Hail the ‘Salad Cocktail’!

By Raul Dias

While ‘Farm to Fork’, that oft-(ab)used catchphrase was shamelessly bandied all through 2016—with almost every new restaurant’s food menu going ‘local’ with a quasi-militant determination—this year it’s the turn of the bar menu with ‘Farm to Flute’. Eschewing the de rigueur synthetic flavoured syrups and sugar-laden cocktail pre-mixes, mixologists at bars and restaurants across the country can be seen rummaging through their chef colleagues’ greengrocer supplies with a vengeance.
All this, to come up with alcohol-laced libations that defy convention with a deliciously vegetal twist. A whole posse of cocktails that each hold great promise of good health with every sip. Well, if only…
Nevertheless, welcome to the era of the ‘salad cocktail’ with everything from broccoli and karela (bitter gourd) to capsicum and the very au courant kale finding themselves consciously coupled with generous pours of your favourite tipple.

Made with gin, kale juice, elderflower cordial, fresh lime juice, and sparkling wine, the very refreshing Kale and Gin Coupe at Woodside Inn Colaba, Mumbai is sent off with a jauntily balanced kale chip as its garnish.

Cabbage-Parsley Cocktail at Rubicon Bar, The Leela Ambience, Gurugram is the rather unlikely sum of its raw cabbage, parsley, raspberry and vodka parts, making it the quintessential drinkable tipsy summer salad in a Champagne coupe.

Capsico Brezza at Asilo, St. Regis, Mumbai is a lightly spiced mélange of pureed capsicum, orange juice and chilli. Into which, a splash of Ciroc vodka is added, and all this strained over crushed ice.

Redolent with yellow capsicum, fresh mint, vodka, lemon juice, grape fruit and Chartreuse, Summer Sunshine at Annam Café, Justa Design Hotel, Chennai is a sweet-savoury cocktail which leaves a certain je ne sais quois on the palate.

Don’t be put off by the broccoli in the Green Maozi at Koko, Mumbai, for it lends a clean, vegetal taste note when paired with citrus-flavoured vodka, orange and lime juice and the rather outré—white chocolate shavings! 

The intensely savoury Golden Beetroot Cocktail at Bodega Cantina-Y-Bar, Kolkata is made with cold-pressed beetroot juice which is infused with vanilla and combined with carrot, lemon juice and vodka.

As interesting as its ‘punny’ name is, the Kale and Hearty at Swey, Mumbai is a combination of muddled kale, spinach, cucumber, vodka and homemade ginger syrup, with a hit of lime-n-lemon sours and served up in a martini glass with a deep-fried kale chip to munch on as you sip.

Melding together the flavours of Mexico and India, the Bitter Sour at Le Meridien Gurgaon, Gurugram is a unique blend of a health-boosting karela (bitter gourd) juice shot, agave nectar, tequila, egg white and lime juice for that perfectly tart finish.

Smoked Aspacado at Estella, Mumbai sees smoked avocado cubes and asparagus muddled together with simple syrup, lime juice and gin and garnished with a blanched asparagus spear.

(A shorter, edited version of this piece was first published in the 27th March, 2017 issue of India Today magazine http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cocktails-vegetables-alcohol-laced-libations/1/905617.html)