A Full English breakfast is one of the UK’s culinary gifts to the world. If you are not familiar with this dish it usually consists of bacon, sausages, eggs, grilled tomato and mushrooms, baked beans and occasionally black pudding (a type of blood sausage). All that meat is now off the table with my new meat philosophy and shift towards eating less meat in general. Luckily there are plenty of places that now serve a Vegetarian Full English which is basically the standard Full English with the meat omitted and sometimes replaced with a plant-based sausage or other meat-like formation. There are also plenty of places that serve a Vegan English breakfast where the eggs are replaced with scrambled tofu. There are a lot of options in London for full vegan breakfast, that will be a later post…
Recently I was in London and I had a craving for an English breakfast. Luckily I like the vegetarian version which I make for myself at home sometimes with free-range eggs that satisfy my requirement for all animal products to come from a responsibly raised source. While it is easy to find a place that serves Vegetarian English breakfasts it is harder to find those that also have free-range eggs. Luckily for me a place with walking distance from my hotel in London sold a version with free range eggs so I thought I would check it out. The Sawyers Arms is a typical old-school London pub located right across the road from Paddington Station. It’s a great place to have a beer and soak in some London pub atmosphere. On their menu they actually do a good job including a number of vegetarian options and even some vegan ones as well. Their breakfast menu has free-range eggs all over it. So I thought I would try out their ‘Veggie Full English’ since I was craving a fried egg.
Unfortunately they didn’t have the plant-based sausage but I was OK with that as they can be hot or miss I really wanted the eggs and the rest, can’t beat the English fried hash browns! The dish was tasty and couldn’t beat the price of £6.95, but I did leave thinking it was missing something and made me think were there better options in London. I started to do some research for places in London that offered a vegetarian option with free range eggs – this would be the true representation of a Selective Flexitarian English Breakfast. There are literally thousands of places offering vegetarian breakfast, less that also have free-range eggs and I looked for places that had interesting ingredients, something a little different than the standard.
The Green Goddess: Avocado, veggie beans, spinach, roast tomatoes, herby mushrooms &
sweet potato wheels with grilled sourdough ; can also add organic eggs. The avocado and sweet potato wheels sound interesting.
Big Brunch: scrambled Clarence Court Eggs or tofu, vegan sausage, slow roasted tomato, oak smoked house beans, roasted tarragon mushroom, toasted sourdough
Only served on the weekends. What attracted me were the Clarence Court eggs, these eggs are free-range and heritage breed, their website has a lot of information. The tomato, beans and mushroom versions are an interesting spin on the standard offerings.
The Gate Restaurants (Marylebone, Islington, Hammersmith)
Full English: mushroom & bean sausage, hash brown, smoked tofu bacon, homemade baked beans, wild mushrooms, roasted tomato, Sourdough toast, fried eggs
Menu states that all their eggs are free-range and organic. What attracted me was the smoked tofu bacon and mushroom and bean sausage.
Vegetarian breakfast: Bubble&Squeak, 2x free range eggs, roast tomato, roasted mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans, bloomer toast
One of the biggest attractions here is that they serve breakfast 24hrs a day! Perfect after a long session at the pubs or clubs. Also of note is that they state that their bacon and meats are all grass-fed (except pigs don’t eat grass) and Red Tractor assured, this is a standard that all produce must originate from the UK and be traceable, all animals must of treated humanely and free of hormones and antibiotics. There is a lot more information on their website.
Vegetarian Breakfast: Aprés hash, poached eggs, thyme roasted field mushroom, slow roasted tomatoes, avocado, wilted spinach, watercress, a toasted slice of our homemade bread, with homemade ketchup or brown sauce
Almost all meat and dairy on their menu is free range and organic sourced from small English farms, the eggs come from Cornish St Ewe. The Apres hash is made from sweet potato, caramelized onions and spinach.
Now I realize that not everyone that reads this blog lives in London or may get the chance to go to London. But what I think we can get from this post are some ideas on how to make an imaginative Selective Flexitarian English Breakfast of your own as a special treat. I most certainly will be trying some of these options out myself!
The Evolution of a Selective Flexitarian 
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