Bacon, sausage, fried egg, baked beans, grilled tomato, mushrooms, black pudding, fried bread or toast. London's defining hangover plate, served all day at greasy spoons and gastro brunch rooms since the 1800s.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 1 city.
The full English derived from rural country-house breakfasts of the nineteenth century, codified by the Edwardian middle classes as a single plate to start the day. Mass production of bacon and sausage in the 1900s pushed it into working-class greasy spoons. The Regency Cafe (1946 on Regency Street, Westminster) and E Pellicci (1900 on Bethnal Green Road) still serve the canonical version: white plate, brown HP sauce, tea on the side. Modern London brunch rooms (Caravan, Granger and Co, Riding House) plate prettier takes; the survival of the form sits with the cafe institutions.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg
Tip from the editors. Cook the sausages first and slowest. Eggs last so the yolks stay runny when the plate lands.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
The 1946 white-tiled greasy spoon on Regency Street in Westminster London, runs the canonical full English breakfast for £8.50, a working-class set-piece preserved unchanged.
Try: Full English breakfast
Tip: Cash and contactless. Closed Sundays and from 14:30 weekdays. The mug of tea is £1.50; classic mug-of-tea-and-fry-up is the £10 menu.
E Pellicci's 1900 Italian-British family cafe on Bethnal Green Road in east London, Grade-II listed for the 1946 marquetry interior, runs full English breakfast for £9.50.
Try: Full English breakfast
Tip: Closed Sundays. Cash and card. The famed lasagna is £8; the bacon-and-egg roll is £6. Saturday queue runs 30 minutes.
Bill Granger's Australian brunch room on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill London, opened 2011, runs ricotta hotcakes and brown rice porridge from breakfast through dinner.
Order: Ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter
Tip: Walk-in only. Sunday queue runs 60 minutes; weekday breakfast walks in. Closed half an hour 16:00-16:30 for staff service change.
Chris Corbin and Jeremy King's grand European brasserie on Piccadilly in London, opened 2003, runs the city's most-traditional power-breakfast crowd from 07:00 to 12:00 weekdays.
Order: Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, plus a flat white
Tip: Weekday breakfast at 07:30 is the easy slot. The weekend full English at £24 is the marquee brunch order.
Jonathan Arana-Morton and Allan Howe's American-style brunch counter on D'Arblay Street in Soho London, opened 2005, runs pancakes, eggs and a famous Mavericks burrito.
Order: Pancake stack with bacon and maple
Tip: Walk-in only. Weekday at 09:00 walks in; weekends queue 45-60 minutes. The Spitalfields and Hoxton siblings have shorter queues.
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