The Modern Pantry Clerkenwell

Best Breakfast in Central (or all of?) London

Yes, the Modern Pantry is more than a breakfast spot. The sleekly styled, three-story restaurant, occupying a brick townhouse on St. John's Square (with the Zetter Hotel and Zetter Townhouse nearby), offers all-day, afternoon tea, and evening set-price menus that reflect London's multiculturalism--smoked burrata, tofu and pea inari tempura, miso-and-tamarind-marinated steak, salmon sashimi, ras el haout yogurt-marinated lamb, ginger-Szechuan pepper-and-orange-marinated duck breast, a small but interesting international wine list. But my breakfast--scrambled eggs, fried haloumi, slow-roasted tomatoes, wilted spinach, and amazing toast--made me understand why people make reservations for their morning meals here.