Victory Mansion/TA-KO, Stoke Newington, pub/restaurant review: fusion goes down well with cocktails

Corny: the charred cob was a highlight of the sides. Photograph: Jade King

Victory Mansion, just opposite the police station on Stoke Newington High Street, is coming up on two years serving small plates and big cocktails.

Despite the aesthetic of the place – part-cosy shack, part-Golden Age Americana (adding up to the kind of place you can imagine Ernest Hemingway slumped in on his visits to Key West) – their team of owners and master mixologists have opted for some Asian/Mexican food fusion, bringing in TA-KO’s tacos for their current menu.

My first tip, gleaned as we sat down for dinner: give yourself some time to real the novella-length cocktail menu. Split into chapters, it continues Victory Mansion’s literary connection with concoctions named after Holden Caulfield, Patrick Bateman and, yes, the Hemingway Daiquiri.

Of the 20+ available (all between eight and nine quid) we gave the Pinkie Brown (Brighton Rock) and the Winston Smith (Nineteen Eighty-Four) a go. They arrived in an instant – blessed are the mixologists! – the latter in a ludicrous tiki mug with a straw through the nose, that seemed to be looking at me funny.

Tiki: the offending mug. Photograph: Jade King

The Winston is floral and sweet, courtesy of the peach, pineapple, lime and bitters added to the mixture of two rums, amaretto and ginger wine. The Pinkie, befitting of Graham Greene’s young anti-hero, is more of a hardened drinker’s drink – the peach fermented this time and blending with the gin, campari and other fruit flavours. They satisfied us both (my partner is the hardened drinker of course), and thoughts turned to food.

The TA-KO menu is more accommodating than vegetarians and vegans than it appears on first glance with each of the tacos – all of the options can be tweaked to either with a little help from the excellent server.

Also vegetarian, of course, are the so-called ‘MSG’ fries. No actual MSG is present (although the commonly held belief that it is somehow dangerous or addictive is bunk – glutamate is the key to umami); these are more like deep reddish-brown potato scallops, fried with nori (seaweed) and salt and vinegar powder.

‘MSG’ fries (top-left) along with some of the taco offerings. Photograph: Jade King

They add to the street-foodiness of chef Tim Yates’ menu – as does the charred corn, which for my money is the better of the sides. The use of puffed quinoa (bear with me) to accentuate the slathered chili, mayo and lime flavours is a clever – and very rewarding – move.

We ordered three tacos each – some priced at £3.50 like the cauliflower and black bean or the sprouting broccoli, some at £4, which gets you the likes of the palm sugar glazed beef short rib option.

Said beef was succulent, balanced on the corn tortilla with added treats like puckeringly sour pickled watermelon and, another brilliantly inventive touch, some blackberry infused sriracha sauce, which also goes well with the fried roundels. Omnivores – if you only get one, get beefy. Pescatarians: well, the blackened river trout comes with some lovely, subtle smoked aubergine nam prik – bringing a Thai element to this multinational Mansion.

Yellow bean leek taco with fermented yellow bean leeks, haloumi, sweet potato and mustard relish. Photograph: Jade King

Although the broccoli has lots to recommend it, especially its campfire smokiness, veggie fans should plump for the yellow bean leek or the aforementioned cauliflower. The former ekes delectable Chinese flavours out of sweet potato, haloumi and fermented leek, the latter again makes delicate work with that nori batter.

Both nail the essence of this fine menu – Asian and Mexican food, if not destined to be long-time companions, can certainly be made to mingle, with the help of some flavoured sriracha here, some a cocktail or two.

Victory Mansion (featuring TA-KO) is at 18 Stoke Newington High St, N16 7PL
victorymansion.co.uk