Carluccio's, Reuters Plaza, Canary Wharf

These places have been around for a while and are spreading out of London at quite a pace, but I've never been less than perfectly satisfied with the food and service. This particular branch suffers, maybe, because of the braying City types and power moms who feature prominently among its customers. However, to business: bicerin to drink, a first, and scrambled egg on ciabatta with sauteed mushroom. The bicerin was an interesting one-off. It consisted of an empty coffee cup and three jugs, one of espresso, one of melted chocolate and one of single cream. You mix them up in the cup and savour, though I found all the flavours and textures worked against each other. Maybe for the real experience, the thing to do would be to take yourself off to some dive backstreet cafe in Turin. The coffee, however, is really top-drawer and soon kicked in. For comparison, I ordered a double espresso to follow. It was very hot, dark, thick, bitter and with a trace of light-brown froth on top, the essence. I am still slightly intoxicated by these shots. On a previous visit I had the ristretto, which pops your brain straight away.

The main dish came with a sprig of parsley on the egg, which was itself parsley-flecked. I think I prefer egg done this way, folded rather than stirred. The delicacy and meltiness is so much better than I can manage at home where it is bashed around in a pan. Mushrooms had a touch of caramel about them and had been done in butter and kept drained nicely. Very good. Breakfast for two eating the same dish and with three double espressos and one bicerin, £17.55.

Cappuccino count: 9/10. These places are tightly managed to maintain the standard set by Antonio Carluccio's Neal St restaurant. There is a little shop out front where it would be very easy to run up a big bill. Coffee out of this world, food and service excellent. Pick your moment to avoid sharks in suits and hooraying media types.