What are you to do? You’re all gussied up in your pearls and furs, watching, say, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci or later in the year Noughts and Crosses at the sumptuous Hackney Empire. But where to snarf dinner first?
Well, dear reader, I have the perfect place for you. Let’s rewind a little, to pre‑Tavern days. I have previously stuffed a wilting Wetherspoons burger that somehow took forty‑five minutes to microwave into my worried gob, then legged it across the street not once, but twice. Yes, there is Peck Peck and various pubs further afield, but sometimes you want a whiff of class and a big waft of convenience.
Under the energetic Jamie Tack (owner and head of food) - who runs The Leytonstone Tavern and Tavern on the Hill in Walthamstow - East London Brewing Co and Taverns East have collaborated with the theatre.
Visiting in the first week after previews, the oddly‑angled space is lofty and somehow sexy, with two more floors tucked away from the street. Big old windows at one end must flood the place pleasantly with midday sunlight, but this evening’s gloom is entirely obliterated.
A chessboard of strip lights bisects one wall - think 70s disco with a line of banquettes lit up like the Gaiety Theatre (always wanted to write that). All the brightness is cleverly offset by mid‑century modern wood and dark red leather. It’s half-pub, half-New York upmarket theatre restaurant, and wholly more than a bit nice.
We are seated in the DJ booth (the DJ being the maître d’s laptop playing Spotify) bathed in a red light that seductively soaks everything in its glow. If the website and interior aim for luxury, the menu is very down‑to‑earth. The all‑important pre‑theatre option promises time‑sensitive satiation at £19 with a house pour included.
Burgers, burgers, burgers, all with amusingly eclectic names. We have Black Panther co‑founder Bobby Seale rubbing shoulders with cocaine crime boss Griselda Blanco and, even more confusingly, Joe Exotic. Now that would be a very odd dinner party.
Although we are no strangers to novelty menus, this one seems unusually tangentially linked.
Mr Seale is a grass‑fed, aged beef burger from small Yorkshire farms via Swaledale Butchers, but with a twist: a jalapeño and pineapple jam giving a sweet little kick, and a smoky confit garlic mayo that proves burningly funky.
Madame Blanco is a gargantuan chicken thigh, almost impossible to crunch through, ringed with crystalline batter, Mexicana cheese and a peanut macha salsa with habanero honey, all providing the palate equivalent of standing in the centre of Mexico City.
Pluck Off is the more standard chicken number, and the double cheese and plant‑based option (with Symplicity patty) rather speak for themselves. Some of these are a mere £12.50, pushing many local competitors out the door while still managing to surprise with innovative flips and tricks.
The starters draw our compliments more than the mains. Croquettes arrive like little balls of fluffy sand in béchamel, crowned with shards of candied pineapple, congenial little mouthfuls.
Mushroom spring rolls are halved and served drizzled with kaffir mayo and mango chutney (inspired) and a fancy way to present admittedly not many rolls. Cooked and crisp in the middle, they avoid the sog so often found in filled tubes.
There are many wings for those wanting to get down and dirty (miso honey, Mexican buffalo), a Caesar salad for those wanting to feel like they’re eating clean, and grilled halloumi for who knows whom.
The seaweed‑salt fries are like licking a sea wall, in a good way, and the loaded tater tots are precisely that, overburdened with pink and crispy onions and heaving with sauces like garlic‑chive mayo and hot sauce.
With Taco Tuesdays, the pre‑theatre menu and lunchtime sarnies, this little conclave of panelled style is aiming to be a one‑stop shop.
There are winks of culinary sparkle among the corps de ballet of patties, hints that the Empire Tavern might have a few more flourishes up its 1970s‑patterned sleeves.
For now, if you want easy, breezy, reasonable and theatre‑conducive food, this is a better spot than many.
Empire Tavern
289 Mare Street
Hackney
E8 1EJ
