No cafes in site, and the espresso bars and franchise eateries we check out are charging double for breakfast (as much as £9.40!). We're tempted to duck into a Wetherspoon in an inviting old pub, "The Mask," but trudge on. Finally, about 45 minutes of searching, very-hungry Husband spots what looks like a Cafe sign board on the kerbside of a side street near Liverpool Station, and following our noses we find ourselves at MB's Cafe at 6 Harrow Place E17 DB.
Definitely "can't tell a book by it's cover" experience at MB's! The owner, Peter Baldacci, greets customers with a smile, and many by name. Turns out his father opened the cafe in 1932, and Peter's been working here for 55 years! Today there's a second cafe nearby, and Peter and his son, Matthew, share the ownership and management of the two.
Everybody seems to be a friend of Sam's -- those clad in business suits and those in reflector vests, as well as a group of London City coppers (who were happy to pose for a pic) and a local riding a wheelchair. Already, we're feeling pretty chummy!
The decor is minimal, a couple antique-looking metal beverage ads and two framed pictures of French or Italian piazzas. But the eggs...perfectly soft soaking into "granary" bread. Hot strong tea tops off the meal. Worth the wait.
Sated, we bid farewell to our new friends, and visit the second MB's Cafe, just around the corner. Sure enough, there's Matthew, Peter's son, and several photos of Grandpa and the original cafe.
Turns out we've found the centre of the City of London without knowing it. Spitalfields Antique Market, though housed in a drab modern attempt to create a covered market, entertains us for an hour -- a place to find anything retro, WWII or iconically English.
Then on to Leadenhall Market, a maze of arcade, filled today with English flag bunting marking St George's Day (patron saint of England). Definitely a place to have the rellies bring us when they offer to take us out for a meal.
Next stop, Guildhall Library.hosting a "Shakespeare Week" to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the bard's birth. A First Folio of Will's plays, printed in 1623 steals the show!
But that's not the find of the day...beneath the Guildhall Library lies the ruins of a Roman Ampitheatre -- unearthed in 1988 and opened to the public in the 1990's. Seating for 6,000 they surmise -- where human death was the entertainment, so they explain on the sign boards.
And the cause of the downfall of the Roman amphitheatres in the 4th century? The rise of Christianity, the curator surmises.
On that positive note... it's been a pleasure to share another Breakfast in Britain!
One never knows what one will discover in London!
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