Breakfast at THE WOLSELEY

Six months ago in December, I treated my husband to breakfast at The Wolseley. Two months ago, infamous writer AA Gill came out with a book - Breakfast at The Wolseley so this time around, we couldn't resist going back and being in the middle of the action once again while enjoying a wonderful breakfast.

We arrived sans booking right before 10:00 and were led to a table immediately which was lucky as there were several groups who arrived afterwards who had to wait at least half an hour for a free table.

Our son had already eaten a Krispy Kreme donut on the way to the restaurant so he sat back and relaxed while we perused the menus. We ordered quickly - double espresso, granola with fresh berries and toasted pain campagne with butter and preserves for my husband while I opted for the more traditional two boiled eggs with soldiers and a cafe creme. While we waited for the food to come, more and more people kept coming in through the main doors crowding the entryway and waiting around for free tables.

Coffees arrived first then our food a bit later than expected but definitely worth the wait - the granola was crunchy and filled with nuts and accompanied by sweet berries, the toast was crisp and came with sweet orange marmalade and strawberry jam in small porcelain pots with labeled silver servers. My boiled eggs were a bit on the overcooked side (I had asked for medium-boiled but they were getting on to hard-boiled) but the paper cone of buttered toast soldiers were a perfect accompaniment. We ate quickly enjoying the food and the scene of ever-changing characters from the suited City types to designer bag-and-blow dried Chelsea ladies to American tourists arriving off the plane with their luggage. It was like a train station near the entrance with the amount of people coming and going and the waitstaff successfully weaving in and out of the crowds. We finished our breakfast and walked slowly down to Regent street towards Hamleys where we had promised to take our six-year old then it was off to Covent Garden for some lunch.