Maria’s Market Café, Borough Market

Maria’s Market Cafe is a south London institution, named after its founder Maria Moruzzi, whose parents opened Borough Café in 1961. After many decades of frying bacon, brewing tea and serving everyone from market porters to Hollywood film stars, Maria has retired, but her legacy lives on. Now under new ownership, the café – in Three Crown Square in Borough Market – is still the place to go for its well-loved bubble and squeak, stuffed bacon sandwiches and expertly made hot drinks.

9 Stoney Street, Borough, SE1 9AA

Visit BoroughMarket.org.uk

E Pellicci, Bethnal Green

This Grade II-listed café is an ornate, old-school spot for an excellent fry-up. Priamo Pellicci began working in the cafe in 1900 and it was here that his wife Elide brought up their seven children, while running the café below after her husband’s death in 1931. Elide is the E. Pellicci in the café’s name, and her portrait remains downstairs. Choose between four set cooked breakfasts or go rogue with American-style pancakes or classic ham, egg and chips.

332 Bethnal Green Road, Bethnal Green, E2 0AG

Visit EPellicci.co.uk

Andrew’s Restaurant, Holborn

Andrew’s has been serving locals for more than 50 years. TV presenters Jon Snow, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Tom Bradby are all fans, and all signed a petition to prevent developers from shutting down this classic café a few years back. And thank god they did. Inside, there are well-worn chairs, wipe-down tables and photos of Routemaster buses, alongside a vast wall-to-wall blackboard menu above the counter, featuring fry-ups (including a fried slice), omelettes, mixed grills and a selection of proper homecooked dishes such as liver and bacon. Andrew’s is occasionally open in the evening, when it can be hired out for pop-ups – celeb chefs such as Giorgio Locatelli and Nigella Lawson have hosted parties here.

59 Gray’s Inn Road, Holborn, WC1X 8TL

Visit AndrewsCafe.co.uk

Terry’s Café, London Bridge

Terry’s dad was a chef in the army and his mum was a pastry cook, so he was always going to make a name for himself in food. Born and raised in south London during WWII, at age 17 Terry got a job at Smithfield meat market. After a long career in butchery, he decided it was time for a change. In 1982 he opened what is now Terry’s Café, cooking hearty fare using produce from Smithfield and Borough markets. Today, the traditional café is run by his son, Austin, and continues to serve up ‘The Blowout’ (two eggs, bacon, Cumberland sausage, bubble and squeak and tomatoes) and ‘The Hamlet’ (Cumberland sausage, egg, bacon, black pudding, mushrooms and beans).

158 Great Suffolk Street, Borough, SE1 1PE

Visit TerrysCafe.co.uk

Marie’s Café, Waterloo

Round the corner from Waterloo station, Marie’s Café is a popular Thai restaurant that also happens to serve traditional English breakfasts during the day. With its distinctive green exterior and traditional tiled frontage, Marie’s on the inside is a proper, formica-clad greasy spoon – and all the more special for it. Inexpensive and famed for its large portions, this is just the spot for a hangover-busting feast.

90 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, SE1 7AB

Visit WeAreWaterloo.co.uk

River Café, Putney Bridge

Close to Ruth Rogers’s more famous The River Café, this Italian-run café and snack bar offers a slice of unchanged 60s dining. Complete with its original blue and white tiles, plywood panelling, colourful mosaic flooring and painted murals of the sea and cityscapes, this is an ideal spot for a snappy breakfast or brunch, or simply an extremely well-made bacon roll.

1a Station Approach, Putney, SW6 3UH

Hawksmoor, Various Locations

If you’re heading to a reservation at Hawksmoor, it would be criminal not to order steak. This mantra extends to breakfast: the ‘Hawksmoor Breakfast’ for two features smoked bacon chop, sausages (made with pork, beef and mutton), black pudding, short-rib bubble and squeak, grilled bone marrow, trotter baked beans, fried eggs, grilled mushrooms, roast tomatoes, HP gravy and – as if you needed it – unlimited toast. Those who fancy something a little on the smaller side should opt for a 200g fillet, served with eggs and hash browns.

Various locations

Visit TheHawksmoor.com