Some years ago we were excitedly choosing all sorts of delicacies at the breakfast buffet at our hotel in Yerevan, Armenia, when another guest glanced at our plates, shrivelled their noses very patronisingly and bellowed, “Ugh! Salad? For breakfast?” It’s widely considered to be the most important meal of the day but so many people seem to be set in their ways when it comes to eating a hearty breakfast. And many hotels seem to cook the same type of food for their guests: Western visitors are often offered bacon, sausage and eggs with breads and pastries, and Eastern visitors can usually select rice or noodle dishes. All these foods are familiar to the tourist but they often don’t reflect the traditional breakfasts of the country they are visiting. Here are some of the world’s best breakfasts.

Maybe people don’t feel so adventurous first thing in the morning, and that’s fair enough, but the thing is, we’re British and can have bacon and eggs any time we like. (Although, to be honest, we haven’t cooked a fry-up for years as it’s quite a lot of effort.) We’d much rather eat a typical breakfast from the country that we are visiting, especially if they are using local ingredients.

An Abundance of Diverse Dishes

Some countries have a typical breakfast that is simple, others have a variety of foods that make up the morning meal.

Japan

Japan is well known for its fabulous cuisine and also offers one of the world’s best breakfasts. A Japanese brekkie often comprises grilled fish, vegetables and pickles, maybe with tofu, dumpling and an omelette.

These are accompanied with a bowl of rice, into which you could crack a raw egg mixed with shoyu (soy sauce) – the egg sort of cooks in the heat of the rice – or that famous smelly fermented soybean concoction, natto, maybe with some sliced negi (similar to spring onion). Just grab a slice of nori (dried seaweed), place it over the rice, then using a pincer movement with your chopsticks grab a portion of rice with the nori. Scrumptious. (It’s worth noting that if you are at a breakfast buffet in Japan the eggs on offer may well be raw – be careful when cracking them.)

Japanese breakfasts very often include an umeboshi plum – a sour, salty wake-up call, which is reputed to be particularly good for relieving the effects of hangovers. We have a recipe for home-made umeboshi, so that you can always have some to hand!

India

A dosa for breakfast in South India is an absolute joy. This is a pancake traditionally made from rice and dal (lentils) which are ground to form a batter and then fermented. The batter is cooked on a hot plate to form a large pancake and served with chutney – coriander, coconut and tomato are particularly popular.

In Kerala, this breakfast comprised vada, which is a doughnut made from fermented pulses and a puffy bread puri served with sambar, a delicious stew made from lentils, vegetables and spices. Multiple chutneys feature as well to provide a variety of flavours that soak into the vada and puri.

It’s Often Okay to Go Off-Menu

It’s quite common for hotels to ask their guests to pre-order breakfast. It makes sense: the hotel staff know what to order in beforehand and this can help minimise food waste. There is usually a form with tick boxes and you can choose from a variety of typical breakfast offerings. But if you do want to eat like a local, we’ve learned that many hotel restaurants are really happy to cook you a regional breakfast.

Uganda

It all started in Uganda when we breakfasted at a lodge with a local guide. We were eating standard fare but our curiosity was piqued when something entirely different was brought out for him. On asking, we learned that it was a rolex – a chapati with a layer of omelette on top, then rolled into a spiral cylinder, perfect for munching on. So the next day we asked the lodge staff if it would be possible for us to have a rolex for brekkie and they were happy to oblige. It’s great – tasty and filling – a good start to the day.

Nepal

In Nepal we were given a standard pre-order form to complete (eggs, bacon, sausage, toast…) to pre-order breakfast for the following morning. We politely asked whether it was possible to have a local breakfast instead. We didn’t specify any dish – just asked for local food. They were delighted. The following morning we were served a marsala omelette accompanied by a joyous curry and roti with home-made yoghurt. It was delicious.

Madagascar

Madagascar is famous for its amazing landscapes and unique flora and fauna and isn’t really known at all for its cuisine. But its breakfasts are great – really hearty and filling. If you want to try a local breakfast, it is best to request it the night before because it takes some time to cook. Rice is the staple in Madagascar, so a typical breakfast includes vary sosoa, or rice porridge. Sometimes it is served with zebu (a kind of cattle) steak for a very rich and decadent breakfast.

Mofo baoline are fried doughballs. They are very fluffy and filling and will really set you up for the day.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast Again

Many countries offer breakfasts that aren’t necessarily only eaten in the morning. When the food is this good, why restrict the dish to the morning?

Costa Rica

One of the world’s best breakfasts is gallo pinto from Costa Rica. It’s so popular it is often eaten for lunch and dinner as well. Which is just as well because it tastes great and is also really healthy. It comprises rice and beans and is usually accompanied by a fried egg at breakfast. Other accompaniments to start the morning include sausage, fried potatoes and some salad. It’s really easy to make and we have a recipe for Gallo Pinto.

Vietnam

In Vietnam breakfast usually took a buffet form but often there were chefs on-hand to cook some food to order. We were always offered Pho – a tangle of noodles, freshly cooked and served in a yummy broth, topped with meat and vegetables. You pick up a side plate and add herbs, chilli, limes and other delicious items so that you can create your own personalised taste sensation. The liquid of the broth also ensured that we were thoroughly hydrated for the day ahead.

Mexico

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: with Mexican cuisine more is always more. There are so many dishes on offer, we didn’t have the same breakfast twice throughout our trip. Tacos with all the trimmings were just as fantastic to eat at breakfast as they were at lunch or dinner (or even for a mid-excursion snack). You can never have too many tacos.

Chuilaquiles are basically tortillas (often leftovers) which form a carb base. Then they are covered in red or green salsa and other ingredients such as shredded chicken, cheese or refried beans.

Tortilla with mole (pronounced molay) makes for a sophisticated breakfast. Mole is famous as the savoury sauce which contains chocolate but it’s so much more than chocolate sauce. It’s actually a very complex sauce, which contains a vast number of ingredients and takes a long time to make. Hotels in Mexico will often provide a sweet, glossy mole but the best ones can be found at the local market.

Huevas chiopanecas (below left) are eggs with red sauce and pork tamales (corn dough steamed inside a husk). And huevos coletos (below right) are fried eggs over tortillas with beans and pork sausage, which sounds western enough, until it’s adorned with spicy red sauce.

These dishes are also the sort of food that will be eaten through the day. And quite right too – they are all delicious, so you wouldn’t want to restrict yourself to just the first meal of the day.

South Korea

Like in Mexico, Korean people eat a wide variety of dishes in the morning and many of these aren’t solely for breakfast. Stew, known as jigae, accompanied by rice and side dishes, known as banchan, are popular.

Kimchi also features, as it does with pretty much every Korean meal. It is a spicy fermented cabbage dish and is so popular that most Korean people have two refrigerators – a normal one and a kimchi one. We make our own – you can find our kimchi recipe here.

World’s Best Breakfasts: Minimal Preparation, Maximum Flavour

And there are some brekkies that are surprisingly simple and make full use of great ingredients.

Spain

Andalucia is known as the breadbasket of Spain, and is a region that has more than its fair share of delicious produce. Alongside wonderfully fresh fruits and vegetables, it is the region of Iberico ham, sourced from the black pigs that forage for acorns in the mountains. And in nearby La Mancha, Manchego cheese is a hard cheese made from sheep milk which has a strong, nutty flavour. Sometimes simplicity is the key to a fantastic breakfast.

Pan con tomate is a thick slice of toasted bread, rubbed with olive oil and sometimes garlic, topped with a salsa of crushed ripe tomatoes and just a sprinkling of salt. such a simple dish but it is so delicious. It’s proof that quality ingredients speak for themselves.

Germany

A German breakfast is clever because it really needs minimal preparation in the morning. the perfect way to start the day is to get up and eat.

Key to its deliciousness is the bread. There are over 3000 types of bread in Germany, both breakfast and evening breads. There are so many varieties of tasty Brot (breads) and Brötchen (rolls) for brekkie – white breads, rye breads, whole-grain, wheat-rye and many, many more. There are so  many variations, sometimes they are seeded or nutty, all are hearty, filling and a perfect vessel for sweet or savoury delights.

So what can you put on your bread: a variety of meats, cheeses and smoked fish or, if you have a sweet tooth, jams and honey. Honeycomb, dripping with sweetness, slathered over a slice of buttered bread, is a thing of joy. And how can you not love the fact that on the last Friday of every September Germans celebrate Butterbrot Day – a day of bread and butter?

Scandinavia

A Norwegian breakfast is savoury. Local seafood is amazing so fish features heavily in the first meal of the day. This may be smoked salmon or pickled herring in a variety of marinades. Bread with pålegg – a spread – is common.

Norway also offers some unusual cheese – brown cheese, called Brunost. This is one of the strangest cheeses we’ve tried because it uses what is normally considered to be the waste product from cheese-making – the whey. Whey boiled with cream results in caramelisation which gives the cheese its distinctive brown colour. A slice of cheese atop a slice of bread is an important part of a typical breakfast.

And you are always guaranteed a great cup of coffee – or three – when visiting Scandinavia. Coffee is an essential part of breakfast.

World’s Best Breakfasts – Back At Home

And, of course, whenever we are staying away from home in the UK, we’ll always have an honest-to-goodness fry-up. Sausage, bacon, egg (usually fried, poached or scrambled), black pudding, mushroom, tomato, beans and sometime a hash brown are the usual components.

Did you know that there were regional variations on the traditional British breakfast?

We recently discovered that the best possible place for a full English breakfast that we’ve ever eaten is actually in our home town. While many top breakfast establishments boast locally sourced food (which is, of course, delicious) some go one step further to cure their own bacon and make their own sausages and black pudding. And that’s just the start: The hash brown (never the most fabulous component of a British breakfast) is a home-made bubble and squeak, a glorious blend of fried potato and cabbage. The beans have never seen a tin – they are home-made baked beans in a rich tomato sauce. There is even rich and tangy brown sauce to accompany the feast.

These are our favourite breakfasts from around the world. Do you have a favourite? Let us know!

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