Whites in Headingley is one of our favourite Leeds cafes. It’s perfect for any occasion – popping in for a quick coffee and a slice of cake, having a lazy, long weekend brunch (sometimes nothing beats smashed avocado on toast to wake you up on a Sunday!), and enjoying a relaxing lunch with friends. It’s also great for little ones – the staff are always welcoming and genuinely happy to have the company of babies and/or toddlers for an hour or two.
Whites is a few weeks into a brand new refurb and new menu launch and, by all accounts, the renewal of the cafe has gone down a storm. We popped in on an evening, which we had never done before, to see if the newly revamped Whites can be added to the list of dinner destinations for us in north Leeds.
The stripped back look of Whites which makes it feel so homely and cosy is still there, but there are jazzed up touches like funky art work along the main wall. The menu now caters more for evening dining, and we tried the sweet potato curry and nachos, along with some hummus and pitta for our little girl, and a pot of sweet potato fries which disappeared into her stomach almost before we’d had a chance to take a photo. We were nearly tempted away from our choices by the incredible sounding sausage stew, and the sharer board of halloumi, chicken skewers, sausage rolls, and other goodies, but we stayed strong to our original picks!
The nachos were amazing, piled high with chilli, salsa, jalapeños, and creamy guacamole. The portion size fitted the “sharing” section of the menu this fits into, but we were hungry, so weren’t too embarrassed!
The curry was just how you want a sweet potato curry to be: spicy without being overwhelming, and packed full of fresh flavour. The amount of sweet potato was impressive; this wasn’t one of those veggie dishes that gets watered down with a load of chopped up onion and pepper.
We also indulged in a couple of flat whites, which were as light and creamy as you expect from a decent flat white done properly thanks to high-quality coffee and a talented barista.
Normally, we’d have stuck around for some cake (because, let’s not mess around, the cake at Whites is always exceptional) but our little girl was nearing bath time, so we departed without our sugar hit. Next time! Pop into the newly done up Whites over the summer to see for yourself what exciting things this lovely little north Leeds cafe is doing.