Flat White on Berwick Street: what to order and when to go
A small, often crowded café at 17 Berwick Street that has been pouring flat whites since 2005. Order the coffee, then the banana bread.
By Only Soho Editorial
Flat White sits at 17 Berwick Street, off Berwick Street Market and near Broadwick Street. It is small, it is usually busy, and it has a claim to the name that most cafés would kill for. The café itself says it was established in 2005, and its social bio calls it London's Original Flat White.
What it is
An Aussie and Kiwi café, serving simple food inspired by those cuisines and, according to the official Soho guide, using local, fresh ingredients. Its Tripadvisor blurb calls it the grandfather of specialty coffee shops in London, which is the café's own wording and worth reading as such. Others have said something similar in their own voices. Peter J Thomson's coffee blog describes it as the original antipodean café in London, opened before the flat white was widely available in the UK. The Infatuation, in a review from December 2016, said Australian-style lattes taking over the world began here, and that it still served some of the best coffee in town.
Hardens calls it a small, often crowded independent shop and a pilgrimage site for caffeine fans. That is fair warning. This is a place for a quick, good cup, not for spreading out with a laptop.
What to order
- The flat white. The obvious order, and the reason to come.
- Banana bread. The official Soho site credits the in-house baker, Shana, with the famous banana bread. Take a slice with the coffee.
- Something else from the baker. Shana also makes light lemon loaves, gluten-free brownies and seasonal cakes and pastries. One blogger rates the chocolate brownie the best in London, which is one person's verdict but a persuasive one.
If you want a proper breakfast, the Tripadvisor listing mentions all-day breakfast, sandwiches, bagels and pastries, with poached eggs and avocado toast and scrambled eggs on toast appearing in its photos. Check the café's own menu page for what is on the day.
When to go
The café lists these hours on its own website:
- Monday to Friday: half eight to five
- Saturday: nine to six
- Sunday: half nine to half five
It is open seven days a week. Because it is small and often crowded, expect it to be busiest at the peak coffee hours. The official Soho coffee itinerary slots it into a breakfast stop between nine and half ten, so that is when others will be heading in too. Arrive at opening, or well into the afternoon, if you want elbow room.
Prices and booking
Check the menu for current prices. Listings describe dine-in, outdoor seating and takeaway, and it is a small café, so plan on turning up rather than reserving. If you need to be sure, the number is 020 7734 0370.
For after: Berwick Street Market
You are a few steps from the market, which is the natural next stop. About 20 stalls cluster at the end of Berwick Street, and Time Out calls it a historic market known for traditional fruit and veg stalls and plenty of street food. It runs Monday to Saturday, so a Sunday visit may find it closed.
The history is worth a wander in itself. Sources disagree on the market's exact age, with Time Out pointing to the eighteenth century. According to the Soho business guide, tomatoes first appeared in London at the market in 1880 and grapefruit in 1890, and in the 1980s the street was known as The Golden Mile of Vinyl. Every street has a story on that site tells more.
Take your flat white and banana bread out onto the street, walk the length of the stalls, and look for something to carry home. For more on the café, see its listing on This Is Soho.
