We’re a nation obsessed with breakfast. Last week British Airways said it would stop serving a full English on board its shortest flights, and the backlash was immediate. One Times reader even called the decision “scandalous”. The outcry is perhaps no surprise: breakfast is dear to my heart too, especially when I am staying in a hotel.
Not all hotels are created equal, breakfast-wise. Some have even taken the BA approach and stopped serving a free breakfast at all, presumably as a cost-cutting measure. Others put all their effort into creative Michelin-rated menus for lunch and dinner but neglect the first meal of the day. However, all that may be about to change. Pavyllon — a Michelin-starred restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, London — is bucking the trend.
Last week the restaurant, founded by the French chef Yannick Alléno, launched a £70 breakfast tasting menu with multiple artfully presented courses. The entire thing is a “counter experience”, so eaters sit overlooking the chefs grandly piping sauces onto lovely turquoise plates. There are even drinks pairings for an extra £20. The absurd thought of nodding politely through five courses at 8am, complete with matched drinks, for the same price as my weekly shop made me want to spit out my Greggs sausage roll. But of course I had to try it.
What you need to knowWhere is it? At the Four Seasons hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, London Who will love it? Anyone with deep pockets who is hungry before 10am How much is it? £70pp for the breakfast and an extra £20 for drinks pairings, plus 15 per cent service charge
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As this paper’s unofficial hotel breakfast correspondent, I have strong feelings about the most important meal of the day. I’ve had arguments with colleagues over whether baked beans belong in a hotel breakfast (obviously yes) and over the merits of a buffet versus an à la carte menu (obviously it’s best to have both). The meal that kept me going through four years of my undergrad was Hunger Breaks’ all-day breakfast in a can, which included beans, a sausage and an “egg nugget”. Naturally I wanted to be the first through the Four Seasons’ revolving doors. Which is how I found myself cosily ensconced on one of Pavyllon’s teal velvet counter stools last Saturday morning, dribbling like one of Pavlov’s dogs. I certainly wasn’t the only one — by 10am all the seats were taken. See? Obsessed.
Cathy trying the Michelin-starred “counter experience”, circa 8am
The idea was spearheaded by Pavyllon’s head chef, Benjamin Ferra y Castell, from France, who tells me that “chefs hate doing breakfast. It’s forgotten.” In most places breakfast is a B-team affair rather than a passion project. He says that this tasting menu will change constantly — much like dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant — and rather ominously, that there would be some egg “creations”, including one with a yolk-filled dumpling.
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Yes, it’s a lot compared with a Pret croissant (£2.70) or even most hotel breakfasts, which tend to hover around the £30 mark. But then consider that Pavyllon’s dinner tasting menu is £175 and breakfast starts to look like an affordable way to access exceptionally good cooking.
Avocado “croast”, proving that even breakfast can be overachieving
Pastries, chia pudding and all-day breakfast ravioli
After ordering a much-needed cappuccino I’m handed a prim little menu with my name on it to refer to throughout the morning. There are five courses and the middle two have two options.
The first course is pastries (or, as Four Seasons will have it, viennoiserie). I choose a slice of galette des rois, or king cake, a French almond confection traditionally eaten around Epiphany in France… then I take a titanic pain au chocolat for good measure. It’s matched with a shot of “cold moka”, a rich Sichuan pepper-tinged mocha with a swirl of cream on top. I immediately want to order 20 more.
Next is lobster “croast” — an ugly portmanteau of “croissant” and “toast” — which might be the first time I’ve eaten lobster before 10am. A chia pudding topped with pineapple and mango follows as a sort of palate cleanser (or, it’s granola with yoghurt, honey and berries).
The chia pudding is topped with pineapple and mango
But the real showstopper is the chef’s-special fourth course: a full English-stuffed ravioli. It is a pasta pouch the size of a newborn’s head, with black pudding, bacon, egg and potato drowned in chorizo-flavoured tomato sauce (the other option was a plainer eggs benedict, although you could add caviar to it). It sounds grotesquely similar to the all-day breakfast in a can but is anything but — particularly when paired with a booze-free kir royale, a sort of fizzy beetroot juice that arrives grandly in a crystal cocktail glass with a garnish. This is the sort of thing I’m more used to at 9pm, rather than 12 hours earlier.
By this point, after four courses, four fancy juices and that extremely ill-advised extra pain au chocolat, I’m bursting at the seams. But there’s still one more course to go. The finale is the French toast with caramelised hazelnuts and whipped cream — mercifully light and fluffy rather than dense, but embarrassingly I’m too full to finish it.
French toast with caramelised hazelnuts and whipped cream
There are benefits to this breakfast theatre. By midday I’m out stretching my legs around Hyde Park opposite the hotel, rather than rolling straight into bed with a full tummy. It also might be the first time I’ve had a drinks pairing that didn’t involve booze. But is it a worthy replacement to the breakfast buffet? I’ll have to try it again, just to make sure.
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Cathy Adams was a guest of the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane (fourseasons.com)
Three more breakfasts
By Marieta Marinova
1. The Grove, Watford
Breakfast at the Glasshouse restaurant starts from £28
TIM ATKINS PHOTOGRAPHY
If you can’t stomach a £70 breakfast, the breakfast buffet at the Glasshouse restaurant at the Grove, in Watford, starts from a mere £28. Frequently hailed on social media as the UK’s best buffet, it featured on Netflix’s Million Dollar Buffet thanks to its giant range of “stations”. For example, an excellent fresh fruit counter with melon, pineapple, pears and oranges (plus smoothies); a patisserie area that includes muffins, doughnuts, waffles and pancakes; a generous array of charcuterie and even smoked fish; plus eggs all ways — classic benedict, florentine and royale. For fans of a simpler start to the day, there is a granola and cereal station as well as one with everything for a full English breakfast.
Details Breakfast from £28pp for guests, £40pp for non-guests (thegrove.co.uk)
2. Park Hyatt, Paris
Café Jeanne’s offerings include seasonal fruit, cheese and pasties
Mornings at Café Jeanne in Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme, a 15-minute walk from the Louvre, feel quintessentially Parisian: skylights, an elegant atmosphere and food overseen by an acclaimed chef, Jean-François Rouquette. What makes it one of the best breakfasts in the French capital is the quality of everything served here. Expect seasonal fruit, cheese including comté, goat and feta in olive oil, and an immaculate bakery with classic croissants, pains au chocolat and the hotel’s much-loved mini baguettes. There’s a buffet and an à la carte menu, with options including avocado toast with pomegranate and candied shallots, plus indulgent eggs benedict crowned with truffle.
Details From £17pp (hyattrestaurants.com). Take the train to Paris
3. Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin
Buffet breakfasts don’t get much grander than the one at Berlin’s Hotel Adlon Kempinski, facing the Brandenburg Gate. With three types of caviar and free-flowing champagne, it’s not so much a meal as an occasion, especially when it’s soundtracked by the hotel’s pianist. The spread is vast: breads and pastries, including croissants, straight from the hotel’s own patisserie; muesli variations including matcha crunch; the standard eggs cooked to order; and fresh pancakes and waffles with all sorts of toppings.
Details From £72pp (kempinski.com). Fly to Berlin
Dining and Cooking