Snog, marry, avoid: breakfast, lunch, and dinner? If you ask me, I’m avoiding lunch and giving breakfast a huge snog. So, whoever came up with the idea to combine the two, you’ve saved lunch from an awful fate.

Brunch is just perfect. Truly, nothing makes me happier than leisurely dining, and with this meal happening anywhere between 10 am and 1 pm, it’s the perfect time slot for slowness. And we’re lucky in London that it has become a common mealtime. West London, especially.

That W postcode is inundated with locations for brunch, but what if they don’t live up to their Insta photos? No need to worry, these are the best brunch spots in West London to get your Eggs Beni fix, stacks of pancakes, or a fruity bowl of something healthy.

Burnt

In the game of snog, marry, avoid, I would marry Burnt tomorrow. The café in Shepherd’s Bush is seasonally driven and brings touches of creativity to its dishes. It serves brunch seven days a week, with an immaculate menu.

Pastries are from East London fave Dusty Knuckle, the buttermilk ricotta pancakes, with Kent rhubarb, and vanilla mascarpone, are soft and indulgent, and if the chocolate, Guinness, and raspberry cake is on the menu, then you simply have to get a brunch dessert.

Burnt also always has a cheeky special on the menu, which is a surprise option worth considering, even though you looked at the menu online a week ago and had decided in your head what you’d order.

Shepherd’s Bush, W12 | burntrestaurant.co.uk

akub

Sat in Notting Hill, you’ll find Akub, a Palestinian restaurant celebrating the ingredients and culinary traditions from the region, while working with locally sourced British ingredients. You can taste dishes such as Beyd, fried eggs, sumac, and Akub bread, or Zahra fritters, cauliflower, coriander tahinia, and marinated sumac onions, that are bursting with flavour.

Akub also has a brunch series, Friends of Akub, where it invites chefs in to collaborate on a plate. Currently, it’s Rachel Ama, spotlighting bold Caribbean flavours. Try the dish of jerk agave charred oyster mushroom skewers, featuring Ama’s special jerk marinade, plus butter beans, pumpkin, tahinia, and almonds, for a delightful savoury brunch.

Notting Hill, W8 | akub-restaurant.com

The Elder Press

Wholesome and nourishing, that’s what The Elder Press in Hammersmith does best. Chef Lindsay Elder wanted to create a space that brought people from the community together over good coffee, tasty food, and conversation. And that’s exactly what has happened.

Coffee is supplied by Ozone, and the food boasts dishes that warm you from the inside. Think super grain porridge, mushrooms on toast, and egg and bacon rolls, smothered with homemade HP brown sauce.

Hammersmith, W6 | theelderpress.co.uk

Tab x Tab

There’s a strictly quality focus at Tab x Tab, with the owners bringing their fine dining expertise to the brunch kitchen. The menu sees combos such as fluffy French toast with grilled peach, lemon thyme mascarpone, and orange blossom syrup, or the well-known prosciutto crudo, gorgonzola cream, and fresh melon on sourdough toast.

Coffee comes with a card detailing the tasting notes, too, so if you want to brush up on your bean knowledge or find out more about where your coffee comes from, then Tab x Tab is here to keep you informed. Try the house or guest roast to perk up your slow morning start.

Westbourne Grove, W2 | tabxtab.com

Sunday in Brooklyn

If brunch were a day, it would be Sunday. A day that embodies slowness, a casualness that comes from eating without rush. It’s often the day I’ll use up any old bananas and make a stack of fluffy pancakes.

And when I think of pancakes, I think of American pancakes. You know the plates that are piled high, teetering on toppling over, with toppings spilling over the sides. And Sunday in Brooklyn, with two West London locations, does exactly that, but this side of the pond.

You can have the huge pancakes – literally, the size of a plate – as a single, double or triple stack, but we all know the higher the pancakes, the happier you are. Oozing with a hazelnut maple praline and brown butter topping, it’s been a staple on the menu for a while, because why change a good thing?

Sunday in Brooklyn also serves up dishes such as avo toast, chia pudding, and cheddar scramble, but I can’t see past the pancakes at this point.

Marylebone, W1U, Notting Hill, W2 | sundayinbk.co.uk

Lowry & Baker

A cosy space with wooden benches and prints of local landmarks on the walls, Lowry & Baker is an artisan bakery bringing you a brunch menu that keeps going and going. So popular, it now has two spaces just a couple of doors apart on Portobello Road.

The Eggs Benedict comes with buttery hollandaise and streaky bacon that you can snap in two (the correct amount of crispiness), and the homemade sweetcorn fritters are topped with mashed avocados, slow-braised pork shoulder, a perfect pop of a poached egg, and more of that hollandaise. If you’re after a filling brunch with a homely feel to it, then this is the place to go.

Ladbroke Grove, W10 | lowryandbaker.co.uk

Beam

Brunch is served all day at Beam, and it’s walk-ins only, so you have to hope that luck is on your side when it comes to wait times. But oh my is it worth it. The family-owned spot serves dishes inspired by their Middle Eastern heritage, bringing kahvatil, which translates to "before coffee", to Notting Hill, which welcomes diners to connect over a breakfast spread.

Beam does its Benedict a little differently, serving it with a Shawarma spiced lamb patty, homemade pickled red cabbage, crispy eggs, on a muffin with harissa hollandaise, completely elevating the humble brunch dish. That next-level theme runs throughout its menu, meaning you can expect plates we know and love, but always with a twist to keep you coming back for more.

Notting Hill, W2 | cafebeam.co.uk

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