Mason and Company: New craft beer bar with food from Capish? in Hackney Wick

The new bar will have 20 beers on tap, and food will come from street food stall Capish?
Mason and Co: Ed Mason and Rachel Jones outside the new site
Ben Norum16 May 2016

A new craft beer bar will open in Hackney Wick next month, adding to the area’s credentials as the brewing heart of the capital.

Mason and Company will be launched by Ed Mason, who also runs Five Points Brewery, along with Rachel Jones, the founder of street food business Capish?.

It will provide the first permanent site for the food stall, best-known for serving Italian-American sandwiches at Street Feast and Kerb markets, along with offering 20 taps of craft beer.

Mason reckons it can become “one of the best craft beer bars in London”, and he has previous in that department.

Back in 2010 he opened Mason and Taylor in Shoreditch, and also runs The Turk’s Head in Leeds, which specialises in independent beers and spirits.

“Mason and Taylor was one of London’s very first craft beer pubs and I was really proud of it,” says Mason. “We opened around the same time that Kernel and Camden Town breweries started and we felt like we were very much part of the craft beer scene that was kicking off. I sold it in 2012 in order to focus on the launch of Five Points, but the plan was always to open a successor bar once the brewery was established — that time is now.”

The bar will be light and bright with white walls and plenty of light wood, and will back on to the River Lea. Two of the 20 beer taps will be permanently dedicated to Five Points brews, while the other 18 will be rotating guest beers from London, the UK and beyond. In order to keep things fresh, just one keg at a time will be bought and when it’s gone, it’s gone.

It will launch on June 10 at Here East, a new “foodie quarter” in the former Olympic press centre, where several shops and restaurants are planned along with a Boxpark-style container park. Other food operators confirmed include Randy’s Wing Bar.

There are three other high profile beer stops just moments away — Crate Brewery, Howling Hops tank bar and Truman’s Brewery — but Mason still reckons London could do with more craft beer.

“It’s becoming increasingly easy to drink well in London, but there still very few dedicated craft beer bars compared to cities like New York, Portland or Copenhagen,” he says.

As well as beer, Mason and Company will serve coffee from London roasters Alchemy, along with a natural wines and spirits from small producers.

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Capish? will serve all its best-known dishes from its street appearances, including the Meatball Hero sub, Steak Braciole Sandwich and Fried Chicken Parm, along with new creations. A bar snack menu will feature panelle (Sicilian chickpea fritters) and panzerotti (mini deep-fried calzone), while sharing dishes such as lasagne will also be on offer.

Desserts will include tiramisu doughnuts, homemade gelato, including a buffalo milk stracciatella flavour, and a rather epic sounding ice cream sandwich made from maple and pine nut brittle gelato sandwiched between cannoli.

Sustenance: Meatball Hero sub from Capish?

There are also plans for a weekend brunch, while an emphasis will be put on matching certain dishes to the beers which are on tap.

Capish?’s founder Rachel Jones said: “Having a permanent site allows us to do a lot more than on the street where there are always limitations — from power to set-up time, space and weather.” But she added: “Capish? will definitely still be a regular on the street food scene — there’s such a buzz at food markets, I’m not giving that up.”

As well as beer there will be coffee from London roasters Alchemy, along with a stock of natural wines and artisan spirits from small producers.

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