With the Easter long weekend now done and dusted, we’re, again, on the look-out for reasons and occasions to celebrate with a perfectly chilled drink. Warm beach days, perhaps? The first days of spring, maybe? Chime in for a hearty toast with these brand-new tipples in town.
Time honoured. That is, a thing; idea; recipe; manifesto, forged and perfected through years upon years upon, yet, more years of dedication. A tangible experience in tribute to the motions and practice and effort undertaken. DarkSide’s new ‘Forgotten Classics’ cocktail menu — launched, too, against Rosewood’s new mixologist classes, priced at HK$1,399 per person — celebrates neither gimmicks nor fuss. It’s a 12-piece drinks journey into the classics beyond your tired gin-and-tonic order. Directed by Arkadiusz Rybak and Simone Rossi, the menu traverses from slick onion-garnished Gibsons (HK$160) to smoky El Diablos (HK$160); a veritable lecture into the origins and anecdotes that inspired these drinks of yore. Drinks you’ll remember you love.
For a restaurant named ‘Hue’ situated in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, a cocktail menu christened ‘Art & Colour’ should come across as practically customary. A sensorial drinks experience in homage to each spoke of the colour wheel, ‘Art & Colour’ is saturated with levelled-up classics like the Black and White Old Fashioned (HK$140), which marries black sesame and roasted coffee-infused Michter’s Bourbon, black toasted beetroot and chocolate bitters; Coral Peach Rosé (HK$140), a fruity gin-meets-strawberry rosé vermouth inspired by the colour of sunsets; and Pistachio Green Punch (HK$120), infused with pandan-infused soy milk.
Toast to the first days of spring with The Dispensary’s brand-new Lavender Bloom cocktail (HK$108) — available through 18 April. Levelling Ketel One vodka with fruit-forward peach and lemon notes, Lavender Bloom is, as one may infer from its floral name, infused with homemade lavender syrup. A drink for sniffing, sipping and savouring, in repetition.
SoHo’s newest gastrobar Hungry Pal has a drinks menu reflective of its overarching high-low concept as an ‘elevated dive bar’. On the programme are remastered, ‘under-appreciated’ age-old classics. The Martinez (HK$68) — the Martini of Martinis — and the Oolong Sour (HK$78) — an oolong milk tea-infused riff on a gin sour— joins Old World wines and draft beers on tap.
In the spirit of behind-the-bar collaborations, The Wise King’s Sandeep Kumar will be setting up shop at The Daily Tot on 15 April from 6 – 9pm for a roll-out of a brand-new cocktail programme. Mark your calendars, too, for 17 April; The Wise King, N.I.P Gin and The Daily Tot’s very own Gerry Olino will share guest shifts from 6 – 9pm.
The springtime cocktail programme at Morton’s The Steakhouse features remixed classics like the Aviation (HK$160); a zingy blue blend of Tanqueray gin, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, The Bitter Truth violet liqueur and lemon juice. Brand new and seasonal is the Bee’s Knees (HK160); delicately citrusy and honeyed with origins tethered to the Prohibition era. An all-American evening to be had.