From smoked salmon in Tasmania to a proper sausage sandwich in London, here's how and where Britain's top chefs and restaurateurs like to start their dayBar Italia, LondonChosen by Fergus Henderson, chef patron, St John In an ideal world, my favourite way to start the day would be a plate of devilled kidneys washed down with a black velvet (a cocktail made of Guinness and champagne). But that's just not the kind of thing you should do very often. Normally my morning "meal" is an espresso and a few cigarettes ? as a chef you're handling and tasting food all day, so breakfast often isn't a priority ? but at the weekend I make an effort for the kids and get crispy croissants from Maison Bertaux in Soho, or make bacon and scrambled eggs ? cooked slowly in lots of butter. I do love butter. I had some interesting breakfasts when I was last in India, including a deep-fried squash croissant, which was all kinds of sweet, buttery unctuousness. If I have a morning off in town, I'll nip into Bar Italia ? my favourite breakfast pit stop ? on Frith Street in Soho and get a sausage bap. I'm very partial to them. 22 Frith Street, London W1D 4RPTwenty Three Cafe, AucklandChosen by Anna Hansen, chef patron, The Modern PantryI'm a massive fan of Twenty Three Cafe. They do my favourite breakfast ? grilled sardines on sourdough toast with gremolata and smoked tomato salsa. If I really want to push the boat out I'll have their ginger marinated scallops on toast with black pudding. They also make a mean coffee and are super friendly ? both essential ingredients for a good breakfast experience. I try not to miss breakfast, although sometimes sleep takes priority. On a usual day, I'll have porridge with wheatgerm and manuka honey, or some of the granola we make at Modern Pantry. Breakfast was an important meal growing up, and one we enjoyed as a family. Porridge was a major fixture: mum would serve it either with butter and salt ? sounds odd now, but it was delicious ? or brown sugar and milk. In which case, in the days before homogenisation, my brother and I would pay tribute to our Danish genes and fight over who got the top cream. 23 Mount Eden Road, Eden Terrace, Auckland, NZMcDonald'sChosen by Will Beckett, co-owner, HawksmoorMy fondest breakfast memory is going to our local Little Chef with my grandparents and having the Olympic Breakfast. It felt like a huge mountain of food to conquer back then, and I'm pretty sure I always finished it. I think that kick-started my love for down-market breakfasts ? the king of all of them, for me, being the McDonald's sausage and egg McMuffin. There was a McDonald's by the bus stop on my way to school, and I used to go in with my best friend Huw (who I now own Hawksmoor with) a few times a week and get one. I'm not going to attempt an argument in their favour, they're just dirty and delicious and we loved them when we were 11. I don't get them that often now (although they're still a shameful pleasure), but we do a homage to it at Hawksmoor: the sausage and egg HkMuffin, made with a flat sausage and either Ogleshield or Colston Basset stilton and two fried eggs. There's a guy who comes in once a week for one like clockwork ? a man after my own heart.Berardo's, Noosa Heads, AustraliaChosen by Bruno Loubet, chef patron, Bistrot Bruno LoubetOne of my most special breakfast locations is Berardo's bistro on the beach in Noosa, Australia. It offers fantastic, inventive brekkie food and has stunning views of both Noosa's main beach and the magnificent Laguna Bay. Its Huon Tasmanian smoked salmon with warm brioche, goat's cheese mousse, slow-cooked egg, cucumber ribbons and dill is just perfect with a glass of champagne. I can't wait to go back. When it comes to breakfast on a weekday, I'll usually just have fresh fruit. But sometimes, for energy, I'll have porridge with sliced garlic, honey and olive oil. As a child my mother insisted we have food to start the day, but with seven children it was quite a task! We'd have grilled sourdough bread with butter and homemade jams, dipped into big bowls of cafe au lait. On very cold days we'd have grilled sourdough rubbed with raw garlic and spread with fat scraped off a large piece of salted back fat hanging in the cellar.Beachfront, Hastings Street, Noosa Heads, Queensland, Q4567The Modern Pantry, London Chosen by Angela Hartnett, chef patron, MuranoBreakfast during the week for me is usually little more than coffee. Sometimes I'll grab a piece of fruit, or a very quick bowl of cereal, but the constraints of a busy kitchen mean making time for breakfast can be hard. Come the weekend, though, I love to go to the Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell. Their vegetarian breakfast ? grilled sourdough, halloumi, eggs, tomatoes, mushroom and spinach ? is fantastic, each component done so well. That and a good coffee is Saturday heaven. Generally speaking, I do like a savoury meal in the morning ? that continental-style breakfast of bread, cheese and ham is much more appealing to me than anything sweet and sugary. Another wonderful breakfast can be had at Michel Bras's restaurant, Bras, in Laguiole in the Midi-Pyr�n�es. The breakfast buffet, full of homemade breads, local cheeses and salamis, is delicious. 48 St John's Square, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 4JJThe Fat Delicatessen, LondonChosen by Jason Atherton, chef patron, Pollen Street SocialDuring the week I'm up at 6.15am and breakfast is usually a cup of coffee, a bowl of cornflakes and an apple, then straight out of the door to work. At the weekends I like to go to a place down the road from where I live, in Balham, called the Fat Delicatessen. They do the best sausage sandwich I've ever had ? just really good bread, great sausages and a chunky brown sauce with apples and molasses that's more like a chutney. It's delicious. When I'm in the Philippines, where my wife is from, I enjoy a hot chocolate made from raw cacao with boiling water poured on top. You drink it with empanadas filled with soft purple yams ? the milky lilac colour is out of this world ? and margarine (you'll have to trust me on this) and cheese on top. They're phenomenal to eat, but not for your waistline. Neither is my other favourite breakfast ? my mum's full English. She can't cook anything else, but I've never had better. 7 Chestnut Grove, London SW12 8JAThe Wolseley, LondonChosen by Giorgio Locatelli, chef patron, Locanda LocatelliBreakfast when I was a boy would be a mug of hot milk and five or six little biscuits, given to me by my grandmother. Quite often, my grandmother would be sat at the other end of the table preparing that day's lunch or dinner, and I have an abiding memory of her butchering a rabbit. As a grown up, breakfast these days is little more than a couple of Marlboro and two espressos ? I'm never hungry first thing in the morning; if I have eggs too early it can really mess me up. Later in the morning I'm game for anything. My favourite place for brunch has to be the Wolseley ? it's just amazing. I was last there for a meeting with AA Gill and had what I always have: scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. It's so grand in there, such an experience. I want to take my mother and father ? they'd explode. 160 Piccadilly, London W1J 9EBHotel Sacher, ViennaChosen by Alexis Gauthier, chef patron, Gauthier SohoWhen I think about the breakfast in the Sacher Hotel in Vienna, I smile from ear to ear. I eat their amazing pastries with a little whipped cream. Whipped cream for breakfast is not for the faint-hearted, but it's expertly done here ? not over-whipped or over-sweet. I have a small hot chocolate with them ? you may as well go the whole hog. I do have to be careful with what I eat, though, since being diagnosed with a fatty liver in 2010. I moderate carefully, but if I have a chance to treat myself, pastries are my weakness. Especially pain au raisin. I start each morning at the table with my children ? it's the only meal I have with them during the week, so it's very important to me ? with some hot water and lemon, followed by muesli and toast with Nutella. I've had Nutella every day since I was a child. My sister and I probably had the equivalent of a mustard pot of the stuff every day. Some habits you just can't shake. Hotel Sacher Vienna, Philharmonikerstra�e 4 1010 ViennaBubby's, New YorkChosen by Russell Norman, Polpo, Polpetto, Spuntino, MishkinsI used to think breakfast during the week was for wimps. Until, that is, I joined a gym and the personal trainer refused to work with me unless I ate in the morning. Apparently I was "defeating science" or something. So I'm now in the habit of eating fruity, healthy things when I get up for work, and then five or six less-healthy espressos in the run-up to lunchtime. They're like jump leads ? I get withdrawal headaches without them. When I'm travelling the world to research ideas, breakfast is important because there are often very long days. I really get my breakfast mojo when I'm in New York, and always visit this 24-hour Tribeca brunch place, Bubby's. It's un-fancy, a tiny bit grotty and magnificent. I'll either have their eggs Benedict (done properly with English muffins and ham-like Canadian bacon) with hash browns or, my favourite, fried eggs, sausages and grits. I have a clandestine love for grits. 120 Hudson Street, NY 10013Allpress Espresso, LondonChosen by Skye Gyngell, head chef, Petersham NurseriesI generally don't put much in my mouth except for coffee before 11am. But by far my favourite place for a late breakfast in London is Allpress Espresso, just around the corner from Brick Lane, and for one major reason: the coffee. It's all I really want for breakfast and, in my opinion, no one in London makes it better. All the beans come from Costa Rica and are roasted on the premises. When I get to the front of the queue (there's always one) I get a takeaway piccolo latte, a tiny glass with two shots of espresso and twice the amount of piping hot milk, and one of their little cakes that are not too sweet. I have wonderful memories of breakfasts as a child, especially on Sundays. We'd go for an early morning swim on Bondi beach and when we got home my mother would have squeezed mangoes for us, and we'd eat fried eggs on Vegemite toast with slices of tomato, lemon juice and lots of black pepper. 58 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DPThe Towpath Cafe, LondonChosen by Mark Hix, chef patron, Hix restaurants The Towpath Caf� tucked away beside Regent's Canal in London does one of my favourite breakfasts ? masala-spiced scrambled eggs with chilli and spring onions. It's a great, powerful mix of flavours that the eggs carry so well, and watching the ducks swim by while you eat it is really lovely. Their cheese and onion toasties are a bit of a guilty pleasure, too. Breakfast is an important part of the day and I try not to miss it. Growing up, I used to wake up in the morning and look forward to the breakfasts my grandma would make me ? usually a little fry-up or a bacon sandwich, that we'd eat together at the table. When I'm travelling I love to eat the traditional breakfast of the country ? Japan has it sussed, I think, with big bowls of miso soup. I had a great one once with eel and bean curd in it which was more like a light lunch, but filled me up for hours and hours.Located between Whitmore and Kingsland Road bridges, London N1 5SB; 020 7254 7606The Seafood Restaurant, Padstow Chosen by Tom Kerridge, chef patron, Hand & FlowersReally good, strong coffee in the morning is a chef's best friend because often you don't have time for breakfast. Also, if you're tasting reductions and correcting seasoning from the get-go, the last thing you want to do is start the day on a full stomach. And then there's the need for sleep: if it's the choice between a bowl of cereal and an extra 15 minutes in bed, I know which one I'm choosing. When I was younger, my mum brought us up by herself, so I'd help out by cooking in the evenings. But she always made us have a bowl of cornflakes before we went to school. The only time I really savour breakfast is when I'm on holiday, and the best breakfast I've had in a long time was at the hotel that's behind Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow in Cornwall. It was the full-on continental affair; really good breads, pains au chocolat, cheese. I go there two or three times a year, and I always look forward to coming down from our room to that bountyRiverside, Padstow, PL28 8BYBreakfastChefsRestaurantsFood & drinkRestaurantsEleanor Morganguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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