My Pancake Day breakfast at Jackson & Rye Soho began with a walk through almost empty streets and ended with bacon, blueberries and warm maple syrup. In between, I found a seat at the bar, a restaurant already filling with breakfast reservations, and a black Americano that deserved more credit than I had expected to give it.

From the Roberts London archive: the original video was published on 8 February 2016. This article recalls that visit. Jackson & Rye’s Soho restaurant subsequently closed in 2019, as reported by Restaurant; the menu and booking observations below describe the restaurant as it was then.

Soho before the crowds

There is a completely different Soho early in the morning. Walking through it, I described it as a ghost town: the morning after the night before. Old Compton Street was quiet enough to make its afternoon and evening crowds seem a long way off. Later, I knew, the pavements would fill and people would spill into the street. For now, there was space to look around.

Wind and street cleaning interrupted my attempt to explain Pancake Day to the camera. That was part of the walk, too. Soho had not stopped being Soho; I had simply caught it between shifts. I like the busy version, but there was something particularly enjoyable about having a breakfast destination and a relatively peaceful route to it.

Looking for a Pancake Day breakfast

I wanted pancakes, so I had searched for somewhere serving them at breakfast. American-inspired restaurants seemed a sensible place to start. Jackson & Rye was my choice, at the Wardour Street end of Old Compton Street, with its red awning and corner entrance.

I had not booked. My plan was to try for a walk-in seat, with Ed’s Diner at the other end of Old Compton Street as a possible backup. In the video I made a distinction between an American-themed diner and Jackson & Rye’s American-inspired approach. It was a small distinction, but it explained the sort of breakfast setting I had in mind.

The Pancake Day tradition itself deserves a clearer explanation than my windy, off-the-cuff version in the film. Shrove Tuesday comes immediately before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Pancakes were a way to use ingredients such as eggs, milk and fats before the traditional fast. Its date changes with Easter. English Heritage’s account of Shrove Tuesday gives the background. For my morning out, the practical part was simple: find a good plate of pancakes.

A walk-in seat at the Jackson & Rye bar

I got lucky. There was a place at the bar, so I could settle in without putting my backup plan into action. The contrast with the street was immediate. Outside, Soho looked barely awake. Inside, the dining areas at the front and back were already filling with reservations.

A bar seat suited this visit. I was on my own, filming breakfast, and it put the working side of the restaurant in front of me: cups, coffee-making and staff moving through the service. Bottles filled the shelves behind the counter, while the windows and red blinds gave the room its street-corner setting.

I ordered bacon and blueberry pancakes with a black Americano. That was the whole point of the trip, so there was no lengthy debate over the rest of the menu. Having found a seat, I could enjoy the change from walking and talking outside to watching breakfast take shape indoors.

Coffee that earned its place at breakfast

The coffee at Jackson & Rye Soho was surprisingly good. That was my reaction at the time, and the surprise says as much about my expectations as it does about the drink. Restaurant coffee had often disappointed me, even when the food was worth the visit.

Here, coffee was clearly getting attention. There was a dedicated barista, who looked to me like one of the busiest people in the room. From my position at the bar I could watch the cups going out. This felt like a proper part of breakfast service, rather than an afterthought at the end of a meal.

I still thought better beans could have lifted it further, so this was not a claim that I had discovered London’s best coffee. It was simply a decent black Americano in a restaurant, and better than many restaurant coffees I had encountered. For a pancake breakfast, that mattered.

Bacon, blueberries and warm maple syrup

The pancakes arrived as a stack, topped with crispy bacon, blueberries and a dusting of icing sugar. A little jug of maple syrup came alongside for pouring over the top. Visually, it was exactly the American-style breakfast I had gone looking for.

These were different from the pancakes I usually made at home. Mine tended to spread to the diameter of the frying pan, with sugar and a squeeze of lemon as the familiar topping. Here, the pancakes were smaller across and thicker, built into a stack with the bacon on top. Both approaches have their place; this was a good excuse to go out for the version I was not making in my own kitchen.

Once I had eaten them, my verdict was straightforward: the pancakes were fantastic and the bacon was delicious. But it was the warm Canadian maple syrup that brought the dish together. Pouring it over the stack turned the separate elements into the breakfast I had been hoping for.

I had spent much of the walk talking about the occasion, but the plate did not need an elaborate explanation. Pancakes, bacon, blueberries and syrup were enough. It was a satisfying way to mark the tradition, with someone else doing the cooking and a view of the restaurant around me.

A busy breakfast behind quiet streets

By the time I left, my early arrival looked increasingly fortunate. In my closing verdict I reported that the restaurant was full, people were being turned away, and walk-ins faced an hour and a half’s wait. I had arrived soon after opening and found a space at the end of the bar before that rush.

My advice in the 2016 film was to book if you were planning a visit. That belonged to the restaurant’s operating days, but it also captured the surprise of the morning: a quiet street had given very little indication of how busy breakfast would be inside.

Back out through Soho and Chinatown

After breakfast, Soho still felt calm. I walked on past Chinatown, where decorations were up for Chinese New Year. The red lanterns and bright morning light gave the end of the film a different feel from the darker bar and dining room.

That short walk is part of why I enjoy keeping these London films. The breakfast is the main event, but the streets before and after it record the neighbourhood at a particular moment. This one preserves a Soho morning in 2016, a restaurant that has since closed, and a very good plate of pancakes.

Watch the original Soho breakfast video

For more of my Soho food archive, join me for char siu pork buns at Shackfuyu, Pizza Pilgrims and coffee at Bar Italia, or BAO and a visit to the John Snow pub.