The Curious Goat

So last weekend we fancied coffee and cake. So for a change we tried The Curious Goat, the cafe built into the Essex Brewery housing development.

On a Saturday afternoon it was pretty busy, predominantly with young families. But we managed to get a table at the back, under the most inaccessible book swap shelves I have ever seen.

Seriously, I would only reach the bottom shelf.

There wasn’t much of a cake selection, just three. My partner had a chocolate brownie, which she thought was okay. I had a pistachio cake which was a bit like a mousse. It was okay.

Floofy cake

Looking at the main menu there was a good selection of food but prices are distinctly higher than what you see on the nearby high street.

Overall it’s an okay place but unless you live in the estate and don’t want to walk the 2 minutes to the high street there are better options not far away.

Taro review

It’s rare I get to be in early with the new hotness but after a long wait Taro finally opened in the Manzes pie and mash shop venue.

Figuring it would be busy we went early and as my partner and I walked up the high street the blue flashing lights of a fire engine became apparent. We worked out a bunch of plaster facade had fallen off the old Salvation Army building directly opposite Taro. What we didn’t expect was to go into the restaurant and be told they weren’t open! We went around a few shops and came back to be allowed in 35 minutes later, we imagine the fire brigade had told them to close while much of the high street was cordoned off.

Our next surprise was to be asked if we had a reservation. Again, we’d looked at the web site and Walthamstow wasn’t on the reservations pull down list. Fortunately they had walk in space but we were told we’d need to share our 4 seat booth with another couple later. This is fine, it’s very akin to Wagamamas.

Looking around it was nice to see this listed building so well preserved.

All the original tiling and seating.

We got into the menu. All the range of japanese food here; Taro doesn’t focus like many restaurants in Japan. We liked the look of the sushi and the Bento box meals but were very pleased to see eeel on the menu. We both went for the eel in Teriyaki sauce; not quite how we’d had it in Japan in a soy glaze. We also had a side of chicken gyoza as a comparison to other Japanese meals. Sadly Taro doesn’t have its alcohol licence yet so no Asahi for me. We went for tap water.

Eel Teriyaki

The food was lovely. We did need to remind the wait staff about the gyoza order, which can easily be put down to first week bedding in and the fact that by 6 the place was full and by 6:30 there was a queue. Taro is a chain so I’m sure years of expertise will help get them settled. The nice couple who sat at our table with us told us they’d seen the founder Mister Taro himself there that evening!

The food was great, my partner particulary noting how nice the rice was. It was priced comparable to other Japanese places I’ve been. I already want to try their sushi and sashimi mixed platter and their bento set meals.

It’s great to see another restauarnt down the often neglaected bottom of the high street. It’s great it’s Japanese, although we still have Tonkotsu at the other end. And it’s great to see the lovely Manzes building in use and preserved.

The Black Horse bar review

So I’d read about a new bar in the Equipment Works estate opposite Blackhorse road station. On a dull Saturday afternoon I decided to go check it out.

I didn’t know exactly where it was; turns out it’s on Forest Road itself, across from the side exit to the station. So I entered the estate from Blackhorse lane and wandered about. I’ve walked past the estate hundreds of times but walking in for the first time really drove home how dull and corporate it is. Like a particularly unimaginative child built it out of Lego that only came in shades of brown. The place has an air of corporate full-service apartments for people who do no living in the local area, just treat it as a dormitory they can flop into straight off the tube. I’ve seen Stalin era former communist block estates of flats with more colour.

Anyway I eventually found the Black Horse bar.

Coming in you’re met with a huge, confusing work of art.

Equine double exposure

Still, art in bars is nice. And it helps cover the huge expanse of bare concrete. I’m all for a little industrial chic but it rarely makes for a sense of cosiness. I expect it in a tap room as those buildings are working breweries and hosted in industrial premises. But I prefer some wood and wallpaper in my pubs.

Unfinished industrial ceiling is still a look in 2023?

Talking of furnishings my pet hate is here; a solid line of barstools in front of the bar. So I need to shout a little louder and not hear so well with extraneous furniture in the way. And if this place had been full on a Saturday afternoon I’d have had to shout between people.

Most of the tables at the far end were set with cutlery and napkins. But no menu. Does this place do food? If there’s no food why are half the tables set for dinner? The bar doesn’t seem to have its own website so no info there. What this meant was the only free space were tables in front of the doors so I sat in a cold breeze every time someone came in. In fact a family sat nearby and their little girl helpfully got up and shut the door every time as it didn’t shut properly letting the breeze in.

The menus I found on the table have a cocktail list and a cheese or meat sharing board. Cocktails weren’t cheap, around £14. That may be the norm nowadays.

So, beer for me. There’s a beer list behind the counter and despite literally sitting at the end of beer mile they only had Signature brewery beers on. I like Signature, I had a Roadie session IPA for £6.50. But this place could have been the meeting point and celebration of the booming local industry. At least it’s the second closest brewery, wouldn’t want to go all the way up the road for kegs.

There’s no wifi. I’d taken a book and one thing it does score well on is good lighting. I find I avoid tap rooms whose beers I like but have ‘mood’ lighting. Exale and Hackney, I’m looking at you. At least afternoon drinking in the Summer gives me daylight.

So, this bar isn’t for me. But here’s the good take away; a new bar opened in Walthamstow in 2022 during the cost of living crisis. I hope the yuppies in their JG Ballard nightmare homes on the estate put it to good use. I hope there’s an unserved customer base for whom this trendy cocktail bar becomes this regular. I’m all for diversity of consumer choice. It’s just not for this consumer.