Big, casual breakfast in London
 

My husband and I will be arriving in London early next Saturday morning. Any suggestions for a casual and filling breakfast spot? The Fox and Anchor pub sounded ideal but looks like it's closed on the weekends. Thanks!

Not sure where exactly you are arriving -- but when we fly BA into LHR terminal 4, we collect our bags then go up to the mezzanine for breakfast at Caffe d'Italia. Despite the name, they do good freshly cooked bacon and eggs, toast, juice, etc, and the coffee is great. It meets the "casual and filling" requirement better than many places you will find actually in London.

Just the thing to help with jet lag, and set us up for the onward trip to wherever comes next.

Most central London greasy spoons do open on Saturday mornings - including one or two in the grownups' breakfast capital of the universe, Smithfield, where the Fox and Anchor is. Some of the weekend openers, like Smiths of Smithfield, are a bit poncey. But even there you can get breakfasts blissfully uncontaminated by faddish junk food like muesli, croissants or pain au chocolat.

Just about the only downside of the Eastern Europeanisation of London, though, has been the number of greasy spoons recently taken over by people who simply don't understand the subtleties of bubble, black pudding, beans on toast or a properly poached egg).

And some tourist areas of London (like Mayfair) are pretty devoid of proper breakfasteries any day of the week (though they're dismally awash with pits you can stuff yourself with garbage like muffins or preposterous varieties of coffee if you're happy to eat rubbish).

Tell us where your hotel is though and we'll suggest somewhere you can get a sensible pile of protein, prpoerly laced with lots of yummy fat, after your hotel has told you your room isn't ready yet.

Thanks, we'll be staying in the Novotel Euston. Not the most fabulous area, I know, but we got a good deal through Priceline. Any suggestions around that area or in central London would be great. My husband has never been so I'm sure we'll be out walking and seeing the major sites.

I am looking out my office window at the Euston Novotel as I type (I work on top of STA Travel), and you are in exactly the right place for a proper breakfast. And one cooked by proper café people (Cypriots etc), not jam-rolls.

If you come out of your hotel and turn right and go in the street with the Rocket (a pub) at the top (The street is Chalton St) you will find five or six top quality nosheries that will put hair on your chest and fat in your arteries. The Kings Café is where I usually get my lunch.

Make sure you get black pudding and bubble and squeak.

I should add that if you ask for muesli, croissants, freshly squeezed orange juice or any other poncey stuff in Chalton St they will either assume you’re having a Steffi, or slap an ASBO on you.

My British slang is not up to date, but I catch your drift and won't order the poncey items!! Thanks for the advice, my husband will be thrilled with a big greasy breakfast.

The good news: The Kings Cafe IS open on Saturdays

The bad news: They gave me THE worst bubble anywhere, ever, a few Saturdays ago. West's judgement on bubble is clearly as odd as on football teams.

The even worse news: Chalton St is going poncey. The Somers Town Coffee House, which used to be a reasonable pub, has gone gastro (Deep fried brie with raspberry coulis. Lavender crème brûlée). Twenty years ago, honest girls used to take a break there from a hard evening's massaging. Now there are copies of the Grauniad all over the place.

Stuff yourself at the King's before someone turns it into a sushi bar.

My dear Cotswold Mickey – one does not go to the Kings to have bubble for luncheon. I had a ruby there today and bloody nice it was (the proprietors are Bengalis, so their Indian grub is top notch).

I’m shoulder to shoulder with you on the Coffee House. Not only is it a nest of tossers, it’s a nest of lefty, bolshie tossers (It’s the “house pub” of the RMT exec – knob-jockeys to a man and the T&G are only round the corner, and of course Unison’s HQ is next to where I write this).

You can’t even get a pickled egg in there these days. For shame.

I’m not sure about Chalton St getting gentrified – if todays market was anything to go by, it’s some way off. The knocking shop’s still there too.

So which one sold me that terrible bubble? About 15 yards down on the right as you're going away from Euston Rd. Next to a newsagent. Cypriots or Greeks or Maltese.

That is (rather stupidly) Called the Cafe Albert. Not a favourite of mine either.

The kings is the first caff you come to on the left hand side. Small place, always busy.

So while CS and David are dining at the Kings Cafe, do they recognize each other? Do they argue about football and politics without knowing to whom they speak? Does the style make itself evident when spoken as well as written? Does David say, "Flanner, is that you?"

Inquiring minds want to know.

Well, we certainly don't want you people who might start eating those "healthy" foods to start doing so and hang around any longer than necessary now do we?

take my advice; go for the lot except the black pudding. Some people love it but.....blech!

So while CS and David are dining at the Kings Cafe, do they recognize each other? Do they argue about football and politics without knowing to whom they speak? Does the style make itself evident when spoken as well as written? Does David say, "Flanner, is that you?"

Inquiring minds want to know. >>>>>>

English people think it's impolite to talk to strangers.