breakfast in marylebone

Back in London again this past weekend, this time for a benefit gala that Domenico’s clients had kindly invited us to. Seemed like a good enough excuse, and certainly a good cause. We flew up Ryanair, (never again!) and stayed in a Montagu Place Hotel. While I wasn’t thrilled with the hotel (rooms teeny tiny, even by London standards) I loved the neighborhood. When my sister used to live in Primrose Hill we would always walk down through Regents Park to Marylebone High Street, which is filled with cute shops and cafes.

Ten years later and the neighborhood has gotten even better. I was particularly impressed with the choices for breakfast. Don’t you love going out for breakfast when you are traveling? Yes, room service is great, but there’s nothing more conducive to feeling at home than buying the local paper and settling in for a Full English Breakfast.

Canteen was right around the corner, so we headed straight there on Saturday. This is their third place in London, and is as wonderfully designed as all the rest. If you don’t know it already, Canteen serves very good, high quality yet simple, local and seasonal English food. What more could you want? They are open all day long, and very casual. It’s mostly comfort food, and that means breakfast whenever you want it. I had eggs benedikt, which was served on a extra thick, homemade english muffin, the poached eggs perfectly cooked.

Sunday morning we were actually all set to head back to Canteen, but since they don’t open until 10am on Sundays, we went to Coco Momo instead. Set right on Marleybone High Street. I’ve always wanted to come here for lunch, which is supposed to be excellent. I’m happy to say the breakfast was superb. I had the English Breakfast, which included a big fat grilled portabello mushroom in addition to everything else you’d expect. Domenico had a fluffy, buttery croissant, served with homemade jams.

I know I shouldn’t complain when it comes to food in Rome, but why can’t someone open a place where you can get good simple food – including breakfast – all day long? A place where you can linger over the newspaper? On the other hand, we do have better coffee…..


Canteen
55 Baker Street

Coco Momo
79 Marylebone High Street