Aqua Shard

Good morning sleepyhead.

It’s time to wake up and join me in a land filled with breakfast adventures. Today we’re visiting the Aqua Shard.

I wasn’t too thrilled when my alarm went off at 6AM on a Tuesday morning during the holidays. London was dark. It could have easily been midnight. However, with sleep still in our eyes, we knew better.

But we had places to be.

As the underground was under construction, we caught a cab with my parents to the other side of London. A London filled with immaculate skyscrapers and business men and women rushing to make very early morning meetings.

We stepped out of our cab and made our way to our destination: the Aqua Shard. Thirty one floors later, we stepped into the incredibley large restaurant high in the sky.

With the world still sleeping and the sun barely making a peep, we could have easily been visiting for cocktails.

But no, in the morning I only have one drink on my mind and that is all the coffee.

We took our seats and eyed up the menu.

In the meantime, the staff came around to fill our glass with a choice of freshly squeezed orange or grapefruit juice. I went for the grapefruit and it was heavenly. I don’t normally have juice in the morning, so it was a nice treat.

We settled in and made our breakfast choices. My dad also requested toast for the table. Turns out, the Aqua Shard know exactly how to present bread and jams.

And coffee also arrived in a lovely french press, making me, my dad and J incredibly happy people.

My parents looking fab at the table.

The Aqua Shard do an amazing job at spacing out your meal. We sipped our juices while we contemplated our orders. Then we munched on toast, jams and savored our hot coffees. They’re very attentive to what your table needs and when is the perfect time to bring our your courses. It’s exactly what you’re looking for, especially considering you’re staying for a few hours to enjoy the views, atmosphere and company.

When the perfect amount of time had passed, our breakfast arrived.

My dad and I each opted for the porridge complete with almond milk, blackberry compote and chia seeds… maybe not the most appealing in a photo but honestly, I ate every last bite. It was phenomenal and yet didn’t leave me feeling too full.

J couldn’t stop himself from ordering the bacon bap.

And my mom went for the Eggs Benedict. Not going to lie, I was a tiny bit jealous of their meals!

But I think we had an overall good breakfast spread going on.

After we dined to our hearts content we sat back and enjoyed the entirety of London coming to life.

At this point, the Aqua Shard was starting to fill up. Plenty of families on their holidays and some business meetings taking place over breakfast.

We eventually decided it was time to venture off to explore the other side of the restaurant.

When we arrived for our reservation in the morning we were a bit perplexed as to why we weren’t being seated on this side of the tower. Surely we’d want prime views to watch the sun come up?

Well. We now had our answer.

The light was brightly shining and glistening off each and every surface. It was goregous. However, it might not have made for the best lighting for an enjoyable morning breakfast. You could hardly see a thing, but we managed to snap a few photos before stumbling back to the shadows with stars in our eyes.

Speaking of views… it would have been awful of me not to let you in on this secret.

Bathrooms.

Normally a drab, boring location. Well… you kind of need to visit them if you are in the Aqua Shard.

I happen to love our quaint little London flat but I don’t think I’d hate waking up to these views every day.

We couldn’t help but take a few more photos before we left. We certainly weren’t the only ones either! I felt right at home with plenty of shutter happy people around.

Finally, several hours later we made our way out of the Aqua Shard.

But honestly, it was still so early. I think we left around 9:30AM.

We strolled down by the water to get better views of the building we just spent a wonderful morning in.

And maybe to take in a few other sights too.

Visiting the Aqua Shard was a beautiful way to start our day.

Overall thoughts and review? The service was incredible. I can’t find a fault or complaint to offer. Food was delicious, and shockingly well priced. (Let’s put it this way, my porridge was under £4). So for such impeccable views, quality of food and decent pricing, a morning at the Aqua Shard should be a must on your London list in 2015.

Honestly, I’d recommend to go for breakfast. You can easily get a table with front and center views. And how often do we really get to enjoy a sunrise? It was stunning watching the world slowly come alive and the perfect place for a morning breakfast in the sky.

Kelly xoxo

Aqua Shard
Level 31, The Shard
31 St. Thomas Street
London SE1 9RY
020 3011 1256