Down a pretty, pedestrianised side-street connecting Hampstead’s two main drags is a coffee & brunch stalwart. Ginger & White was launched by an Aussie and a Brit over a decade ago, and it still draws queues on weekends.
Tiny inside – with one half given over to a kitchen and barista counter turning out Grade-A flat whites, and the other a cramped warren of communal tables, window seats, sofas and oversized flower arrangements – the trick here is to get a table outdoors when the weather’s fine.
On the menu you’ll find a sprawling, globe-trotting spread of breakfast and brunch items that pleasingly shuns trendiness for some good-old fashioned, homely treats: soft-boiled eggs with buttered soldiers, bacon sandwiches with fiery rocket, and a stellar shakshuka served in a scalding hot skillet (fine, it’s a bit trendy). They pride themselves on sourcing entirely from British producers – Welsh eggs, Essex meat and bread from The Flour Station, and they bake a moreish line-up of cakes every day in-house.
Washing it all down is a solid selection of different teas, well-made coffees, and freshly-squeezed juices that should set you up for a day pounding the streets of Hampstead and dropping thousands in the high-end boutiques – or, more likely, settling in for a movie with cocktails at the Everyman, going for a stomp around Hampstead Heath, or having a nose round a modernist architect’s house.
You couldn’t have planned it better.
NOTE: Ginger & White is open weekdays 7.30am-5.30pm, Sat 7.30am-6pm and Sun 8am-6pm. There are no reservations, so just turn up. You can find out more HERE.
Ginger & White | 4a – 5a Perrins Court, Hampstead, NW3 1QS
Love brunch? Check out our Ultimate London Brunch Guide