Can “brunch” at 9 AM still be considered brunch?

Tartine Manufactory | San Francisco, CA

If you say brunch in your head over and over again, it stops sounding like a real word. But if you’re thinking of going to Tartine Manufactory for brunch, you can pretty much forget about it unless you feel like waiting for an hour. If you’re in the mood for breakfast though, you can do what we did and show up at 9am. It was still packed and had a small wait but at least there were bar seats that were up for grabs.

As to be expected, Tartine’s pastries outdo their food by a landslide. That chocolate looking swirly goodness that’s pictured above is not actually chocolate at all, but rather their poppyseed teacake, and yes—it’s phenomenal. I have no idea what they glaze the top with (maybe some tea-infused icing?) but it rocks my world and makes me actually want to eat breakfast. I feel that the actual food is nothing to write home about, but I do love eating off of dishes made by Heath Ceramics, who happen to have their factory right next door (!!!!!).

Don’t you (forget about me)

The Breakfast Club | Spitalfields | London, United Kingdom

**don’t you (forget about me) plays softly in the background**

These are the iconic, very popular berry pancakes that everyone always posts about on Instagram. With multiple locations in London, I personally like the Spitalfields location the most. Did you know that at night, it turns into an underground bar? YEP. You gotta get there early though, otherwise they reach capacity. All I know is that you go through a door that is disguised as a refrigerator during the day…

Death by chocolate

Bowloccino @ The Cereal Killer Cafe | Brick Lane | London, United Kingdom

I was lucky enough to be studying in London during the opening of the infamous Cereal Killer Cafe. It’s a small and intimate place, but the way that it’s decorated transports you back to the 90s (and who wouldn’t love to be back in the 90s?) The ground floor is lined with vintage, limited edition cereal boxes the basement level is designed to look like your average, 1990′s American home (even though were were in the UK). Yes, their cereal cocktails are slightly overpriced, but it’s definitely worth a try if you’re visiting.

Eggcellent

Eggs & Co. | Paris, France

The entire menu is in French, so ordering this meal was really a stroke of luck. Paige and I got up super early and took the train into Paris to line up to get into this place. Was it worth it? YES. Was it overpriced for fancy omelettes and orange juice? ALSO YES. But it was a really great experience; the restaurant was designed to look like a barn. The booths were lined with fake hay and the interior was very wooden and, well, barn like.