Samosas and cocktails at Royal Cocktail Exchange, an unusual combination no doubt but also intriguing to test out.

Royal Cocktail Exchange is conveniently located in Fitzrovia, one of my favourite London boroughs. Particularly Charlotte Street with its independent restaurants, it always has a crowd but just the right amount and the right type.

It’s a luring and inviting ambiance. And on the neighbouring street is the Royal Cocktail Exchange, in fact you can actually see Charlotte Street while sipping a cocktail at the table.

Or vice versa finishing your dessert at Chartlotte Street and eyeing the cocktail bar for a nightcap.

Or at least that’s my impression of Royal Cocktail Exchange. It’s a quality pre-drink destination when you arrive too early for your dinner reservation or after meal when you don’t quite want to call it a night yet.

Or even a date stop, a couple next to us is on a first date. Whatever the occasion just make sure to resist having too many cocktails, the stairs to the bathroom are rather steep.

However, it’s easier said than done, the cocktail menu makes me want to try them all but we agreed for two each as we have somewhere to be after.

The first cocktail is Peach Dill Fix, it’s intriguing how predominantly savoury herb – dill made it into a peach cocktail. Peach Dill Fix is two rums one of them – dill infused Clement Agricole, peach honey and citrus, shaken and served in a martini glass.

As described by my guest it’s exactly my type of a drink. And he’s spot on. It offers a bright, complex balance of flavours, combining velvet fruity sweetness with a deep smooth Eminent Claro, the second rum.

The citrus provides a refreshing acidity not that it needs it as it’s perfectly balanced and with light peach notes. We do a quick cocktail swap and gulp with my guest to try each others.

His is grass green and fresh, topped with micro greens and a brain shaped candy. It’s packed with green ingredients such as petit pois syrup, lime and aloe mixed with Eminente Reserva rum and banana cachaça.

As the name suggests Plants vs Zombie, it’s a refreshing and grassy cocktail with a decent hit of rum and a very light lingering banana note.

For samosas there is a choice of three: spiced chicken, lamb and veggie. We go for the meaty selection and they are excellent, flaky million layers like pasty packed with a rich filling.

A little spicy perhaps for my liking but I’m a light weight when it comes to chili and curry spices. Our waiter’s highly recommended butter chicken mayo dip helps though.

It doesn’t have chicken pieces, I don’t know why I thought it would when I first spotted it on the menu but it’s chicken flavoured. And really quite delicious as noted by our waiter, it pairs very well with samosas offsetting the spice.

We complete our visit with two more cocktails Mango Lassi Flip for me and Newport Sour for my guest.

Like Peach Dill Fix for me, my guest’s second cocktail is exactly how he likes it – strong, woody and a little smoky. It’s Kombu Bourbon, lemon, port & cherry blend and raisin syrup with an egg froth.

It’s strong with a sweet caramel raisin undertone, served with a chocolate drizzle shortbread for something sweet, a perfect drink to complete an evening really.

Similarly with the Mango Lassi Flip, it’s also on the sweeter side, like a very light dessert. It’s served in a tumbler glass with plenty of crushed ice and a strainer, which I’m told to hold with one hand while sipping the drink from the opposite side of the glass.

It definitely has the lassi resemblance but with a faded more milk like texture, clarified even I’d say although, it’s still keeping the milky colour.

The main spirits here are Hennessy VS cognac and Jagermeister Manifest, which make for a perfect pairing in my opinion as it’s layered with vanilla, oak and cardamom giving a unique depth to the lassi.

If you like cocktails give Royal Cocktail Exchange a try next time you’re in Fitzrovia. With its unique flavour blends and samosas to pair at only £12.50 per cocktail you really can’t go wrong.

Samosas £8.50, dip £1, cocktails £12.50.

Royal Cocktail Exchange, 31 Windmill St, London W1T 2JN