Beigel Bake

Beigel Bake -- universally known as "the White One" on Brick Lane -- is one of London's most iconic food institutions, a 24-hour bakery and beigel shop that has been feeding East Enders around the clock since 1974. One of only two surviving beigel shops on what was once a Jewish East End landmark street, Beigel Bake is a genuine London pilgrimage spot: a small, unpretentious shopfront with a constant queue at all hours of the day and night, beloved by everyone from City workers grabbing breakfast to late-night revellers fuelling up after the clubs close in Shoreditch.

The menu is focused and unapologetic: freshly baked beigels in the traditional Jewish style, filled with hot salt beef and English mustard, smoked salmon and cream cheese, herring, or left plain. The salt beef beigel -- tender, flavoursome meat piled high in a chewy freshly baked roll with a smear of mustard -- is one of the best sandwiches in London at any price. A small selection of cakes and pastries is also available. Open 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Never closed.