On Saturday, my husband and I celebrated one year of marriage. We have to save up for our next holiday, which is in September and it’s gonna be an expensive one since we’re going to Australia again.
We decided to keep it simple and go to an arcade/video game themed restaurant called Token. The last time we were in Dublin, which was for pride, we walked over there and we didn’t end up going because it was packed. We heard amazing things about the place from some friends who lived in Dublin. It’s only a couple of hours on the bus so we decided we can celebrate our anniversary there and that’s what we did.
Before that, we went to the Science Gallery at Trinity College. My husband is a physicist and I knew it was something he would like. It’s a small science museum with free admission. We saw some cool stuff there. It’s no Museum of Science and Industry, but that’s a museum you have to pay to go to, well worth the price. Can’t complain about free.
We decided to take a walk to Token, which is kind of on the other side of town. Dublin is a pretty walkable city and we wanted to save a little cash and get some exercise. On the way there, we passed by some vintage shops. Not much there of interest, because as time goes by, 80s and 90s stuff and even 2000s stuff is considered vintage. Not my style.
So we finally get to Token and there wasn’t that much of a crowd, so we didn’t have to wait long for a table.
The theme of the restaurant, is obviously arcade and the restaurant does this really well. The menus are taped onto old issues of video game magazines like Nintendo Power and your bill is brought to you inside an old XBOX or Playstation game case. Even the baking paper under your food is video game themed. When you finish your food, you’ll see “level complete”. Overall, a very 80s/90s themed arcade restaurant, I like that.
The shirts are even a reasonable price, just €15. I also noticed that they played some vaporwave, like this famous song from Macintosh Plus’ Floral Shoppe album – basically the quintessential vaporwave song:
Now, let’s talk about my favourite part, the food. Token is a great restaurant for all. If you like meat, you’ll be happy. If you’re a vegan, you’re also catered to, and properly this time. Every vegan or vegetarian has experienced this problem at a restaurant: you look at the menu and there’s only one option, maybe a handful if you’re lucky. Not the case with Token. They have vegan fried chicken, tacos, hot dogs, sliders, “calamari”, chilli cheese fries, and salad bowls (for the health conscious). The menu is full of humour with clever names for the food and the option to buy the kitchen staff a bag of cans.
I also like that there is environmentally friendly, biodegradable cutlery and food packaging. We need to treat this planet well since it’s the only planet we can live on.
My husband and I both went with the vegan fried chicken because it’s a treat. I went with the Buffalove sauce and my husband went for the spiciest option. We didn’t take a long bus ride here to eat healthy. My husband got the vegan chilli cheese fries and I got the sweet potato fries. There’s a nice deal where you get an entree, side dish, a beer, and 10 game tokens for €20.
The portions are huge. I was full just eating the “fried chicken”. I had about half of my sweet potato fries and that was it. I couldn’t eat any more. The vegan fried chicken really tastes nothing like chicken, which I’m okay with, at least I know they’re not feeding me chicken. It actually reminded me a lot of pakoras, which I love ordering whenever I get Indian food. The vegan aioli is really nice. The spicy fried chicken was no joke – dangerous hot, the kind of hot that it’s fine at first and then it hits you after a while. My husband really likes spicy food, so it was a good thing. We were tempted to get the vegan ice cream, but we were stuffed. My husband blamed being full on how much water he drank to cool his mouth down. As for beer, my husband got the IPA (I really don’t know which brand) and I got some beer with a bit of a grapefruit flavour.
I’m writing this a couple of days after we went there and I’m still thinking about that vegan fried chicken. I love when I have a meal and it’s a memorable one.
As for the games, there’s a nice selection of games: fighting games, racing games, typical arcade games, DDR, and pinball. Depending on how busy it is, you might have to wait for your favourite game. Like the Mario Kart game was constantly occupied. We played pinball, Tetris, DDR, Pac Man, and this one Simpsons fighting game.
Afterwards, we went to a bookstore and I got a book that I wanted called David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music.
Loved this post and want to see more great posts like this and show your appreciation for The Diversity of Classic Rock? Chip in some money on Patreon or Ko-Fi. Or buy merch or my photography prints on RedBubble. This is totally optional, but extremely helpful.
All Diversity of Classic Rock content will remain free, but Patrons get some nice perks, like early access, birthday cards, Skype calls with me, and exclusive behind the scenes posts. Every dollar helps. If you cannot afford to support The Diversity of Classic Rock, there are many free ways to support the blog: following my blog and social media, liking posts, sharing posts, leaving nice comments, or sending your music for review.
The Diversity of Classic Rock 