The Royal Exchange Grand Cafe is one of the very few places where Triple P can stop to recharge at different times during the day. We have already written about their excellent breakfast but we also regularly go their for a mid-morning cup of tea, lunch, afternoon tea or a drink in the evening. The latter is less common but we found ourselves in their last week with a young lady from foreign parts and forty-five minutes to kill before a reception. Given it was well after six we took a Vodka Martini at the oval bar (something Triple P rarely does; we much prefer a table).
The Martini itself was made with Ciroc Vodka: an unusual choice. Ciroc is made in France from Ugni Blanc and Mauzac Blanc grapes and so, technically, isn't a vodka at all but more properly an Eau de Vie. Nevertheless it does make a very good Martini indeed. The Grand Cafe one was nicely chilled and cost £9.95.
We liked it so much we had two, as did our companion who, being on the petite side needed to eat quite a lot of canapes later to help her recover her temporarily skewed equilibrium (or perhaps, as she claimed, it really was her five inche heels).
Altogether, we would give it a 7/10
