Full English breakfast
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

History

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.

Book a food experience

Tours, tastings and classes that match this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.

Browse every bookable food experience

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 25 minTotal 25 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 rashers smoked back bacon
  • 4 Cumberland or Lincolnshire pork sausages
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 thick slices black pudding
  • 1 large tomato, halved
  • 100g chestnut mushrooms, halved
  • 1 tin (400g) baked beans
  • 4 slices white bloomer
  • 30g butter, 1 tbsp oil
  • Sea salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Heat oven to 100C with a plate inside to keep components warm.
  2. Heat oil in a heavy pan. Brown sausages 12 minutes over medium-low, turning, until cooked through. Move to warm oven.
  3. Add bacon to the pan, cook 4 minutes until crisp at the edges. To oven.
  4. Add mushrooms with butter, cook 5 minutes. Add tomato halves cut-side down for the last 3 minutes. To oven.
  5. Slice black pudding, fry 2 minutes each side. To oven.
  6. Warm beans in a small pan over low heat.
  7. Fry eggs in remaining fat 2 to 3 minutes until set with runny yolks.
  8. Toast bread or fry in pan with remaining fat.
  9. Plate everything together. Brown sauce or ketchup on the side, tea in a mug.

Tip from the editors. Cook the sausages first and slowest. Eggs last so the yolks stay runny when the plate lands.

Where to eat full english breakfast

Full English breakfast in London

Regency Cafe ★ 4.6

£ BrunchWestminster

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.

TryFull English breakfast

TipCash 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.

Directions

E Pellicci ★ 4.3

£ ItalianShoreditch Spitalfields

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.

TryFull English breakfast

TipClosed Sundays. Cash and card. The famed lasagna is £8; the bacon-and-egg roll is £6. Saturday queue runs 30 minutes.

Directions

Granger and Co Notting Hill ★ 4.4

££ £12-25BrunchAustralian all-day brunchNotting Hill Bayswater

Bill Granger's Australian brunch room on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill London, opened 2011, runs ricotta hotcakes and brown rice porridge from breakfast.

OrderRicotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter

TipWalk-in only. Sunday queue runs 60 minutes; weekday breakfast walks in. Closed half an hour 16:00-16:30 for staff service change.

Directions

The Wolseley ★ 4.6

££ £18-35BrunchEuropean brasserie breakfast and brunchMayfair

Chris Corbin and Jeremy King's grand European brasserie on Piccadilly in London, opened 2003, runs the city's most-traditional power-breakfast crowd.

OrderEggs Benedict with smoked salmon, plus a flat white

TipWeekday breakfast at 07:30 is the easy slot. The weekend full English at £24 is the marquee brunch order.

Directions Book

The Breakfast Club Soho ★ 4.2

££ £8-18BrunchAmerican-British all-day breakfastSoho

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.

OrderPancake stack with bacon and maple

TipWalk-in only. Weekday at 09:00 walks in; weekends queue 45-60 minutes. The Spitalfields and Hoxton siblings have shorter queues.

Directions

All London signature dishes →

More cities are in research. Want full english breakfast covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →