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Eel-y good news! A hip pop-up cocktail bar in a historic pie and mash shop is about to go permanent.
The art deco-style L Manze in Walthamstow Market has been serving up pie, mash and eels to locals since 1929.
Until recently, pretty much the only drink you could get here was a steaming cup of builder's tea or a sarsaparilla. Then, in 2018, pop-up The Jellied Eel started doing evening takeovers — dishing up the kind of cocktails you'd usually find in a Shoreditch speakeasy.
Now, The Jellied Eel has announced it's going permanent — serving up seasonal cocktails every Friday and Saturday night, from 20 September. On the inaugural menu are a rhubarb negroni, blood orange margarita
and a chilli pisco sour.
The Manze's goods yard out the back has been repurposed into a cocktail garden.
And if you still crave your fix of pie and mash, don't fret — Manze's will continue normal operating hours throughout the week.
When the cocktail bar's in session, however, the only liquor you'll be getting is the hard kind. Rather than pie, mash, eels and parsley 'liquor', food comes in the form of... gourmet croquetas and Mediterranean influenced small plates.
Whatever would the shop's original customers from 80 years ago have thought?
The Jellied Eel, 76 High Street, open every Friday and Saturday from 20 September
