For 5am Club people such as myself, who love to be up, caffeinated and scribbling on Post-it notes pre-dawn, the Four Seasons’ recent launch of London’s first Michelin-starred breakfast is perfect. Now we can do all that over a £70, five-course tasting menu served at a counter in a genteel, pastel-shaded dining room. If, that is, you can get a booking, in which case well done; otherwise, you could simply sit a little farther from the counter and order almost the same food off the normal breakfast menu, only without all the explanations.
Regardless, chef Yannick Alléno is clearly doing the world a favour by luring all of us early risers to one room and distracting us with lobster flatbread and a bespoke “amuse juice”, because we are clearly some of the most annoying people on Earth. Have you ever heard one of my bumptious 5.46am WhatsApp admin voice notes? Or woken, blearily, to the sound of me rearranging furniture or stomping at a walking desk? People like me are a menace. We need to be contained so the polite world can sleep. Not only that, but, from a business point of view, the idea of offering snooze-averse diners pricey, Michelin-starred chia puddings is rather genius. We can now all meet and entertain equally up-and-at-’em colleagues over salted maple pancakes and fancy french toast. After all, does fine dining strictly have to wait until lunchtime? Perhaps now that gen Z is eschewing booze and all-night raves, we’re moving into a hospitality era when the big, posh breakfast may well be the main event.
