Restaurant Review: Pairing inventive cocktails with Mediterranean food

We’re talking about their creations like tea-infused gin with rose and honey, a smoky tequila-based drink with butter and apple sauce among others.

With a golden pyramid-like structure greeting the guests at the entrance, the resto-bar has bright and quirky interiors — a panel holding wine bottles running across its high ceiling is the first to grab one’s attention. While the place is relatively free on weekdays, it can get jam-packed on weekends. We begin with a Smokey Gonzales, which is a warm tequila drink with a butter sauce floating on the surface. The smoke fumes which are trapped in the glass escape into the air soon as the drink is uncovered, revealing a buttery layer on top of a tawny-brown cocktail — a perfect shot for all Instagrammers. The smokes infused into the drink give it a great earthiness, while the butter and apple sauce add a dash of sweetness to it.

Next up was Arrriba, spelt with three R’s, which was an unexpected blend of jagermeister with gin, along with raspberry puree and egg-white. A perfectly sweet cocktail that goes well with their tapas options like falafel, hummus or pulled chicken with plantain fries. The cocktail Hit de Fleur (pronounced as hit the floor) certainly turned out to be the true winner for its inventiveness. Gin, which has been infused with a hibiscus tea, along with rose and honey — who would have thought all those ingredients could go into one cocktail! With such beverages full of flavour, the restaurant offers light and fresh Mediterranean food.

We tried the fire roasted carrot hummus with pita bread and falafel, which was a perfect accompaniment while sipping on a Smokey Gonzales. The smoked duck breast with a pumpkin puree served with an apple brandy sauce has the duck cooked to perfection, keeping it juicy and tender. The smoked meat and the slightly sweet brandy sauce go well together, especially while relishing an El Spice, a vodka-based drink with fresh pineapple juice, passionfruit, star anise and topped with sparkling wine. If you’re a fried chicken lover, we urge you to not miss this resto-bar’s version of it with paprika and garlic cream. With the batter fried to a crisp, this dish is surely one among the crispiest fried chicken in our city. Their seafood sausage, though not easily found at restaurants, however, did not seem to go very well with the onion marmalade and a lemon and caper aioli it was served with. This drinkery’s flavourful beverages, however, may tend to make youforget to eat.