and bars, but what about when the hunger hits and you just know your homemade bacon and eggs won’t cut it?
Whether you want to wash down the above with a bottomless prosecco option, grab a croissant to go or tuck into a stack of pancakes and a warming pumpkin latte, we’ve got you covered with our insider’s guide to the best breakfast and brunch places Covent Garden can boast.
Best Breakfast and Brunch in Covent Garden
Drury 188-189
You can’t really talk about breakfast or brunch in Covent Garden without Drury 188-189 coming up eventually. This charming cafe in the heart of the action serves up all the avocado toast and poached egg combinations you could want in a totally chill setting where time doesn’t seem to matter and brunch absolutely does.
The place has a lovely story too. It was founded by two best friends who threw away dull 9-5 jobs to explore the world of London’s independent cafes. The people love what they created at the end of it, you can see their respect on the hundreds of note-scrawled napkins that hang around the cafe’s main room.
Balthazar
If you like your brunch with a touch of the extravagant you’ll want to head to Balthazar. The team here replicates the lively feels of bohemian Paris with live jazz performed as you knock back your food to the accompaniment of champagne and cocktails.
The food is traditional French brasserie-style but they’ve got some brunchy classics on the menu too. The New York pancakes are a favourite of ours, mainly because of how light and fluffy they manage to get them, but anyone with an appetite should go straight for the steak and eggs with frites – yes, apparently the French eat that for breakfast.
Big Easy
You might know Big Easy from elsewhere around town. They’ve got locations across London where they turn out menus of hearty American BBQ. They also have an option for a boozy brunch that might pique your interest.
The highlight of that brunch is an option for unlimited prosecco and (wait till you hear this) unlimited home-smoked barbecue. That’ll give you free rein over their St.Louis Ribs, pulled pork and chicken as well as sides like slaw, beans and fresh cornbread.
We feel a challenge coming on…
Violas
Just around the corner from Covent Garden’s main square, you’ll find Violas. You’ll probably be able to pick it out of the neighbourhood shops from the floral adornments on the cafe’s front.
Inside you’ll find the place you’ll find the food similarly decorated. They top plates with edible flowers that make dishes look delightful (and almost invariably end up on your instagram)
What’s on the plate? Breakfast, brunchy classics that feel healthy and guilt-free in spite of the fact they’re often pretty luxurious – the Lobster Bao Bun being our case in point.
Mildreds
If you’re looking for a breakfast that’s light on meat, Mildreds is the ticket. This entirely plant-based cafe will serve you well for both weekday breakfasts and weekend brunches. They’ve got menus for both offering everything from porridge to toasties stuffed with spiced Indian masala aloo.
The first thing you’ll notice about the food is the presentation. Someone in the kitchen here might have a side hustle as an artist – plates come dashed with shouts of colour and licks of sauce and garnish to flare. It’s not all style though, the food has the bite to back up its bark.
Apple Butter Cafe
Sometimes, and especially when the colder months are upon us, we look for cosiness as a top priority when choosing a cafe for breakfast. We found it by the bucketload in the Apple Butter Cafe – even the name gives off warm fuzzy vibes.
The food is just the same. Delicious plates of pancakes and French toast are what we go for here. There are options for savoury breakfast bits like shakshuka too if you’re not feeling ready to exercise your sweet tooth for the first meal of the day.
Should that be the case, don’t overlook the truffle scrambled eggs either.
Dishoom
We often get funny looks when we tell people to go to Dishoom for breakfast. Sure, the restaurant does have a killer dinner menu, and sure it’s so good that people queue in worryingly long lines (is this what we’ve come to?!?) just to taste their curries, but the lesser-known breakfast menu is where it’s at.
They offer the same great Indian food but with a breakfast twist. Take, for example, the Kejriwal – two fried eggs on a chilli cheese toast, or the selection of naan rolls they do. None of it disappoints, there are plenty of vegan and vegetarian options and you probably won’t have to wait in that monstrous queue.
Flesh & Buns
Sometimes the morning calls for something a little different. If you fancy mixing up your brunch options, consider trying out what they’ve got on offer at Flesh and Buns.
The place is a jazzed-up Japanese izakaya. They serve a menu of Japanese barbecue, sushi, sashimi and other bar-snack type morsels that deliver on flavour and pretty much demand a good drink or two to accompany.
The best part? They serve all of this as a Sunday brunch with bottomless options on red, white and bubbly. It might be the most exciting bottomless brunch Covent Garden has to offer.
Abuelo
Jheeez. Don’t even get us started on the interior of Abuelo. The Parquet floor and sleek mid-century furniture combo going on here makes us all feel like we should be sipping expensive whiskies, not tucking into Aussie breakfast classics or south-American-sourced coffees.
We’ve talked a fair bit about the presentation of breakfast plates in this guide, but Abuelo’s steals the show. The food is presented with a delicate hand and eye for the appetising, its undeniably splendid.
And if you’d like one more reason to be surprised by this place, know that it is actually family-run, which isn’t something you expect to hear from a cafe in the heart of Covent Garden.
Arôme Bakery
Breakfast in Covent Garden doesn’t always have to be about sitting down at a table and eating from artfully prepared plates of eggs and bacon (as nice as that is). We tend to think that when you’re in a part of London as gorgeous as this one, grabbing a pasty and a coffee to go can be just as nice a way to break a fast.
Arôme Bakery is one spot you’ll want to have on your mind when it comes to pastry time. The place was born out of founder Alix’s deep love of French pastries. They serve up a tantalising counter full of things that blend the time-honoured French techniques with flavours from around the world, particularly Asia.
Get in there and go wild. You will not regret it.
Practical Tips for Exploring the Best Brunch Covent Garden Offers
- This is a busy part of town so competition for tables might get stiff, especially at the weekend. Be prepared to queue to get into some of these places. Your best bet to secure a table is to book ahead. This is especially true of the bottomless weekend brunch spots in the guide.
- Not found anything you like here? Not to worry, London is a brunch and breakfast-obsessed city. Head a ten-minute walk west to Soho and you’ll find plenty more options to choose from.
