Taro Walthamstow – Japanese Sushi Bar

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

From Pie and Mash to Chicken Teri Don

What would you do when you get a press release inviting you to review that place you’ve been eyeing up for a couple of years but still haven’t visited? Except the branch you are invited to happens to be on the other side of London…

That’s just what happened to me with Taro – the nearest branch to me is a short walk across Kennington Park.  Luckily, the brand new Walthamstow opening is similarly ‘just down the road’ for one of the first food bloggers I met, Sarah from Maison Cupcake.  We’ve stayed friends ever since and this was the perfect chance to catch up. When I messaged, she told me that she’d just walked past the place – and was as intrigued by the new opening as I was. 

Taro in Walthamstow is in a stunning Grade II listed building, previously Manze’s Pie and Mash and the interior is beautifully restored with architect Herbert Wright’s original white tiling, marble countertops, mirrors, gilt lettering and booth seating still in place.  Sarah told me that the restoration has included adding wooden rather than stone table tops and padding the seating (for which I am grateful).  There is quaint Japanese bunting on the walls and pretty bamboo lantern lights.  It’s a curious fusion of East meets West to create the ‘TaishuShokudo’ 大衆食堂 in Japanese –  ‘an everyday dining room’.  You’ll find bento boxes (a full set meal served with Miso soup) for around £17 and hot main courses for between £10 and £15.  Even sushi and sashimi is affordable.

When we visited the newly opened restaurant was still waiting for a licence, so I brought along a couple of cans of Taylor’s White Port and Tonic – a surprisingly good pairing with Japanese food.  Copious quantities of green tea worked very well too!  While there is no licence, customers are welcome to bring their own wine or beer, but I’m sure there will soon be a drinks menu there too.  For now, it’s a good chance to try the food without running up a bar bill. 

We might just have over-ordered.  Starting with deliciously crunchy edamame and a really delicious Walthamstow Roll from the Chef’s Special Selection.  Topped with orange and green tobiko (made by infusing the flying fish roe with wasabi) the rice roll was filled with salmon, prawn and yellowtail with asparagus and avocado.  Spicy mayo pulled the whole thing together.  

Next, the sushi and sashimi combination – a generous platter of nigiri, maki rolls and sashimi, all neatly plated.  The sashimi was super fresh and each of the sushi options was delicious.  

I did feel a bit like a kid in a candy store trying to pick what to order.  For something healthy, we shared a refreshing seaweed salad with Japanese dressing.  I believe this salad is made with dried seaweed (wakame), but you really wouldn’t guess.

After much procrastination, I ended up ordering the Unaju – grilled eel that has been coated in a teriyaki sauce.  Perhaps that might just have been some kind of intuition from a previous incarnation of the restaurant.  Whatever the inspiration, I wasn’t disappointed. I’d eaten something very similar a few weeks earlier at Shiro right in the heart of the city. Here the portion size was generous and the flavours just as fabulous, with melting, soft and rich butterflied eel topping the sticky rice and pickles

My dining companion picked the Tuna Don which was, if anything even more generous a portion. The thick tuna steaks were incredibly meaty, with a good char and the whole dish was served with a generous portion of pickles and sticky rice.  

By this stage, we were completely defeated and the idea of even finishing what we’d ordered seemed impossible.  So, what was left packed up neatly, we drank more tea, just to try to make sure we could walk rather than roll home.

Early on a Tuesday evening, Taro Walthamstow was buzzing with every table taken and customers queuing for their chance to sample the excellent and reasonably priced Japanese food.  Founded by Mr Taro in 1999, the first Taro restaurant opened in Brewer Street with a mission to offer the very best authentic Japanese food.  Walthamstow is their sixth opening in London and is the kind of charming, quirky place I’d really like to have closer to home.  Of course, now I really need to make my way to Taro Kennington and just hope that I’ll find the same kind of excellent dishes at great prices.

Taro
76 High Street
Walthamstow
E17 7ED