Recently opened in Fitzrovia, the Royal Cocktail Exchange is a neighbourhood bar and restaurant set over three floors from the team behind Cocktail Trading Company and Murder Inc.
They have just launched of a new samosa and drinks menu, a concept that is, of course, led by cocktails subtly elevated.
Each drink is complex and elegantly served, while still paying homage to the company’s signature innovative and humorous style.
The Newport Sour is a combination of kombu bourbon, sour raisin, port-sherry blend, shaken with egg white and garnished with a home-made welsh cake with chocolate drizzle, while Plants Vs. Zombie made of House Rum blend, banana Cachaça, petit pois syrup, lime & aloe, garnished with ‘braaaaaains’, and there’s the Gangsta’s Paradise with Volcan Tequila, mango, coconut-ginger oleo & gunpowder tea, garnished with a homemade Solero lolly (using leftover egg yolks from the sour), shaped into a skull.
Offering a new take on the bar snack, the team at The Royal Cocktail Exchange are celebrating the samosa- the perfect all-day-and-night accompaniment to drinks.
As well as popular nibbles such as smoked almonds, Nocellara olives and BBQ’d corn kernels, guests can choose between spiced chicken, slow-cooked lamb and curried veg, with house made butter chicken mayo or vegan mango chutney dip.
The bar and restaurant are split across two 40 capacity floors, with the décor on each capturing a different type of drinking journey.
The ground floor is warm, welcoming, and light. The décor draws from materials traditionally used in the transportation and storage of alcohol; terracotta floors, oak walls, and cork ceilings tiles – all beneath the honeyed glow of wicker-ball lamp shades.
The lower ground floor in contrast has a night-time, secretive feel, and focuses more on what gives alcohol, and by default, cocktails, their flavour. The walls and ceiling are clad with charred oak panels and faux alligator skin wallpaper, all designed to evoke the charring used to treat whisky barrels. Shelves are decorated with herbs and spices and outré artworks, and the lighting is amber, dark, and indulgent.
Upstairs, under development is the workshop, which offers cocktail classes that are purpose-driven, but still a lot of fun, and open to mixed drink aficionados and beginners alike, with options to go fora broad how-to on executing delicious stuff at home with ease or going specifically into the spirit category of one’s choosing.
Opening Hours: Monday – Thursday 4pm-11:30pm.
Friday 4pm – midnight.
Saturday 2pm – midnight.
www.royalcocktailexchange.com @royalcocktailexchange
Royal Cocktail Exchange
31 Windmill St,
London, W1T 2JN