10am: Best of the brunch

London’s bruncherati now have plenty of options in a city that was once devoid of dining life before noon. The weekend brunch at Andina (1 Redchurch St, Shoreditch) is modern Peruvian at its best from Martin Morales, who also owns Ceviche in Soho. Try the Full Peruvian – fried eggs with quinoa pancake, wild mushrooms and avocado on toast, then loop back in the evening for the pisco bar downstairs. Caravan (Granary Square, Kings Cross) is a relaxed all-day eatery boasting a global menu and coffee roastery in a warehouse setting – the cornbread French toast and single-origin filter coffee deliver.

11:30am: To market

Maltby Street Market first popped up in Bermondsey’s deserted railway arches as a boutique alternative to nearby Borough Market, and it’s since spilled into the busy Ropewalk street market on weekends, offering street food from all over the world. Take your pick from Jamaican jerk wraps and fresh sugarcane juice, British cheese toasties, Little Bird Gin Bloody Marys and Jewish soul food from Monty’s Deli.

1pm: Coffee and culture

Head to Bermondsey’s outpost of the stark White Cube gallery (144 Bermondsey St) for a modern-art fx, then cross the road to Bermondsey St Coffee (better known to locals as ‘f**koffee’ for the giant neon sign in the window) for coffee.

2pm: Chopsticks and green tea

To step into pocket-sized Koya Bar (50 Frith St, Soho) is to be transported to a Tokyo udon-ya. It’s the recent offshoot of sister restaurant Koya next door, which has been satiating the city’s udon cravings for nearly five years. Koya Bar offers an express udon experience and chefs pass plates of pickles and tempura to the 25 diners seated at the bar, before presenting steaming bowls of dashi broth.

5pm: Aperitivo in hackney

Lardo (197 Richmond Rd, Hackney), named after the cured back fat of a pig, is the obvious choice for charcuterie and a negroni. If it’s warm, sit alfresco and watch the street scene as you snack on fennel-pollen salami and creamy burrata, or a woodfired mushroom and taleggio pizza.

8pm: Southern hospitality

Mississippi-born Brad McDonald is at the helm of new Marylebone restaurant Lockhart (22 Seymour Pl), where he shows that American cuisine is more than dude food. The light, spacious dining room, complete with antique sideboards, is a far cry from the seedy dive bars we’ve come to associate with US food, and Brad’s elegant renditions of cornbread, shrimp and grits, and catfsh gumbo push the envelope. A whisky old fashioned at the downstairs bar is the ideal digestive.

11pm: Boutique lodgings

Rest your head at the newly refurbished Great Northern Hotel (from $290 + VAT) at Kings Cross St Pancras station, which harks back to the elegant days of Victorian train travel. Located next to the Eurostar terminal, you can be in Paris in time for lunch.

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