Ginger & White

The number one place to get coffee in Hampstead — no question! There are tons of reasons this place is busy, from the delicious food to the perfectly brewed coffee to the friendly staff. Don’t be fooled by the other cafes in the area — this is the only place to go if you appreciate good coffee. Each of their baristas is properly trained.
The menu is short & sweet with a daily option of sweet & savoury muffins, a frittata & a salad. They also serve the most delicious banana bread I’ve found in London. On the table you can sample a range of relish, jams & their homemade peanut butter.
It can be super busy in here but if you hit the right time you can grab the armchair or sofa. There’s no better place to sit with a coffee & a book. On weekdays there’s usually a few macs dotted around so they don’t mind you working if you’re fair about ordering while there. The wifi is good though plugs are scarce. As you can expect from a place with younger (and dare I say hipster-​ish) staff the music is usually pretty good.
While not the cheapest café it’s definitely worth it for the good quality food & coffee. It always blows my mind that some of the sub-​standard places in Hampstead are busy when this place is just around the corner!

Ginger & White have really earned the title of best coffee shop in Hampstead, even if it may be just an unofficial one it’s a reality with the locals.
At first it’s a little difficult to find if you don’t know the area, tucked up a skinny side road between the shops in the high street, but it’s worth spending the extra few minutes hunting it out — you will be thankful you did!
They serve breakfast and lunch here, along with a lovely range of cakes and pastries. The coffee is well brewed and while it may take a little longer to arrive on your table than you’d maybe like sometimes it’s always worth the wait. The service is a little slow sometimes, as the small café does get extremely busy and you may even need to wait for a table on weekends, but they make up for it by being friendly and helpful.
The egg and soldiers is my favourite item on the menu, served with little knitted wooly hat egg cosies and perfectly buttered toast ‘soldiers’, it’s home comfort food at it’s best.

This place was very good! Coffee was amazing and food was fresh and delicious. Only thing is that I ordered another coffee and the guy forgot — he did the same thing to the guy next to me.

Hampstead is not short on options for brunch and coffee, but this is my first choice every time.
Tucked away in an alleyway off the Main Street, they serve exceptionally good coffee, baked goods and brunch/​lunch options.
Service is really great and I love their playlists. A nice blend of alternative and old classics played at a relaxed volume that makes it easy to read if you are on your own, or a chilled out place to hang out with friends.
The shop itself only seats about 30 – 40 people inside and out, so be prepared to wait on the weekends

OMG ce carrot cake ! Il est simplement parfait. Il est moelleux à souhait, le jeu des textures est parfait entre le moelleux du cake, son croquant apporté par les noix, son goût assez prononcé de gingembre et cannelle tout en restant subtil et ce glaçage au beurre et cream cheese qui est incroyablement suave !
Le meilleur carrot cake que j’ai eu l’occasion de goûter. Les boissons sont aussi délicieuses.
ps: né pas hésiter à demander votre thé glacé même s’il n’est pas à la carte.

Really cute café in a very residential ares in North London. Cozy inside, kind of like the local coffee shop in a village where people come hang out. They have very good coffee and home made cakes. I saw some people having lunch there as well. The food looked really fresh and delicious. If I lived in the neighborhood, I could see myself coming here all the time for some nice coffee, food and friendly services.

Their coffee is certainly a cut above Starbucks and Costa but not as good as Shoreditch Grind near Old Street. I would have given then 4 stars but for the fact that they charge extra for using plastic. Sorry but in this day and age, a cool hip coffee joint shafting customers for using a card is just not cool. I have frequented many small who don’t.

Really great breakfast and the staff are always friendly. Lovely local place where they remember your name. Best coffee in NW3! Recommended

Cute coffee shop in a charming area. I usually end up eating/​drinking outside as the inside fills up with people. The only downside are the amount of baby trams and that it is crowded (I guess other people like it too).
The breakfast food I have had here is good. It’s worth checking out if you can find a place to sit.

Best coffee in North London by far, brilliant bacon sandwiches and very competent and friendly staff
Only small downsides are yummy mummy clientele, occasional overcrowding and often too loud music (ask them to turn it down)
Great in the summer when you can sit outside and free Wi-​Fi too
Highly recommended and there is another branch in England’s lane down the hill

I really like this little place! I’ve been in London now for a 1 ½ and they have the best espresso by far. I’ve tried everywhere in the neighborhood! I used to live in Seattle (USA) for a handful of years and became a bit of an espresso snob so I was quite glad to stumble upon them. They also have really good pastries and do a daily salad as well. Most of the staff is super friendly although there is one female cook this last Saturday that was pretty mean to this new girl that just started. It’s quite awkward as a customer when you see this type of interaction because everybody needs to learn the ropes and attitude does not help. Anyway, everything else is spot on! Highly recommended.

Love the place. Excellent food and stunningly friendly staff they were polite and completed our every wish. I had some eggs, a glass of orange juice and a coffee and I can honestly say that everything was delicious and freshly made.

Ginger & White proud themselves of their British artisan food and quite rightfully so. However, as much as they might try to stir away from the French and Italian boutique coffee shops that crowd London, they can’t deny that there is a flavor of Europe in most of their menu. And it works out just fine…
The weekend specials are quite creative and the portions were well served. Being a die-​hard fan of bacon, I tried the Croissant with melted cheddar and bacon and was in for a pleasant surprise! The three levels of bacon appeased my hunger levels while the subtle flavor of the cheese balanced out the sweetness of the croissant. Quite an impressive combination that I had never heard before.
The coffee is strong with an original blend that I hadn’t tried before — it supports the food quite well. Same can be said about the orange juice: fresh from the tree.
The shop itself is quite small so I am guessing that if you stop by at lunch time you gonna have a hard time getting a seat. Not ideal for groups. There’s a main center table that you will probably have to share with someone else — if you are looking for something more private and less communal then this is not the place for you.
On the bright side, it is on a side street where cars are not allowed which makes it much quieter than the main streets of Hampstead Village just around the corner. There are also a couple of tables outside where you can enjoy a drink on a sunny afternoon.
Overall, I quite liked the place. I am bit picky with my food so there weren’t many options in the menu that I cared to try, but my croissant was great, the place was nice, the price was about right and to wrap it up, the staff is super friendly. Worth a visit.

I’ll keep this brief, as I’ve had just one fleeting encounter with this place but it was a cute little place off a small cobbled street in Hampstead. They’ve got a big communal table as well as smaller seats by the windows, etc, and really nice at-​home style of décor that’s appealing without being intrusive. All the food looked great, but unfortunately I can’t speak too much of it, because I only had something small– a muffin. It was fresh and delicious, and the entire package warrants at least a return trip. Easily accessible by subway, by the way, for anyone venturing into Hampstead for the purpose of visiting it.

It is a tiny and always-​packed café tucked in back street of Hampstead
I enjoyed my brunch (was hard to choose from a selection of tasty options on the board and tempting pastries on display), the coffee and the communal table at the middle of the café.
I went with a pile of papers to finish working on and left after spending quality business time, some me time while witnessing people passing by

I’m seeing a lot of «unpretentious» being thrown about in previous reviews, which is something I have to seriously disagree with.
‘Spose it’s my own fault for hanging out in NW3, though.
Irritatingly bad jazz music, oh-​so-​Hampstead clientele (Do you really need a £500 handbag, lady?), overpriced tiny lattes and a brownie that my boyfriend recalls as «tasting weak and smelling like flowery handsoap».
And did I mention that they charge you 30p if your card purchase is under £10?
The only redeeming factor is that the coffee was, infact, pretty good… despite costing too much. Also, admittedly… it may have been a teeny, tiny bit refreshing to see some very British treats on the menu after hanging out in aussie cafes so much.
If we ever go back, we’ll get the fancy toast and marmalade. That looked nice.
I’m giving it 3 stars, but it’s more like a 2.5, really. Damn your lack of half stars, Unilocal

What a neat little place!
Just off the street down the arcade is a little tea and coffee shop. The place is small and gets crowded. The chairs reminded me of being at school but it didnt deter me from having a great coffee, pot of tea and a pastry.
Friendly staff and unique interior. Outside tables too.

Great little spot. By little, I mean that for two reasons. The first, it isn’t overflowing with an abundance of space, though that certainly adds to its charm. Secondly, everyone seems to have figured out that they make a mean cup of coffee and serve some fantastic food to match, so that means there is almost always a host of people occupying any of the available seats.
But, if you don’t mind sharing a table, or sitting at a window ledge, this could be one of the best spots to go in Hampstead. Set down a pedestrian road, which means you can watch the stream of Hampstead-​ites and visitors (rather than the endless stream of cars headed up the hill), this is a great place to sit with the paper or a book. Good carrot cake and coffee, both of which are important to me. It is certainly worth stopping by (especially if you can steal an outside table on a sunny day).

Unpretentious and friendly place with quality food and coffee that would make you feel warm and welcomed. Enjoyed the berry muffin & the yoghurt with granola looked nice as well. Great neighborhood café perfect for small group meet ups.

Coffee is very good as previous Qypers describe, but the service was extremely erratic. Arrived at around 1pm, it is a short menu; a number of things had run out. Do not expect a big breakfast, more like piece of cake, or cheese toasties. We ordered, first came the cheese and marmite muffin, very tasty, and then we waitedeventually (15min) had to go and ask for the rest of our order, they had forgotten. Then came the coffees, finally came the sausage sandwich. They had run out of baps, so we had it on bloomer. Bread was sliced too thin, a bit stale, and not warm, unacceptable at £6. Trying to pay was chaotic, will not be retuning.

Such a shame that I didn’t take some photos because this place is oh-​so cute! And I can’t believe no other Unilocaler has found this little gem.
As I wandered the High Street looking for a good place for a latte and a bite and a place where I could camp out alone and read my book and went by all the places mentioned on Unilocal,but lines were long and spaces were few and I just wasn’t feeling the vibe. So I wandered down a little alley and stumbled onto Ginger and White. Outdoor seating, a large table and smaller tables (although it is a very small space) and a great counter facing big windows for people-​watching. Coffee by Square Mile Roasters, great tunes in the backgound, and delicious pastries. I enjoyed homemade granola with yogurt, honey and fresh roasted plums. Yum, yum!