Join the Breakfast Club, says Tom Hedley. You don’t even have to get up early to do it.
I don’t eat breakfast. Mornings start with me hopping across the bedroom floor attached to a trouser leg, and, at best, a spoon and a packet of cornflakes. But as almost everyone on the planet now knows, breakfast is a really good idea. Sets you up right for the day, it’s unhealthy not to, etc etc. So what is this lazy so-and-so supposed to do? The solution to my problem would be a breakfast-based menu in a culinary establishment which stays open all day and most of the night. And…hey presto! The Canary Wharf Breakfast Club is just what the doctor ordered.
Canary Wharf is undeniably magical at night. Sky-scraping office blocks reflect into the docks and canals as deep as they are high, while the suited and booted flood out into the streets and into the holes underground. Crossrail Place, the Wharf’s newest architectural collection, is a mixture of waterside restaurants and bars; and like everything around here, it’s a work of fine art.
Alongside Sticks’N’Sushi (fine dining sans cutlery) and L’Orchidee (macaroons in a box), The Breakfast Club – the seventh link in an expanding chain of Breakfasts – takes pride of place.
I’d heard of queues out of the wazoo to get into this place, but thankfully we were sat and watered before you could count to 10. Towards the back is a glittery entourage of lights and confetti curtains that shroud the stage. The Club regularly hosts music and DJ nights, as well as all-you-can-drink Sunday brunch parties and ‘boozy bingo’.
Breakfast is served until 5pm, but if you miss it, the diner still offers a healthy selection of brekky-inspired evening eats. On the menu you’ll find pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, and various English breakfasts alongside corn tacos and the Pink Flamingo – a candied bacon and caramelised pineapple topped beef burger (just saying it is nothing less than a mouthful).
It would have been rude to dismiss the chilli bowl, though. Dollops of pulled beef chilli, sour cream and jalapenos served on a mass of skin-on chips stole the show, while the hot pastrami sandwich, served with coleslaw and leaves put up a commendable fight.
Obviously, no decent citizen would eat his night-and-day breakfast and not wash it down with a stiff drink. House lager Camden Hells certainly does the job, while a ‘Tropical Gangster’ (Ron Barcelo five year rum with, we hope, some fruit) is close to heavenly ambrosia. So if you’re in at the right time, I strongly recommend making an appointment with Dr Kluger, the joint’s semi-secret ‘olde towne tavern’, complete with 2-for-1 cocktails every day from 4pm to 7pm.
INFO: The Breakfast Club, CR30 Crossrail Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 Bookings at www.thebreakfastclubcafes.com