A Grade II listed Italian cafe on Bethnal Green Road that has been feeding East London since 1900 — the Formica tables, the wood-panelled walls, the art deco marquetry interior designed by Achille Capocci in 1946, and the Pellicci family (now in their fourth generation) who call everyone "darling" and serve a full English breakfast with the warmth of people who have been doing this for 125 years. E Pellicci is not a specialty coffee shop — it is a caff, a London institution that serves builder's tea, fried eggs, and sausages in a room that is both architecturally significant (the Capocci interior is genuinely beautiful) and socially irreplaceable. The Kray twins ate here. The current regulars are Bethnal Green locals who treat the counter as a community centre. The espresso is made on a machine that Mama Pellicci oversees with the same attention she gives to the fry-up.
Location
Bethnal Green, London
Map
Insider Intel
The full English breakfast — the fry-up that has been refined over four generations. Builder's tea in a mug. The Italian specials (lasagne, cannelloni) at lunch are homemade and excellent. An espresso if you want to honour the Italian heritage. Do not overthink it — order what the person next to you is having.
Breakfast — 8-10am — when the full English is at its freshest and the morning crowd is a cross-section of Bethnal Green. Lunch for the Italian specials. Closed Sundays.
332 Bethnal Green Road. Bethnal Green tube. Cash preferred (check if cards now accepted). Full English approximately £8-10. The Grade II listing covers the 1946 Capocci art deco interior — look at the marquetry panels. Family-run since 1900, fourth generation. Closed Sundays. No wifi. The warmth of the welcome is genuine and irreplaceable.