Shaken and yes…stirred!

With today being celebrated as World Martini Day, why not take your pick from some of Mumbai’s most wacky martini-style cocktails that feature everything from to the decidedly frou frou lavender to the typically Indian paan as ingredients    

By Raul Dias

Mon Cheri
Imbued with an experimental streak when it comes to his bar, Pranav Mody the The Sassy Spoon’s manager and mixologist, sends off this rather exotic looking, deep purple-hued cocktail with a generous pour of house-infused lavender-hibiscus vodka, and vanilla, along with a splash of orange liqueur and citrus mix. Adorned with a marigold flower to offset the colour, the drink is the ultimate ode to flower power.
At The Sassy Spoon, Express Towers, Nariman Point
Call 9920003500
Cost Rs 600

Smoked Aspacado
This martini cocktail one truly lives up to its ‘salad cocktail’ descriptor on the drinks’ menu. Here, Rakesh Pardeshi, the assistant bar supervisor first smokes avocado cubes and chopped asparagus that are then muddled together with simple syrup, lime juice and gin and garnished with a blanched asparagus spear.
At Estella, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu.
Call 7999998232, 7999998212
Cost Rs 895

Kale & Hearty
Though the whole hype around kale may be on the wane this year, it still shows up in this rather refreshing and ‘healthy’ drink. In this martini-style cocktail, the leafy veggie is muddled with spinach, cucumber, vodka and homemade ginger syrup, with a hit of lime-n-lemon sours and sent off with a crispy fried kale chip as the garnish.
At Swey, Atria Mall, Worli.
Call 9820436666
Cost Rs 500

Green Tea & Lavender Martini
This fragrant, floral vodka martini is made using a special in-house green tea and lemongrass infusion. To this, thyme and lavender are added to give more layers to the herbaceous, floral notes. A spritz of vodka and lemon juice finishes it off. All this jazzed up with the Theory signature garnish of fresh jasmine buds and a few sprigs of thyme.
At Theory, Kamala Mills, Lower Parel
Call 66666506
Cost Rs 860

Paan Martini
Bringing an Indian flavour to World Martini Day is this very desi Paan Martini Cocktail that’s often accompanied by a paan-flavoured ice-cream. Made with paan masala, gulkhand, vodka and lime juice and served with a garnish of betel leaf and rose petals, this cocktail was created by the bar’s head bartender who missed his father’s paan dani (paan case) and more so, the aroma of it! 
At The Sahib Room & Kipling Bar at The St. Regis Mumbai, Lower Parel
Call 61628422
Cost Rs 900

(An edited version of this article appeared in the 19th June 2017 issue of the evening edition of Mid-Day newspaper, India http://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-food-world-martini-day-martini-style-cocktails-drinks-mumbai-bars-sassy-spoon-lfiestyle/18351183)

A-N-A-T-O-M-I-Z-E: Charcoal-Coffee Martini

By Raul Dias

Notorious for incubating trends of all kinds, never mind how over-the-top or outré they may seem, New York City always manages to shock me silent. But I couldn’t have been more surprised a few months ago, when on a short layover there, a friend insisted I try the jet-black hued perla negra (black pearl) cocktail at Slowly Shirley—a virtual ‘subterranean cocktail sanctuary’ in Manhattan’s hipster haven of the West Village.  
Served up in a crystal skull receptacle, this aged rum, orange juice, ginger, sorrel and arrack-redolent libation has a dark little secret ingredient—activated charcoal powder. Little did I know then, that charcoal—an integral part of filtration systems the world over—would become one of early 2017’s hottest new bar essentials. Used for millennia in both Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine as a detoxifying agent and as a superfood that boosts digestive health, activated charcoal powder is enjoying an outing like never before!

And yes, this cocktail micro trend has reached India as well, as I was to recently discover at Kolkata’s Bodega Cantina-Y-Bar. This hip, new restobar that sits languidly along busy Park Street serves up a charcoal-coffee martini that has been enticing the trend loving lot with its caliginous countenance. All this, while relying on a double coffee kick, thanks to a generous splash of Kahlua coffee liqueur, and a rather potent espresso shot to lend that extra zing to this vodka-based cocktail noir, blackened up with the powder of crushed activated charcoal pellets. 

(This column first appeared in the 19th March 2017 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8 http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/charcoal-coffee-martini/article17526868.ece)