Magic Hat Cafe in Newcastle upon Tyne

Great place, amazing food, but they seem closed on weekend now, which is a real shame as I am not able to go anymore--unless they haven't updated their website. They seem closed on both Saturdays in Sundays, the only days most people can go as they close at 3:00 PM on week days. Hopefully this is just for a short while and that weekends or longer days will be on offer.

It is a lovely place where you can eat something, every day it is something different. It is a nice restaurant with a nice concept of 0 waste. Great. I loved it.

The principle of this place means you can't predict what's on the menu. We also arrived quite late so choice was limited. Nevertheless we had two beautiful dishes which were full of flavour. Great atmosphere. Fab service. Will definitely return.

came to a pickle making event last Christmas with my daughter they were amazing so friendly accommodating & helpful nothing was too much trouble, lovely atmosphere & new dishes learnt also, loved the salsa music too, amazing chef - thank you x

Love love love this restaurant/cafe. Great food and sustainable with brilliant service. Busy all the time and just a great atmosphere throughout. Will definitely come back again.

Fabulous place food was excellent, totally recommend

What a discovery! An ethical business committed to zero waste that sources ingredients that might otherwise have gone to waste. Hence the menu changes on a daily basis according to what is available.

Lovely food but becoming rather expensive for a no food waste project.

I found this quirky establishment via Too Good To Go app. Wow. Constantly impressed by the offers but more so the menu and the people responsible for the creativity of it. The food that is produced on site is full of flavour and their daily changing menu should entice the most picky of foodies. I look forward to continuing/recommending my relationship with both the app and the cafe.

This is a lovely place, with a great concept where surplus food gets collected from the city and made into delicious meals at a reasonable price. The cafe is dog-friendly and staff is very nice. Many vegetarian and vegan options available. Definitely worth a visit, especially if you want to support a good cause such as reducing food waste.

We stumbled across this place by accident and were so happy we did. This time we only had coffee as we had eaten already but we will return for food. Coffees were excellent. Staff were polite helpful and efficient. 5 stars 🌟

A little noisy and crowded, but I guess that’s testament to its popularity. I admire their creative recipes and commitment to avoiding food waste.

10/10! Thank you for the delicious brunch.

Excellent atmosphere, fresh menu and the food was delicious. Love the concept and love the place

What a fabulous place! Creative and delicious meals from surplus food that would otherwise be wasted, served in a relaxed environment. We dropped in for lunch during a few days in Newcastle, and it was one of the highlights of our trip.

Gorgeous family meal today - beautiful gentle warm service, incredibly tasty food (oof the hollondaise on those shrooomy poached eggs) and a new Finnish drink I need to get making - who new fermented ginger lime lemonade would become my new obsession (please do an insta on how you guys did it plz!) Thanks again for being brilliant, and not minding us table hogging with our messy bambino!

Great food, menu changes every week depending on the things donated. Lots of variation and veggie options too. I love the fact that they are using donated food instead of it going to waste. I had bruschetta with tomatoes and mushrooms. Delicious.

Kudos to Magic Hat. Lovely food, great ethos. 👍

Like the idea of no wast on food and as a customer you get the surprise too of finding out the food menu on the day. Really enjoyed the atmosphere inside of the cafe, food was good. Only downside of my whole experience was the blueberry cake I ordered, it’s slightly on the drier side, not moisture enough.

Great place to pop in for lunch or brunch, we love the atmosphere, and the chefs show great creativity with the food... Our go-to place in the town.

Great place run by great people

Incredible value and great ethics

I can't praise this wonderful cafe, and project, too highly. There is no point listing the delicious lunch courses we had, as the menu changes everday according to what perfectly edible, but otherwise wasted, produce has been collected from shops and cafes around Newcastle (1.5 - 2 tonnes per week!). Their cooks must be so talented to continually innovate and produce such wonderfully tasty (and safely edible!) plates and cakes on a daily basis . The Cafe is only open Thursday to Sunday, although we were so impressed and enthused by the whole project that we will hire them to cater for my big Birthday Bash later on in the year. You simply must go - An unforgettable epxerience!

Great idea and place! Friendly service, very reasonably priced too.

What’s not to love about this place? Amazing concept and business model, lovely staff, the chef is insanely talented! The best value for money in town, hands down to the magic hat

In spite of the limitations the restaurant has put on themselves, the food we were served was nothing short of exciting. You would easily pay three times the price in an upscale restaurant for the same price. The staff running the restaurant were also incredibly sweet. Come for the novel idea, stay for the awesome food.

Excellent lunch for family of four.

This is a great ethos, mission and vibe. The food is stunning. Plenty to choose from for everyone. Ever changing menu so you are kept on your toes with what's gonna be wowing you this. Had Pasta and Egg Curry and cake. Time before equally outstanding.

Really lovely place, we popped in for a coffee whilst waiting for our bus to arrive. The smell was divine, the food looked amazing and the place had a really relaxed atmosphere. We only wished we had time to have something to eat here, definitely the next time.

Magic Hat is an exceptional place, fully committed to doing all it can to challenge food waste. Chef Archie is an outstanding tutor/ mentor, working hard to enable others to build on the work of Magic Hat. As part of NE1's 24 doors, Archie delivered a workshop on making chutney from ingredients that would otherwise have gone to waste. We all benefit from having Magic Hat in our lives. Make a date to visit and support this outstanding enterprise@

My first visit will be my best place to go when in newcastle.Everything was great.Good to support cafe involved with reducing food waste

Really enjoyed our visit to Magic Hat. Food is very high quality and reasonably priced. Great atmosphere and interior design. One of the best places for food in the city centre. Service was also exceptional.

Absolutely fantastic place! The menu changes daily depending on the food that has been donated to them. I've eaten here several times now and have never been disappointed. Gorgeous food, fabulous staff and worthy philosophy. I can't recommend highly enough!

Inventive top quality cooking at a bargain price, enthusiastic staff and lovely chilled ambiance. We go every time we are in Newcastle

Inventive dishes, fabulous tastes, extraordinary value. Brilliant all round.

Went here for lunch - the food and the coffee were both delicious, such a gem we never knew existed! We had the Gnocchi which was exceptional, would have been raving about it if it had been served to me at a high-end Italian restaurant, so full of flavour. And really good Vegan options - 1 Vegi, 1 Vegan & 1 Omni option on both the the early Menu and lunch menu which is great to see in Newcastle. We will definitely be back!

This is one of the best places to eat in Newcastle. The chefs are wizards who are able to put together beautiful dishes from an ever-changing array of ingredients, all of which are rescued from being wasted. I have been several times and never had a bad meal, nor do I know of anyone who has.

The food was amazing and I love that they're trying to reduce food waste. Very reasonably priced, you can get a meal from as little as £4. I had the mushroom arancini and a fizz which was yummy.

Came here twice during the 3 days I spent in Newcastle. Peaceful, cosy atmosphere, great staff <3

It’s got a boho family vibe. Really impressive what they can do with recycled food. The duck breast was great, but it would have been nice to have a carb with it The butternut squash was really tasty. The tiramisu would have been nicer with more coffee.

Highly creative and ever changing, earth conscious menu. Friendly and genuinely passionate staff. Eat here and nowhere else!

Great place to try new dishes and interesting twists on ingredients. They offer a pay as you feel menu on the weekend, and the food surpasses the recommended guide price in taste and value. I've never had onion seed biscuits or deep-fried capers, but both were delicious with my leek and potato soup. Will definitely be going back again while the weather is nice. Plus, they are dog friendly :)

Cool and different place, especially interesting with the pay what you want at the weekend

One of THE best lattes you will ever have. The food is unique every time, the staff are welcoming and the atmosphere is incredible! Weekend pay as you feel is also great.

Great place, love the ethos, food and wine top notch. Really friendly staff too.

Incredible food every single time 🙌🤌

There's a friendly greeting as you enter the restaurant and a very relaxed ambience inside. Difficult to choose from the delicious-sounding vegetarian dishes, same with drinks, and all reasonably priced. It was a half-hour wait for the food but worth it!

Top quality food, great vegan options and excellent service. We need more places like the Magic House which aim to reduce food waste.

Wonderful place to eat, great ambience, staff friendly and helpful. Really interesting, inventive and varied menu: polish potato dumpling with strawberries? Who knew...a delightful combination. All food superb and laudable ethos. Highly recommend.

Great music!! Lovely food and concept!

Lovely little Cafe in the heart of Newcastle, a nice break from the hustle and bustle. An iced latte was around £3 and staff were polite and available the whole time I was there, my new favourite coffee shop!

While I couldn’t tell you how the Magic Hat first came to my attention I’ll admit that the first visit was down to the ethos of the establishment. They run a system where (forgive the mansplain for those aware) 1.5 – 2 tonnes of food a week is collected that would otherwise be sent to landfill and turn it into, to quote the website “a high quality daily changing menu” at “affordable prices”. This struck me as a beautiful idea on a few different levels, the part of me that deplores the idea that food is thrown away while others starve and the part that looks at the environmental effect of so much food being sent to landfill. That was the reason for my first visit, the reasons for my subsequent? Last Thursday was a perfect example, having checked Facebook noticed that one of the offerings was strawberry, ricotta and tomato salad with rocket dressing. Now while I’ve never tried such a combo it just struck me that on a lovely bright day that just felt perfect. Upon arrival was quickly seated, offered a menu which was politely declined and an order was placed. Food arrived quickly. The strawberries where firm, juicy and slightly tart, combine this with the creaminess of the ricotta, the acidity of the tomatoes and the black pepper notes of the rocket. A perfect fork. Quite simply the best plate of food I’ve paid for this year. The staff. The staff are an absolute bloody delight, enthusiastic, friendly, you can absolutely sense the pride they take in the product they deliver. Prices, main course including a 15% tip (worked front of house and if you do everything right you damn well get 15%) £8.05. I have paid more than that for an over salted, greasy takeaway. TL/DR Environmentally Excellent, Fantastic food, Superb Staff, Lush location, Perfect Pricing.

very chill vibe, menu is different each day, only the drinks have fixed prices the food is up to you, high quality food and friendly staff, good coffee too

The ethos of this place is wonderful, the decor is calming and beautiful. I had some fettuccine, and it was delicious. It is pay as you feel. We will be going back as it was wonderful.

A really special place with a top class menu every time! The food is always amazing, especially given it was all destined for landfill!

When I am in Newcastle city centre it is my go to place to have a hot drink and food. Best quality drinks and the food is always delicious and wholesome..great service too. A unique place in the centre of Newcastle. Dog friendly.

Oh my god. I don’t say this lightly, best concept, best staff, best coffee, best lunch food in the North of England.

Great food.busy,so a bit of a wait,but well worth it! It was good to have an alternative to usual lunch menus,and good that otherwise food would have been wasted.

Second visit, and once again we were treated to some amazing, truly original food. Not only are they tackling food waste, but the place has a fab atmosphere, some of the most engaging friendly staff and extremely talented chefs who conjure up magic from food that would normally be thrown away. Love, love, love it ❤️

This place is fantastic. The staff are excellent and it's very reasonably priced

I'm muslim. I can't eat at every cafes confidently. But there are many delicious vegetable foods in this cafe. I like here.

💎💎💎 Such a great spot to grab a coffee and some delicious food in gorgeous surroundings. Had heard good things but had no idea what to expect, so didn’t expect much but it seriously delivered. It’s a great space for many reasons, the concept snd idea, changing menu, engaging staff, decor and the list goes on. I’ll definitely go back and sample the food next time!

Such an amazing place. Great concept extremely well executed. Thank you for all you do 💜

Visited before but was during the week,which was lovely,decided to visit on Sunday which is pay as you feel on a weekend,absolutely lovely food and service well worth it cudnt fault it, will be back soon thank u

First time at The Magic Hat last night. We were drawn in by the the lovely space and the social and ecological ethos. We were blown away by the quality of the dishes. Thoroughly enjoyed our dinner which delivered on all counts: presentation, balance of the tastes and textures, and the servings supposed to be small plates, were not so small at all. An absolute gem hidden by the Laing gallery. A must for all foodies. And deserves support on many other counts.

Came here just for two hot chocolates, the drinks were good but took ages to arrive. The waiter did apologise for the delay - apparently we'd come in just after a large group. Nice atmosphere, lots of plants around the place, and plenty of seating. There was a little shop in the corner selling crotchet garments, dried flowers, and what looked like jam.

Visited for the first time last week and loved the ethos, atmosphere and wonderful unique menu. Can’t wait to come back.

Nice atmosphere. Food tastes great. Love the window seats.

An amazing little cafe in the heart of Newcastle near the Laing art gallery. Fabulous food

The food is great, with flavours well balanced and tasty. The staff are extremely friendly and inviting. The concept of minimising food waste wonderful. The drinks are lovely. The value for money is brilliant. We will continue to return - our favourite brunch spot in Newcastle.

Very quirky restaurant just over the road from the Laing. They largely use food that would otherwise be thrown away. This, of course, leads to some interesting combinations but very well handled by the chefs. Tasty.

Delicious food, friendly staff and lovely atmosphere

Newcastle just keeps getting cooler/hipper/more conscientious.. and Magic Hat is the jewel in her crown.

Food it's really good atmosphere is cozy and staff is friendly. Weekends you pay whatever you want for the food, price of drinks is on the average of prices in the toon. Loos are clean and the area is pretty :) highly recommended

Very nice indeed! A great addition to the city centre and a genuine local cafe in the middle of a lot of chain restaurants.

Just fab! Teaching people advanced cheffery, brilliantly low prices, new menu all the time, lovely atmosphere, delicious food, stopping food waste! What’s not to like?!

Absolutely amazing food yet again! I absolutely love this place. The atmosphere is lovely and the staff are so friendly.

Interesting cafe. Philosophy of no food waste. It's different from other places try it

Since my previous review I have been in twice for lunch and then last night had my birthday party in the Magic Hat. The food on every occasion was absolutely delicious and the cafe is a really nice flexible space which is fully accessible Highly recommended.

Magic hat is lovely. Food amazing and staff so friendly. Great place and worthwhile attitude to the current situation.

Great food at a really affordable and lovely staff. It's my new favourite cafe!

Really slow service and forced healthiness, the look on the obnoxious server when I asked for a sweetener or sugar. It may be a social enterprise but really I just wanted a coffee.

I am a visually impaired person that uses an assistance dog and this venue is friendly and welcoming and the staff are very open and helpful and accommodating to my needs- also the food is excellent

Wonderful place!!! Eco and human friendly!!!

Great service, delicious food, I liked the fact the menu was not too overwhelming with too many choices. Can’t wait to come back again.

Great idea and lovely food looking forward to going back.

Had such a delicious meal. Love the focus on sustainability and reducing food waste.

Wonderful food and great ethos. Looking forward to going back to try other items on their menu.

We dropped in on Sunday when it was ‘Pay as You Feel’. Magic Hat is unique in two respects: 1. They perform well in terms of their social responsibility (dealing with the problem of food waste); and 2. They really serve good food. For example, I had eggs, halloumi and beetroot and it was such a delicious dish. 3. Especially at weekends, you will have great experience (when you, and only you, determine the price you pay). Definitely, I will come again.

A lush space and a great concept. Full of Freindly staff helping to fight food waste, meaning the food is incredibly affordable.

We went here for brunch after a friend recommended it and we weren’t disappointed. The food was lovely - I had a roast veg and mozzarella toastie and my partner had masala beans with eggs. The food was very tasty and we also really liked the decor - exposed brick, wooden tables and plants everywhere. We loved the cafe’s mission - to reduce food waste - and they even had food from the reduced sections at supermarkets which you could purchase on a pay-as-you-feel basis. Throughly recommend!

I had my retirement party here recently - it was the perfect venue. Friendly staff, great food, lovely relaxed atmosphere. Space for eating and dancing, and you can play your own playlist over Spotify. Would definitely use it again. There were about 45 of us and the size was perfect.

This cozy wonderful place is highly recommended. The quality of coffee is unbelievable. Give it a try.

Great idea, excellent food and service. Highly recommended 😋😋😋😋😋

Very nice food and a nice concept. The food was lovely, as was the staff. Five out of five.

An undiscovered gem. The Magic Hat is a project of Bind CIC, a non-profit working to make food waste a thing of the past in Newcastle. The Magic Hat combines a great, accessible eating experience with raising awareness on food waste, using surplus food saved from landfill. Eclectic and tasty meals from a daily changing menu and lovely friendly staff. You pay what you think the food is worth at the weekends, but the food is exceptional, so we are always happy to pay a fair price. The market offers great, fresh produce that would otherwise have gone to landfill it, and hampers are available, using surplus food from local businesses. Try this, you will not be dissapointed.

Food is amazing, staff are lovely, so welcoming and friendly. Love the whole concept of this venue.

I visited here to deliver a presentation for the conversation club - the premises is outstanding. I love to see the success of this organisation as I remember it’s humble beginnings as a pop up cafe with a ‘pay as you feel’ service. Reducing food waste, providing delicious meals and bringing communities together makes me as happy as a hat!

Love this place, it is a little gem in Newcastle. The Magic Hat rescues surplus food destined for landfill. There mission is to show you that this food should never have been wasted, and with a little love it can instead be transformed into fresh, colourful and delicious meals and drinks through: Our kitchen and market, based in Newcastle City Centre Redistributing produce through our online shop. Catering for events, both in-house and external catering. Check them out, they are a beautiful bunch of people.

I visited here a few weeks back with a client I was supporting who was performing in a show. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful.