The Ultimate Breakfast Guide Near King’s Cross

Places for breakfast near King’s Cross

Having already pulled together a guide to breakfast in our native Bloomsbury, I thought it was a good time to branch out and provide a few more recommendations, this time for places for breakfast near King’s Cross, seeing as it’s so close to the hotel.

I’ve included a couple of more ‘out there’ options you might like to try – like one of my favourite Indian restaurants in the area – as well as a few early-starters within St Pancras Station, and a few at Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard.

Breakfast in Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross

Set in the heart of King’s Cross and on the banks of Regent’s Canal, Granary Square is renowned for its 1,000 fountains which ‘dance’ and light up in amazing colours at night.

While you’re there, you can also head into Coal Drops Yard where you’ll find more than 50 shops, bars, cafés and restaurants, all set around cobbled streets and stone arches. It’s a lovely place to spend some time.

There are loads of eateries here, including plenty of places for breakfast near King’s Cross. In the warmer months, it’s nice because every restaurant and café has its own terrace, so you can take your breakfast outdoors if that’s your preference.

Here are a few recommendations…

Dishoom

5 Stable Street, London N1C 4AB
20 minute walk from the hotel
Tel: 020 7420 9321
Website

Breakfast served from 8am to 11.45am weekdays, and 9am to 11.45am at weekends

This is one of my top personal recommendations for the best breakfast near King’s Cross. I suppose it isn’t an obvious thing to head for an Indian restaurant for your first meal of the day, but trust me, it’s totally worth a visit.

Set in a former Victorian railway transit shed, this buzzy restaurant is known for its Bombay-style vintage décor.

The breakfast menu – served from 8am till 11.45am weekdays and 9am to 11.45am weekends – is vast, with quality sourced ingredients featured across all its dishes, including bacon from Ramsay of Carluke, pork sausages from Maynard’s Farm, and egg dishes made with St Ewe free range eggs.

On the cooked breakfasts list there’s Kejriwal – consisting of two fried eggs on chilli cheese toast. Then you have the Parsi Omelette – described as a ‘crazy paving’ three egg omelette with chopped tomato, onion, coriander, green chilli and cheese, served with grilled tomato and Fire Toast.

And then there’s the Akuri, an Irani dish made up of three spiced scrambled eggs, piled up next to home-made buns and served with a grilled tomato. Or maybe go for the Keema Per Eedu, a spicy chicken keema stuffed with chicken liver, topped with two runny-yolk fried eggs and salli crisp-chips and served with home-made buns.

The chef’s favourite breakfast is another must-try. It’s called Chole Puri Halwa, and is made up of chickpeas, sweet semolina, pickles and a giant crackled puri.

If you fancy it, you can always add a side order to any of these dishes – choose from masala beans, grilled mushrooms, pork or vegan sausages, bacon, or Fire Toast with butter and jam.

Maybe if you’re really hungry, go for The Big Bombay. This is a plate laid out with plenty of the above-mentioned Akuri, plus smoked streaky bacon, Shropshire pork sausages, masala beans, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomato and buttered home-made buns. There’s also a vegan version with Tofu Akuri, vegan sausages, vegan black pudding, grilled mushrooms, masala beans, grilled tomato and home-made vegan buns.

Other options include date and banana porridge, and sweet uttapams (a bit like pancakes, topped with yoghurt, fresh berries, coconut flakes and syrup).

The Dishoom naan rolls are also something else, all freshly hand-baked to order in the tandoor. There’s a bacon or double bacon option; pork or vegan sausage; egg; bacon and egg; sausage and egg – or if you can’t decide – go for the Wrestler’s Naan Roll packed with bacon, pork sausages, and runny eggs.

It’s my idea of the ultimate way to set yourself up for the day and, for me, without a doubt one of the best breakfast places near King’s Cross.

Dishoom is a walk-in café, so no need to book, although if you’re going as a bigger group it’s probably a good idea to make a reservation.

Caravan King’s Cross

1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA
19 minute walk from the hotel
Tel: 020 7101 7661
Breakfast served Monday to Friday 8am to 11.15am
Website

The first ever restaurant to open at King’s Cross, Caravan is a popular place to go for breakfast near King’s Cross St Pancras, and people tend to love it’s industrial style décor.

The breakfast menu is served weekdays from 8am with last seating at 11.15am. I love that it includes peach bellinis, margaritas, italo spritz and a good old bloody Mary – well, why not? If you’re going out for breakfast, go out for breakfast!

There’s also a range of juices, milks and smoothies; fruit and cereal options, and things on sourdough or in-house made gluten free toast, including hot smoked salmon and scrambled eggs; smashed avocado; scrambled or poached eggs, and fruit jam.

If you mean business though at breakfast time, then you’ll be more interested in the breakfast plates. We’re talking things like jalapeño cornbread with a fried egg, spinach, curd cheese and chilli butter, with optional chorizo. Or poached eggs with whipped yoghurt, fenugreek, chilli butter, gunpowder (that’s the spice mix rather than the Guy Fawkes stuff) and parsley served on a house flatbread.

You might also like the chorizo and potato hash. Or the baked eggs with spiced tomato, pepper and chickpea ragout, rose harissa and Greek yoghurt, presented on a flatbread.

But if your ultimate breakfast consists of a fry-up, then you won’t be disappointed. “The Fry” will give you a couple of eggs, thick cut bacon, pork sausage, slow roasted tomato, roasted mushroom, house spiced black beans and a toasted sourdough. There’s a vegan option too.

Granary Square Brasserie

1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AB
20 minute walk from the hotel
Tel: 020 3940 1000
Breakfast served Monday to Friday 8.30am to 11.30am, and weekends 8.30am to 11am
Website

This lovely-looking stylish restaurant with glittering chandeliers is set inside the Grade II listed Granary Building. It combines British classics with international cuisine.

On the breakfast menu – served from 8.30am to 11.30am weekdays and till 11am weekends – you’ll find a vast choice of everything from juices and coolers to sourdoughs and pastries, and from omelettes to cooked breakfasts, as well as a special set menu.

Highlights include Eggs Benedict with pulled ham; Eggs Royale with oak smoked salmon; crushed avocado and roasted tomato on dark caraway toast with pomegranate and coriander, and buttermilk pancakes with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries combined with Greek yoghurt, lemon balm and warm red berry sauce.

Again, if you’re going all-out for a ‘proper’ breakfast near King’s Cross St Pancras, you’ll be well served by the Granary Square Brasserie Full English Breakfast.

This consists of smoked streaky bacon, Cumberland herbed sausages, fried free-range eggs, potato rösti, black pudding, roast plum tomato, grilled flat mushroom and baked beans, served with a choice of white or granary toast. The vegetarian version swaps in grilled halloumi, avocado and watercress.

On the special set menu, you’ve got a choice of mixed berry smoothie or green juice, followed by a butter croissant and pain au chocolat, then either the house Full English or the veggie breakfast.

The Lighterman

3 Granary Square, London N1C 4BH
18 minute walk from the hotel
Tel: 020 3846 3400
Open from midday on weekdays, and from 10am at weekends
Website

The Lighterman is a modern pub restaurant, flooded with light courtesy of its floor to ceiling glass walls. Inside is lovely, or you can choose a seat on one of the wrap-around terraces and take in the stunning views over the Regent’s Canal on one side, or of Granary Square on the other.

It’s one of the more popular breakfast places near King’s Cross, but more so at the weekend when it opens at 10am for its ‘early’ specials. Otherwise during the week it doesn’t open till midday and only serves

So Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to midday, from the weekend menu you’ll be able to order the likes of house pancakes with mixed berries. Or sweetcorn and courgette fritters with avocado, feta and poached egg. You’ve also got Eggs Benedict with honey glazed ham; fried chicken benedict with sriracha hollandaise and poached egg, or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and dill cream on a toasted brioche.

Also from 10am onwards you can request anything from the flatbread menu, including roasted butternut squash with macadamia cheese, chestnuts and crispy sage. Or Atlantic shrimp with harissa, picked shallots, mozzarella and fresh chives. Or even Suffolk chorizo with fennel, smoked mozzarella and chilli.

German Gymnasium

1 King’s Blvd, London N1C 4BU
12 minute walk from the hotel
Tel: 020 7287 8000
Open from 9am weekdays and from 10am at weekends, breakfast served till 11.15am
Website

I’ve said this in other blogs and will stay it again – this restaurant is a personal family favourite. We love it as much for its German and Central European influenced food as its striking setting within a Grade II listed historical building, originally opened in 1865 for the German Gymnastics Society.

Honestly when you go in, you won’t stop taking photos of the wonderful Victorian architecture and amazing vaulted ceiling. The Grand Café is the venue for breakfast, which is on the ground floor of the three-floor building.

The breakfast menu is served till 11.15am and is packed with all sorts of interesting options. Favourites include the German Gymnasium consisting of scrambled eggs, Nürnberger sausages, Black Forest ham, tomato, mushroom, potato rösti and toast. Or the Heidelberg, made up of avocado, spinach, quinoa, feta, tomato, dark rye and hot sauce.

The München is another must-try, consisting of two poached eggs, plus Weißwurst pork & veal sausage with parsley, sweet mustard and Brezel. Or there’s the Mannheim which is German grilled meatloaf with fried egg and toasted rye bread.

There are also various muffins, pastry, cereal and fruit options, including Quarkkeulchen which is German cream cheese, cinnamon doughnuts and blueberry compote.

It really is a proper dining “experience” here and for me one of the best breakfast places near King’s Cross, so please do take my advice and give it a try.

Breakfast at St Pancras International Station

I can’t close this guide to places for breakfast near King’s Cross without mentioning what’s on offer at St Pancras International Station.

It’s literally less than a ten minute walk from the hotel, and many of the eateries there serve breakfast a lot earlier than the others I’ve listed above – so here are a few you might like to try if you’ve got a prompt start to the day…

• Le Pain Quotidien – a rustic bakery/café open from 5.30am MENU

• St Pancras Bar & Brasserie – a bistro serving breakfast 8am-11am Monday-Saturday MENU

• Booking Office 1869 – a brasserie serving breakfast 7am-11am MENU

• The Breakfast Club St Pancras – a café serving breakfast 6am-11am  MENU

• The Hansom – a restaurant located in the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel serving breakfast 9am-11am weekdays and 10am-11am weekends MENU

• Betjeman Arms – a pub with outdoor terrace serving breakfast from 8am-12pm MENU

More options for breakfast near King’s Cross St Pancras

You might also like these local guides I’ve previously put together about eating out in Bloomsbury and King’s Cross:

Top Breakfast Choices in Bloomsbury
Best Places for Brunch in Bloomsbury
Cafés and Coffee Shops in Bloomsbury
King’s Cross Brunch Guide
Best Places for Afternoon Tea Near Bloomsbury and King’s Cross
Best Pubs Near Cartwright Gardens
Top Restaurants Near Cartwright Gardens Bloomsbury
Where to Eat Near Cartwright Gardens and Bloomsbury

Planning a visit to London’s King’s Cross? The Mentone Hotel looks forward to welcoming you!

Situated just a few minutes’ drive or around a 20-minute walk from King’s Cross and neighbouring variety of top attractions, the Grade II listed Mentone is set in the tranquil gated gardens of Cartwright Gardens. We offer over 40 rooms including singles, doubles and en-suites.

To make your booking, please get in touch. All direct bookings benefit from a 10% discount and complimentary breakfast. Of course if you’d prefer to try one of the many breakfast venues in the area instead for your first meal of the day, we’d be happy to share with you our top tips for the best breakfast near King’s Cross!

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