Specifically, I’m referring to restaurants like Congee Time, Congee Wong and Congee Queen (note: not Juk Time, Juk Wong and Juk Queen).
Americans tend to be pretty conservative about breakfast. If you ask Americans abroad what they miss most, it’s rarely pizza or apple pie- it’s usually the good old fashioned American breakfast. Breakfast just isn’t a time that we like to break out of our mold. And this makes some sense. Americans don’t really eat a lot of “American” food, but our breakfasts are usually purely American. Breakfast occupies a lot of our “comfort food” space. That said, on the west coast, Mexican breakfast and dim sum are pretty common.
It’s not really my experience that other countries don’t have breakfast- every place I’ve been has some kind of breakfast standard. But I think a lot of cultures don’t really have the sorts of leisurely “take the whole family out after church and sip coffee and gossip for an hour” kind of going to out breakfast that we have. It’s more likely to be quick street food snacks or cafeteria snacks, or just heated up leftovers. Which isn’t really that alien- how often do we grab a slice of leftover pizza or a couple pieces of bread as breakfast when we rush out to work?
You know the “continental breakfast” they have at hotels - coffee and baked/fried pastries or bread? Hotels didn’t invent it - that really is breakfast in a lot of European countries and probably other European -influenced countries as well.
I’m sure that people in every country sometimes have breakfast away from home - but I expect that it’s usually not in a restaurant that also serves lunch and dinner , just like I wouldn’t expect to find any breakfast in most non-ethnic restaurants in the US (with the exception of diners,hotel restaurants or Denny’s/Perkins/Cracker Barrel-type places.). If I wanted the NY version of a continental breakfast, I’d go to a bagel shop or a coffee/doughnut shop.If my husband feels like a Chinese breakfast, he’ll go to a Chinese bakery for char siu bao or to a dumpling shop or cart. If I feel like cookies or pastry with my coffee, I go to an Italian bakery or cafe.
Here’s a link to a recent thread discussing a photo spread showing 50 breakfasts from around the world. In the thread posters discuss whether or not the photos are an accurate representation from each nation.
Unfortunately the link to the photo spread is dead but I think this is a copy of it.
We have Edward Bernays to thank for the modern American bacon-and-eggs breakfast. Before 1905, the standard breakfast was toast and coffee.
Here in Central Pennsylvania, we have such a strong tradition of diners that in some smaller towns, it’s difficult to find a restaurant open for breakfast that isn’t a diner. Hell, there are diners that are only open for breakfast and lunch; they close at 1 or 2 p.m. We love us some breakfast. 
Certainly with regards to Australia this isn’t correct. Amongst farmers in particular, breakfast has always been a big meal. Eggs, bacon, steak, etc. Even amongst non-country people a weekend fry up was popular in the '70s (that’s as far back as my memory goes - no reason to think it wasn’t popular before that). I think it may have dropped off somewhat during the health and fitness conscious '80s, but certainly did not only start in the '90s.
I recall reading long ago that the sese of taste is most sensitive after waking. If true, that might be a reason that some foods might end up as breakfast preferences.
Funny timing because I just went to a Columbian/Caribbean restaurant that also wasn’t open during breakfast hours but served a meal that would be good during breakfast. Basically it was a lot like the classic British meat plate – steak, an egg, sausage, pork side (tastes like bacon), but added rice and beans. If the serving was a bit smaller I’d go there and have that for breakfast.
My favorite all-time breakfast is served at a Mexican Restaurant that unfortunately is 1100 miles from where I live.
I try to eat there at least twice a year.
The South of India has very specific breakfast foods and you can find a large number of eateries in the South that will serve them early in the morning. For those familiar with the food - you might recognize idlis, dosas, uttapams, uppuma. In traditional South Indian households (mine was one while growing up) - you got to eat these for breakfast only and on rare and special occasions you had breakfast for dinner…but almost never for lunch.
In Germany and Austria when I was at a conference the breakfasts consisted of what we’d call cold cuts, which my wife loved. These were at small places, not fancy hotels. In Tokyo at a fancy hotel I got a nice soup with seafood. They had an American breakfast also, but a bizarro version with a salad, cocktail franks and really runny eggs.
I know, but they spell it “desalluno” on all of the signs around here. Must be a regional thing.
That’s kind of interesting. My wife’s family is South Indian and while some of those are still distinctly breakfast-only (uppuma in particular), they often have idli and dosa for lunch (or even dinner). I think many Indian restaurants that have South Indian cuisine you could probably get dosa and idli with sambar even at non-breakfast hours.
LOL -I still have nightmares of the “American” breakfast in Tokyo and Kyoto hotels.
Oddly enough there’s a small shop across the street from the KyotoRoyal hotel that does a very nice American style breakfast. Last time I was there (5 years ago?) 2 eggs any way, bacon, toast, juice, and coffee was $6. A cup of coffee only? $4 - go figure.
Even if the owners of an ethnic restaurant WANTED to open for breakfast, they’d face a dilemma. A chicken and egg dilemma, of sorts.
At lunch or dinner time, when people picture an Italian or Chinese resaurant, they generally THINK they know what will be on the menu.
But if an Italian or Chinese restaurant started advertising, “Open for breakfast,” well, what would prospective customers expect to see on the menu? Does anyone know what an Italian or Chinese breakfast would entail?
Mexican joints have been selling migas and breakfast tacos and fritattas and the like for a long time, so people generally have a good idea what will be available for breakfast at a Mexican joint. But breakfast has never been an option at most other ethnic restaurants, so people wouldn’t even know what to expect.
Chinese breakfast can vary wildly depending on where you are. It’s a big country. You might have dim sum, but more typically you would have noodles, or jook (congee), or you tiao (a fried bread; you or I would call it a cruller), or jian bing (crepes), or scallion pancakes, or bao (buns, filled or unfilled).
Speaking as an American, it’s because American-style breakfast foods are the best in the world, and no other breakfasts come close. They simply can’t compete with the sublime eggs/pig/carbohydrate/animal fat combination.
Seriously though, I think it’s a combination of things:
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Generally speaking, Americans enjoy trying new/ethnic foods for lunch or dinner, not so much breakfast. I suspect this is because we’re used to eating a wide variety of foods for lunch/dinner, but have a fairly specific set of “breakfast foods.” Maybe we’re just not that daring in the morning, or maybe we just like to start the day with something familiar.
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Many cuisines don’t have specific “breakfast” foods, or don’t place as much importance on breakfast.
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It seems that regardless of cuisine, there are fewer traditional breakfast foods than other foods. There just isn’t as much variety there to offer, so they stick with lunch and dinner.
A+
Great link! (The second one works) I had to stop and make me a snack half way thru checking out all of the different types of breakfast foods from around the world. I hadn’t realized that there was such a wide diversity.
Ahhh… Port Isabel (and Manuels Tacos)! A+ 
I think John Mace just spelled it like it’s pronounced.
(Not everyone knows that the double ‘L’ is pronounced as a ‘Y’ in Spanish.)
See ZipperJJ’s post and click on the second link, you’ll be glad you did. 
The Spanish idea of “American breakfast” is “a bowl of cereal-that’s-had-things-done-to-it with milk”. The way you feel about that description is the way I feel about “Continental breakfasts”.
I like that the second link for the 50 breakfasts explains things better than the original link did: as I’d WAG’ed in that other thread, they’re not supposed to be “the breakfast most people in [Insertplace] eat,” but “breakfasts you may run into in [Insertplace].”
Desayuno is the correct spelling. I’m not surprised about the misspelling, but in the dictionary it appears with a y. It’s not “a regional thing” any more than misplacing apostrophes is; you can find it anywhere bad spellers are found.
A lot of Islamic people in my 'hood eat shawarma at breakfast, as well as throughout the day. My Missus (Pinay-Bahrani) will usually take it over the stereotypical NA Lumberjack’s Breakfast.
My favourite shop closes at 5 am and opens at 7 am. There’s always people there, any time of the day. New Year’s eve in the wee hours of the morn there’s a huge line, even.