Bartenders raise the bar as they craft cocktails to match your meal
NEW cocktail combinations and flavour profiles will take you from aperitif to prime time.
Sydney Taste
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SPAGHETTI bolognese and a Bloody Mary? They are one of the hot new couples on the food scene.
Matching wine with food is a given for even the most casual of foodies but the latest trend is to pair cocktails to specific dishes all the way from entree to dessert.
World Class Cocktail Week kicks off on Sunday and to mark the event Surry Hills’ Longrain restaurant is hosting a Thai banquet with matching cocktails on Tuesday.
Executive chef Griff Pamment says the cocktail list is designed to complement the food, with both featuring ingredients such as galangal, lemongrass and lime.
“You can drink cocktails the whole way through a meal,” he says. “It’s always been the case here. When we opened 18 years ago we identified as a cocktail bar and it might have been a trailblazing concept back then but it’s setting the scene these days.”
Pamment is matching a hiramasa kingfish spring roll with green curry paste, Thai basil and nam jim, with the clean flavours of vodka, basil, lime, apple juice and Murray River sea salt for a touch of savouriness. A dessert cocktail of coconut sorbet, anejo rum, white choc liqueur and Kaffir lime will complement a dish of banana fitters, tamarind caramel, sorbet, coconut and cacao.
Cocktails can augment and enhance a dish just like wine, Pamment says.
“Why do we team dark meat with red wine? Because it smells of leather, cinnamon and pepperberry, so just take those flavours and put it in a cocktail.
“Mum’s roast dinner will be great with a savoury cocktail that includes bay and rosemary. For steaks, look at darker spirits such as whisky, and infuse it with beetroot or Sichuan pepper.
“Fish and chips would be great with lemon peel steeped in a fizzy tonic or spritzer, a spaghetti bolognese calls for a Bloody Mary made with bay leaves or oregano, and with pizza, steep parmesan rinds in vodka. It’s a natural form of MSG so you’d get a great flavour.”
Award-winning bartender and co-owner of This Must Be The Place in Darlinghurst, Charlie Ainsbury, 31, believes the trend reflects the fact that Australians are becoming more discerning about what they drink.
“When I started bartending at 18, the average order was 15 mojitos and 10 vodka sodas. Now it’s eight Old Fashioneds and five Negronis,” he says.
He credits the change to the introduction of the small bar licence in 2013.
“It expanded the drinking scene in Sydney,” he says. “The culture has grown incredibly. The way people drink has definitely changed. A standard drink was a glass of wine, beer or mixed drink, and cocktails were seen as something for a special occasion. But it’s now commonplace to drink a Negroni midweek.”
The shift from large to small venues allowed the drinks scene to flourish as bartenders became bar owners.
“Before, you had to have a million in the bank to open a bar, which is why you didn’t have a lot of diversity,” Ainsbury says. “We now have tequila bars, gin bars and mescal bars because bartenders can take a chance, open up what they want and create different options for Sydney.”
* World Class Cocktail Week, May 7-13, various venues, broadsheet.com.au/worldclass
WHERE TO GO
ICEBERGS, Bondi
Sunday-Saturday: Tasting menu with matching cocktails
THE OWL HOUSE, Darlinghurst
Sunday-Saturday: Four-course degustation with matching cocktails
BARRIO CELLAR, City
Sunday-Saturday: Margarita/taco class
BULLETIN PLACE, City
Sunday-Monday: Melbourne’s cocktail bar Black Pearl is taking over
THE HORSE, Surry Hills
Sunday-Saturday: Old fashioned cocktails matched with Australian cheeses
THE WILD ROVER, Surry Hills
Monday: Gelato and Scotch whisky
CHINA DINER, NEIGHBOURHOOD and MILKY LANE, Bondi
Tuesday: Roaming dinner of one course at each venue
MOYA’S JUNIPER LOUNGE, Redfern
Wednesday: Cheese and gin pairings
PS40, City
Wednesday-Friday: Rockpool’s Jake Ryan Dolin cooks colonial British food
THE CELLAR by BOUCHE, City
Thursday: Whisky and wine pairings
THE CARRINGTON, Surry Hills
Saturday: Celebrating espresso martini
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