Award-winning Sydney bar Re- is serving up a cocktail made from chicken feet
When a sustainable bar in Sydney revamped its cocktail menu to use the 10 most-wasted food items, it came up with an unlikely bestseller. WATCH our road test.
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Would you drink a well prepared mix of vodka, wine, black garlic vinegar and coffee cherry tea and … chicken feet? A top Sydney bar is serving this cocktail and it’s become a bestseller.
Re- is a sustainable bar located in South Eveleigh, which is the brainchild of owner and creator Matt Whiley.
The venue, which was awarded the Sustainable Bar Award in 2021 in the The World’s 50 Best Bars, is devoted to sustainability, where everything from the menu to the furniture is upcycled or sustainably sourced.
Whiley recently released a new drinks menu where the 10 cocktails are created from the 10 most wasted food items.
Called The Whole Beast, the chicken feet cocktail sells for $22, and has been their best-selling drink.
“It shouldn’t be challenging because we use animal products in our things a lot. It’s not weird, but chicken is more diversifying because most people think you can’t eat it if it’s not cooked properly,” Whiley said.
“Chicken feet just tastes like crispy chicken skin, which is where the flavour is.”
Whiley, originally from the UK is a former professional cricketer who retired due to injury. His creative approach to cocktails has seen him be crowned one of London’s most influential people.
“We’ve battled since we’ve opened with what people want from us and what our expectation from our guests is and now, with this new menu, it’s like, this is who we are and we can’t be anything other than that. And we are proud of it,” said Whiley.
The new menu was six months in the making and “born out of failure, more than anything,” said Whiley, adding “we wanted to create something unique. Something we haven’t made before”.
“I’ve worked for years towards this [sustainability] goal, but it’s hard. Generally people take the easy role.
“But I’m an ex sportsman. I’m driven by failure, because I believe that’s how you succeed. If you’re not failing, then you’re in your comfort zone,” he said.
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