Even DJs — especially DJs — need their full English.
"Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o'clock is a scoundrel."
—Dr. Samuel Johnson
1 Mepham Street, Waterloo
Breakfast Club Friday to Sunday 3am-6am. See website for other opening times.
Where are we? Under an arch of Waterloo Bridge, looking out across the dark, commuter-less front square of the rail station.
Why are we here? We're probably waiting for the first train of the morning after a night of unspeakable hedonism, or maybe we're still carrying on with the hedonism. Or we might have just given up after the first two films of a Lord of the Rings marathon at the IMAX.
What honest victualler would be serving at this hour? Arch One has been reborn this month as a venue of many transformations: commuter coffee and laptops by morning, fine dining by evening, and nightclub by night. Determined to set itself up as the last club before the first train, it's offering a special Breakfast Club menu on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings from 3-6, combining the late late meal with DJs and a dance floor.
Who are our nocturnal companions? High stamina dancers keeping the party going. On a Friday morning the floor isn't packed, but we can imagine it filling up on subsequent nights. The energy and noise is antithetical to all that is breakfast, but somehow beats and beans collide in a Hegelian synthesis and become an experience altogether new.
What state must one be in to enjoy the food? Actually, this meal would be wasted on the wasted. Our full English is a cut above, with faultless egg and a sausage from which we needn't avert our eyes. And we didn't even splash out for the Möet breakfast. The kitchen is headed by a Gordon Ramsay alum, who doesn't stay through the night, but it must count for something.
Do we still have fare for the night bus? We might even make our train. Prices are very good given the quality and time: £5.90 for the full breakfast, with other options from £2.70 up to the £9.90 Möet-and-smoked salmon special. The portions are not immense but it'll get us home.
