Originally a small indie label fashion and lifestyle boutique on Coronet Street just off Hoxton Square, Goodhood recently crossed Old Street to reopen in a considerable bigger retail space on Curtain Road. Downstairs at Goodhood and just a few weeks old is Commune, a partnership between Chef Brett Redman (Elliot’s Café Borough Market) and Goodhood co-founders Jo Sindle and Kyle Stewart with an aim to serve “clean, healthy and really tasty food, juice and coffee with a focus on good quality and good value.”
I tagged along to a blogger’s lunch preview there about a week or so ago and was impressed – especially with the coffee (supplied by Square Mile Coffee Roasters), which I’d rate among the tastiest I’ve had this year (and possibly my new London favourite). Yep, this is the second time this week I’ve written about a place to eat on Curtain Road in Shoreditch (see the other review – of Far Rockaway – here). It’s a happening little street.
Of course there’s hardly anything revolutionary about a new coffee bar being launched inside a shop just off Old Street. But with an ethos inspired by “Paris ‘68” and a reasonably priced range of particularly tasty items presented in an attractive setting, I was won over by Commune and am sure to keep the café in mind as a preferred Shoreditch go-to.
For eats, Commune offers a variety of open-faced sandwiches on rye for around £3 or £3.50. I liked the organic egg, anchovy and cress option, as well as cold roast beef with beetroot and horseradish. I enjoyed a fantastic beetroot, fennel and burrata salad (£3) too. Portions are small. Best to order two or three dishes or go with friends and share. To wash it down? My thirst was quenched by a glass a watermelon juice (£3).
As for the Frenchy Situationist shtick, it’s a fine aesthetic – and one I’m rather partial to – but I wonder how applicable it can be to any commercial endeavour no matter how well intentioned. Still, I reckon if the Goodhood/Commune folks can turn a few Shoreditch kids on to Society of the Spectacle etc then that’s got to be a good thing.
Young people everywhere have been allowed to choose between love and a garbage disposal unit. Everywhere they have chosen the garbage disposal unit.
― Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle
Commune is located in the lower ground floor of Goodhood, 151 Curtain Road, EC2A 3QE. Find out more at goodhoodstore.com/commune.
