Waking up to a hearty brunch is a perfect way to enjoy some of your precious time away from the office. You won't have to travel far across London to find the perfect spot for a bite to eat either.
Whether you’re looking for a traditional ‘Full English’ fry-up, eggs galore, some sugary treats to satisfy your sweet tooth, or a boozy bottomless brunch, there’s a café to suit all tastes and cravings.
We’ve wandered around North London and found five of the best spots to brighten up your weekend.
The Good Egg
Stoke Newington’s popular The Good Egg always has a trail of customers itching to get their hands on the café’s Middle-Eastern delights come the weekend. The café has a rotating seasonal menu, letting you sample a variety of flavours and dishes on every visit. Savour their selection of breads including challah French toast, Iraqi pitas and sweet babka loaves, and choose from the pickles, meat, dairy and fruit accompaniments.
Inside, the café’s contemporary design and low-key wooden benches make it a light and breezy spot to help you welcome in the weekend.
Caravan
With 2 locations – King’s Cross and Clerkenwell’s Exmouth Market – Caravan ticks all the boxes for a trendy brunch spot, serving all your favourite breakfast things, from fruity granolas and cereals to sourdough or grain toasts, as well as bigger cooked plates. There are plenty of vegetarian dishes on the menu, including their popular grain pancakes and field mushrooms.
Serving some of the finest coffee in North London, Caravan has its own freshly roasted coffee blends, with daily specials including dark chocolate, nougat and clementine. Or power through the weekend with one of the fresh fruit juices and smoothies.
The King’s Cross offering is a much bigger space with an industrial vibe and chilled buzz, whilst the original Clerkenwell location hosts a more intimate, neighbourhood atmosphere.
Sunday
As the name suggests, Sunday is the place you’ll want to be after a long week. In between Barnsbury and Highbury & Islington stations, it’s a laid-back addition to North London’s brunch scene. Sunday understands what brunch is about, offering an eclectic menu and garnishing every dish with all the trimmings. It’s worth waking up early to secure your spot.
The all-American-style dishes will satisfy your cravings, with an equal selection of savoury and sweet choices on the menu. You’ll be spoilt for choice, so it’s no wonder the café is a regular hotspot for those living in the area. Tuck into a plate of pancakes piled high and doused in syrup, with berries or bacon (or both), get stuck into some wholesome avocado on toast, or enjoy an egg-and-beef bagel.
Grain Store
Just behind King’s Cross station, Grain Store is one of the many trendy additions to the former Victorian warehouse space on Granary Square. It stands out from the crowd due to its perfect offering of drinks and dining. Every dish is served with both taste and aesthetics in mind, so you can expect colourful plates with an array of vegetables, fruit and meats.
The dishes are more health-focused than most brunch menus, favouring unusual and innovative ingredient combinations over traditional bacon and eggs. The cafe-cum-restaurant is also particularly accommodating to specific dietary requirements. If you’re looking for a more unusual mid-morning meal, Grain Store is definitely worth a visit.
Workshop Coffee
Decked out with a contemporary design of exposed brickwork, wooden table blocks and low lighting, Workshop Coffee is the ideal place to inspire creative ideas – you’ll want to visit all week round for your daily coffee fix. The baristas are real coffee connoisseurs, and there is an onsite roastery in the Clerkenwell café, so you can expect only the highest quality and freshest taste for your little pick-me-up. You can even purchase one of their blends to take away with you.
But, whilst coffee is their focus, they also serve up delicious dishes around the clock. The weekday and weekend menus differ though, with the latter hailing in an impressive brunch selection that won them the award of ‘Best Vegetarian Breakfast’ in Observer Food Monthly. Choose from a plethora of egg dishes, toasts and fruity waffles, and sit back in the lively atmosphere of this trendy spot.
Stylish Living in North London
Explore everything that North London has to offer by renting with us. Vantage Point is situated in the heart of Islington, offering stylish apartments with access to a huge amount of stunning shared social spaces.
