We have spent about three weeks here at Exeter Summer and many students love the food at the cafeteria. Now if you do have a bit of extra spending cash there are several places around town that have amazing service and platters. We would advise to all students to try a new type of food here before they go back home.
A great local restaurant is Szechuan Taste a near-by Chinese food establishment about .3 miles away from campus. This restaurant offers a plethora of different fried rice and noodle options. The atmosphere is nice and gives you the feeling of being in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Los Angeles. It’s a bit pricy but that is definitely for a reason. You will not be able to find food like this anywhere near. There is even a seafood choice that includes real mollusks, lobster, and shrimps for less than $25. It is a nice restaurant to go with your friends or family.
If you are looking for a refreshing ice cream look no farther than Stillwells Riverwalk Ice Cream. This establshment has the most delicious ice cream in all of New Hampshire — it might even be better than the ice cream here on campus. This place has many different options of frozen treats: gelato, soft serve ice cream, sorbet, fruit smoothies, and even slushies. The average serving size of a cup of ice cream is insane. You will be able to spend $5 and in turn you will receive two or more humongous scoops of ice cream. With the recent summer heat this place is surely a place to cool off.
Laney & Lu: if you want a healthier option, this is the place to go. Laney & Lu is a cute little restaurant on Water Street. They offer a wide choice of salads, wraps, toasts, bowls, and smoothies. I (Diane) had gone two years ago when I attended Exeter Summer for the first time and found it quite good, so I decided to return. I was very pleasantly surprised: their menu is now bigger and the food even better.
We waited for five to ten minutes before ordering, and about ten to fifteen minutes for our food, as we came at a time where there typically is a lot of people. However, the waiters were very nice so no critique apart from the slightly long waiting time.
I tried the “Falafel Mediterranean” bowl, and it was simply delicious: a wide range of fresh and good quality ingredients blended with a delicious sauce. Even though I usually don’t like all the ingredients it had (or salads in general!), I would gladly go back to have it again.
In terms of cost, Laney & Lu isn’t the cheapest option in Exeter, but for the quantity and quality of the food you get, it is a good price.
I strongly recommend you try it out!
Me & Ollie’s Bakery & Café: This place is better for a snack or breakfast. It has a lot of pastries and bread as it is (partly) a bakery, but also offers a few salads and sandwiches.
Again, the waiters were very nice and the food — a bowl of oatmeal and a strawberry poppy salad — came quite quickly.
The oatmeal portion was a little small but tasted quite good, the salad was the best: fresh, light and healthy, very tasty, even for non-salad lovers.
All this came at a good price. Again, we recommend you go there if you would like a slightly less “healthy” meal or snack (they also have cookies, and bagels!