After trying Common Breads’ musakhan manouche, we always have a niggling urge to stop off at this compact Lebanese cafe if we’re around Victoria. The tangy, sumac-heavy shredded chicken and red onion flatbread is a must-order. As is the lamb shawarma ka’ak, which is filled with tender slow-roasted lamb, pickles, and a creamy, smoky tahini sauce. Everything on the made-to-order menu hits the spot, and if you don’t get a tahini brownie for the table, you’re just going to have to go back.

Christopher’s serves the best french toast in London. Thick brioche with a soft gooey centre, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and melted chocolate—this is the reason you come here. But that’s not all this two-floor American restaurant has to offer. It’s got high ceilings, round tables with white tablecloths, and a menu filled with things like lobster mac and cheese, wagyu burgers (which is definitely an acceptable brunch), and a Texas grill complete with sausages and hash browns.

The theme at this charming Victoria bakery is ‘international baking’, which means you’ll find a selection of bagels, monkey bread, focaccia, ka’ak, and more. There are also inventive pastries like a za’atar and gruyère croissant. But the most important thing about this place is the excellent clay oven-baked flatbreads. Topped with delicious combinations like merguez and garlic aioli, or burrata and honey, these breads are what make this spot worth visiting.

Starting your day with peanut butter and banana-heavy french toast just because you can is what life is all about. That decision will lead you to places like Popina. This little Mayfair spot has scrambled eggs and all the other usual culprits on the menu, but there are some exciting alternatives that you should get involved in, like their house special ranchos with lime guacamole, green shakshuka, and raclette cheese melt.

Corrochio’s is a fun Mexican restaurant in Dalston that serves submarine-sized tortas for brunch, and, crucially, margaritas. If you’re with a group, we suggest sweet-talking the staff for one of the comfy booths. But on sunny days, the plant-covered terrace is the place to be. As well as the tortas, the chilaquiles should be on your table. The corn tortilla chips soak up the moreish salsa verde and come topped with tender shredded chicken and a fried egg that dribbles into the refried beans.

When you commit to brunch at Dobar, you commit to waiting in a queue. Whether that’s 10 minutes or half an hour really depends on how early you get there, but just know that there is always a wait at this walk-in only cafe. But it’s absolutely worth it for the XXL brunches at this Green Lanes spot. Whether it’s the hearty full English that arrives in a skillet pan, or the fluffy french toast covered in Nutella and fruit, this is the right way to start a Saturday. Or any day for that matter.

With Sunday, an all-day cafe in Islington, the clue is in the name. It’s the place to go for excellent, fluffy brioche french toast when you can’t be bothered to cook, wash away any apprehension about the impending week with smooth, frothy lattes, and have one last sleepy hurrah—courtesy a courgette fritter—before Monday hits. We’ve been solo and nursed a plate of scrambled eggs and with a friend—just choose someone you can trust to share the half portion of pancakes you ordered for the table.

If you’re a Stokey resident and you haven’t been to Esters then we’re about to change your life. If you’re from anywhere else, the same applies. Esters is a little cafe with a menu that changes daily, but is always very creative and very good. Think fried eggs with a fava bean masala, or an ice cream sando with a brown butter blackberry ripple. This is not your average brunch. It’s a no-booking, no-way-to-avoid-the-queue thing, but get there bright and early and you’ll be fine.

215 Hackney's manifesto should be “a friendly cafe for people who believe there’s life outside of avocado and sourdough”. And we'll happily go around Stoke Newington canvassing for them. The Middle Eastern spot takes London’s repeat breakfast offenders—bagels, french toast, jammy eggs—and adds a smear of tahini butter here, a chunky baba ganoush there, and liberal sprinkles of black sesame seed and sumac on every golden yolk.

The Allotment Kitchen is part of Stepney City Farm, and it’s the kind of leafy, fairy light-sprinkled oasis that draws nature-starved Londoners with the promise of aesthetic iced drinks. You’ll eat your orange mascarpone french toast sitting at a table fashioned from a tree trunk, as the friendly farm cat curls around your legs. The creative dishes are excellent—like confit garlic white bean mash with lemony leeks and crispy sage.