Last week Alex and I had date night at Coin laundry on Exmouth Market – a lovely location with so many cute restaurants, bars and bistros I want to try, Coin Laundry obviously having been one.
Coin Laundry is on the corner, at the end of Exmouth Market, and feels really spacious, yet welcoming inside. It’s pretty contemporary upstairs in the restaurant area, and the bar downstairs is really cool and cosy! We obviously picked a spot on the sofa as it was free.
One of the first things I spotted on the way to our cute little spot in the bar was a pile of board games! I love bars with games, so knew what we’d be doing.
We settled in and started with a couple of drinks, a pina colada for myself, and a lager for Alex. We also ordered some snacks from the bar menu for dinner, opting for the Beefburger, Spag Bol Croquettes, Onion Bhajis, Chips and Curry Sauce and Chicken Popcorn – I know, a feast right?
My Pina Colada was absolutely delicious – creamy, coconut-y and super refreshing it was a great way to end a hectic day at the office. Alex enjoyed his lager too, commenting that it wasn’t too heavy which was good.
Whilst we waited for our food, we cracked on with the games – first up, connect 4! Such a tense and competitive game, it was hilarious each time one of us won a round. I unfortunately have to admit that Alex won the equalizer – I didn’t even notice, too consumed by my game plan as I thought I was going to win on my next move.
We went to change the game to Top Trumps Turbo, but weren’t sure how to play. Attempting to google the instructions, we were soon interrupted by our food, and were more than happy to pop the game down.
Look out our banquet…
Alex had the burger, and I got a little taste. It was HUGE. Two beef patties, cheese, onions and tomato salsa – it was pretty tasty. Meaty, juicy and flavoursome the burger went down a treat.
The spag bol croquettes were my absolute favorite (apparently the favorite of our waiter, Joey too!) – Bolognaise, complete with spaghetti, enclosed in a crumb covered ball, which was steaming when cut into. I’d never had anything like this before, and it really is something you have to try – beefy and rich, with a crispy coating, it was such a tasty comfort food style snack.
The onion bhajis were pretty good too. Great texture, strong flavor and great with the dip, they definitely satisfied my slight indian craving.
The chips and curry sauce were more like fries, thin and crispy, and the curry sauce was almost as good as chip shop curry sauce – almost! (It is had to beat!) It was rich and thick, which made it perfect for dipping. Such a great side for the burger, but also fab on their own – I enjoyed a good handful too.
Chicken Popcorn. Ok, so we were expecting popcorn chicken, like the KFC version. What came out was nothing like we’d imagined, and nothing we’d ever tried before – popcorn which was chicken flavoured!
Apparently the popcorn is prepared and then tossed in poultry fat, and dusted with chicken salt. It was amazing – we normally like a sweet & salted mix (The only way to have popcorn, right?) but this would be a worthy substitute. It had such a strong chicken flavour, it was pretty salty, and although we were both so full, we couldn’t help but keep digging in. In fact, this dish stayed behind after the rest of the plates were cleared.
We had some more drinks, Alex had a snowball followed by a Stone Fence, whilst I opted for two Grape Rickeys with vodka.
The snowball was lemon-y, yet creamy, it was slightly citrus and really sweet. Almost like the bottled Snowball, it was SO good, I was almost tempted to get this as my second drink.
The Stone Fence was slightly bitter with the flavor of ginger coming through, but really refreshing. Alex really enjoyed this cocktail!
The Grape Rickey tasted pretty much like a refreshing grape soda. The grape flavouring was prominent, meaning you couldn’t really taste the vodka (after all, it doesn’t have much of a flavor does it?), it was fruity and thirst-quenching, and it was really light meaning that it made a great drink for after dinner.
We sat and chilled on the sofa for a little while, catching up on gossip, the day’s goings on and discussing our upcoming holiday – we’re both super excited! – before heading off.
With snacks starting at £1.50 (average price £5 per portion), pints for roughly £5 and cocktails between £6 and £9, it’s a great little spot for date night, a mid-week catch-up or drinks with friends, and the games selection just makes it even better. The service is fab, the team are super helpful and efficient (our bar man/waiter Joey was amazing, checking in on us, having a little chat, he really did give top service!) and the location is great too. We’d highly recommend giving Coin Laundry a whirl.
Have you been anywhere on Exmouth Market yet?
Chloe xx
*I was invited along to review the drinks and bar snacks at Coin Laundry. All views my own.
