Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya

Well it was just a happenstance that I went to two nifty breakfast joints before my travels through the rest of Europe, hence the title. I decided that I’d leave all my other food adventures for the next entry and keep this one short and sweet.

So let’s start with Bill’s! On the chilly morning of April Fool’s Day, my friends and I decided we wanted to go see Peter and Alice, a play starring Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw. Now we expected a crazy line and we knew there were only a few day tickets (for all you non-theatre going folk—which use to be me so I know this little tidbit is helpful—day tickets are tickets you can get in the morning on the day of the show for cheaper) so we got up really early. We left campus at 5:30 am. Oy. After getting our tickets (we were first and the line soon grew crazy long after us), we decided to reward ourselves with an American breakfast. Thalia, a USC friend I made here, suggested Bill’s and I’m sure glad she did! Bill’s is a hipster restaurant nestled near Oxford Street (I later learned that there are multiple Bill’s after spotting one in Cardiff). There were dried peppers dangling from the walls and the furniture all looked beautifully worn down. I had Bill’s Breakfast which included Cumberland sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, and toast! Talk about hardy. One of my friends got the vegetarian option and another Eggs Florentine. I also got Bill’s raspberry, peach and mango juice ‘cause I stayed there for another couple of hours journaling. I have to say the service was EXCELLENT. Super friendly servers who gave me a larger drink for free. There is a shop attached to the restaurant, but there’s nothing much there. Bill’s really focuses on good quality products (yup, I’m talkin’ about the big O—for organic!) and everything was quite tasty (admittedly anything is tasty when you’ve been waiting more than four hours in the cold for theatre rickets). As I mentioned earlier, I journaled here and that’s ‘cause I loved the environment.

As for The Breakfast Club, my friend Karisa brought this place to my attention. We’ve been planning on meeting up all semester (she was on a different program with the British American Drama Company) and finally got to it! There are multiple Breakfast Clubs in London, but we went to the one is Soho. We got half an hour after it opened so we didn’t have to wait to long to get seated (well… we waited like half an hour, but that’s relatively short seeing that a long line formed right after we arrived). We got served by two guys—one was sweet and the other more rushed. The service was okay, but the food spoke for itself. I had the All American, which included pancakes, eggs, sausages, fried potatoes, bacon, and maple syrup (which is oddly hard to find in London). Karisa got vegetarian version. To top it all off, we also had Affogato, which is espresso with vanilla ice cream. The food was delicious. If you don’t take my word for it, you can read thank you notes tucked away in the drawers of the tables and on the walls. Karisa and I left a little note and haiku with a drawing too. They didn’t quite get the American pancake fluffiness right, but I can’t blame them ‘cause UK pancakes tend to be flat and thin. I loved the Affogato and have been wanting to try one, so you can imagine I leapt out of my seat to order one when I saw it was available on the menu. The potatoes were crispy and lovely seasoned as well. I plan to go back before I leave, even if it’s just for another Affogato.

Oh, how I love breakfast. I was never a big breakfast person growing up—I think it has to do with being Taiwanese and the fact that Asians don’t really do big breakfasts—but once I hit college, I saw it’s beauty and possibilities! If you’re ever in LA or San Diego, I have multiple breakfast joints to suggest. Maybe I’ll do an entry in the future featuring SoCal breakfast joints. Only time will tell.