London is a breakfast lover’s paradise, and one of the best ways to explore it is to try a few “hero” dishes at different spots and compare notes as you go.
If you’re building a brunch crawl, Gallio is a great place to start: its menu leans Mediterranean but feels right at home in London’s all-day brunch culture. Below are three standout dishes at Gallio, plus two well-known London favourites to use as delicious reference points.
Ekmira is Gallio’s take on French toast, made with bread soaked in crème anglaise for a rich, custardy centre. It’s finished in one of two directions, depending on your mood:
Compared with the more familiar London-style brioche French toast you’ll find across brunch menus, Ekmira leans into that crème anglaise richness. And if you’re the type who usually orders Granger & Co’s ricotta hotcakes, Ekmira scratches a similar “soft, indulgent, sweet breakfast” itch—just with a French-toast foundation and Gallio’s signature toppings.
Gallio’s Shakshuka is slow cooked and pepper-forward, with a tomato base developed with peppers and paprika. It’s served with poached eggs, feta, piquillo pepper, harissa, plus a choice of bread.
The bread matters here: Gallio’s is baked fresh, which makes it ideal for scooping up the sauce and getting a bit of everything in each bite. If you love a breakfast that’s bold, savoury, and meant to be shared (or not), this is the order.
This is Gallio comfort food with edge: a freshly homemade pita topped with merguez sausage (made from lamb and turkey bacon), homemade spicy tomato ketchup, yoghurt, and a fried egg.
If you’re a fan of the Dishoom bacon naan, this is a fun comparison: both are iconic “breakfast-in-a-bread” experiences, but Gallio’s version goes spicier and more Mediterranean, with merguez, yoghurt, and that freshly made pita base.
Granger & Co’s ricotta hotcakes are one of London’s most recognisable sweet brunch orders—fluffy, rich, and the kind of dish people plan a morning around. If hotcakes are your usual, they’re the perfect benchmark for comparing other sweet-forward breakfast plates around the city (including Gallio’s Ekmira).
The Dishoom bacon naan has earned its place on London’s “must-try” breakfast list: handheld, satisfying, and ideal if you want something savoury that still feels like a treat. It’s also a great point of reference for judging other breakfast breads—especially Gallio’s merguez flatbread, which takes the format in a different (spicier, pita-based) direction.
If you want a London breakfast itinerary with built-in comparisons, use Gallio’s hero dishes as your anchor: Ekmira for a sweet, custardy showstopper, Shakshuka for slow-cooked savoury depth (with genuinely fresh bread), and the merguez flatbread when you’re craving something that can go toe-to-toe with the city’s most talked-about breakfast breads.
