Welcome to The Travel Breakfast Blog.
Here we review breakfasts all over the world, mainly in hotels, but also breakfasts on airplanes and trains, at airports, train stations or just breakfasts eaten somewhere on the road.
The motto of this blog is Never travel without checking out the breakfast!
Why? Because breakfasts are important.
But there are other reasons too. As no doubt your mother told you, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This was brought home to me when I was doing my army service (Royal Gotland Anti-Aircraft Battalion, 1978-79) and breakfast was the only meal you could be sure was decent every day. I still can’t believe the amounts I would eat then.
The importance of breakfast is also obvious to anyone who has to travel and do a series of daily meetings. It is the only meal you are likely to have without rushing to catch up with the next meeting.
I should have started this blog years ago when I did more business travel. But I didn’t. However, for the record, the four best hotel breakfasts I have ever had are:
- The Metropole Sofitel in Hanoi. The first breakfast to be awarded The Travel Breakfast Blog’s top rating, 10/10.
- The Epic restaurant in the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Possibly the best hotel breakfast in the world in terms of choice and quality.
- The Auberge Ostapé outside St Jean Pied-de-Port in France. Beautiful view of the Pyrenées combined with the best of French breakfast.
- The Island Shangri-La in Hong Kong. A sumptuous mix of European/American and Asian.
On a more general point, I find that the four parts of the world that do the best hotel breakfasts are the Nordic countries (waffles, herring, lots of different bread and cheese); the Middle East (olives, pita, various cheeses and vegetables); North America (waffles, eggs, bacon, bagels); and East Asia (a cornucopia of breakfasts from different parts of the world, including obviously local).
Intercontinental the Willard, Washington DC, USA, 30 December 2025
This is of course one of Washington’s classical hotels, visited by every president since Franklin Pierce. The breakfast was menu only, i.e., no buffet, and the tea was (of course!) bags only. Somewhat disappointingly the menu did not offer ‘simple; options, like just toast. However, this is the United States,…
Hotel Madera, Washington DC, USA, 29 December 2025
This seems to be the trip where I return to old reviews. I wrote about the Madera almost three years ago, giving it 7/10; but when we checked in this time, we were told that they have substantially changed the breakfast, necessitating a new review. So, here goes: The change…
Hotel Commonwealth, Boston, MA, USA, 29 December 2025
No buffet, in fact not even a restaurant. Instead you order online and it gets delivered to your room. Drawbacks (apart from no buffet)? Well, the tea is of course bags only. But apart from that, not much, really. There is a set menu to choose from, but you can…
Harvard Club of Boston, Boston, MA, USA, 26 December 2025
I have reviewed the Boston Harvard Club in the past. At that stage, I gave it 5.5/10. However, that was almost three years ago and today’s breakfast was quite a bit improved. Again, of course, no buffet; and the tea is bags only. But all the various options for our…
Brunetti’s, Melbourne, Australia, 18 December 2025
Growing up, breakfast was clearly the third meal in the Seltzer household. Most days it was cereal. Sometimes instant oatmeal. Occasionally on a weekend there was a cooked breakfast. At college there was cooked breakfast available every day, but it was college food – lots of grease and calories, rarely…
Grand Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden, 10 December 2025
When I received an invitation to attend the Nobel prize ceremony in Stockholm, I believed this to be the honor of a lifetime. However, it turns out I was mistaken, as shortly thereafter Gabriel invited me to contribute a review to his breakfast blog. As part of my trip to…
At Six Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden, 8 December 2025
Strangely, I have never noticed this hotel although it has been around in the very centre of Stockholm for at least eight years. Today, we decided to sample the breakfast. First, a general observation: spending time in Southeast Asia over the past few years has opened my eyes to one…
Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake, Hanoi, Vietnam, 29 November 2025
This is a truly outstanding breakfast! A large buffet, featuring (of course!) local and Western food. In addition, Chinese, Japanese and Indian food, everything of top quality. The bread is excellent, including but not limited to very nice croissants. There is gluten-free and egg-free bread as well. Good choice of…
Sheraton, Hanoi, Vietnam, 22 November 2025
Another nice buffet. Primarily Western and Vietnamese, but with dashes of Indian and Chinese as well. An egg bar, of course, phở, of course. Good choice of vegetables and very good choice of fresh fruit. The bread is excellent, although the croissants were not quite top notch. Nice choice of…
Hopewell Hotel, Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R., 13 November 2025
Apologies for the large number of photos, but this was a very spread-out buffet and it was difficult to capture everything. So, what do we have? Very good choice of local dishes. Also excellent spread of hot dishes, including an egg bar (which I seem to have missed in the…