Billingsgate Cafe — Restaurant in London

Billingsgate Fish Market is an absolute gem for anyone who loves seafood—or just a bit of authentic London hustle and bustle. From the moment the doors swing open in the pre-dawn glow, you’re immersed in a vibrant, almost theatrical atmosphere of banter, ice crunching underfoot, and the unmistakably fresh scent of the sea.

The range is extraordinary: gleaming turbot, towering stacks of crabs, boxes of shell-on prawns, even live scallops snapping in their shells. Every trader I spoke to was friendly, knowledgeable, and eager to share tips on storage, prep, and cooking. Prices are remarkably reasonable for the quality; you can walk away with restaurant-grade fish for a fraction of what you’d pay retail.

A couple of practical perks seal the deal: on-site parking makes those 4 a.m. wake-ups less daunting, and the market café serves a cracking bacon or smoked-salmon sandwich to fuel the morning haul. Bring a cool box, some cash, and curiosity—you’ll leave with the freshest catch in London and a story or two to tell. Billingsgate isn’t just a market; it’s a sunrise adventure that reminds you why London’s culinary heart still beats strong...

Highly recommend Scallop Bacon Roll! The scallop was so flavourful and juicy, the bacon is a bit salty, the buns were nicely chewy, best breakfast bun I’ve had!

I wasn’t so keen on the haddock breakfast, I was expecting fresh fish but instead the haddock was very salty and tasted like preserved fish - get the half haddock if you just wanted to try, it is quite a decent portion, and impressed by the perfectly done eggs on top of the haddock, all breakfast come with tea/coffee.

We went to the cafe around 4:40am, it wasn’t busy and people started trickling in from then on and was packed when I was eating.

In terms of service, we were rushed to order and didn’t have enough time to look through the menu, ended up making two...

Scallops are standard (not freshed and butter flavours were absent even it was swimming in butter, but okay and could be better) - that was the Scallops breakfast, overall was acceptable. Tea was fair, got fairly strong impacts on the red tea and the milk ratio was spot on. The tea was thick enough and have the right balance.

Sorry I have to use the Asian taste buds ro judge. With traditional British palete judgement then, everything was heavenly made. But I would be have to use the Asian standard, so maybe one day, these would elevates.

Saying that, we might have nothing left to fish in future, scientific news said 2039 most of the fish will extinct as there are too many jelly fish but we...