The Samurai Fizz at Cocktail Kitchen April 27 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
Cocktail Kitchen Series 2 – Japan, April 26 2011
- by Shawn Conner/photos by Robyn Hanson
Cocktail people take their mixed drinks seriously.
I was reminded of this fact the other night at The Refinery. Surrounded (it seemed) on all sides by the house bitters, we were chatting with Shawn Soole and Nate from Clive’s Classic Lounge in the Chateau Victoria Hotel. The two were the evening’s competing bartenders in the latest installment of The Refinery’s second Cocktail Kitchen series. Somehow, the topic was cocktails, and Soole was talking about an innovative libation that had brought the lounge attention in the New York Times, amongst other media outlets.
In fact, this drink had brought so much attention that it threatened to overshadow their other, perhaps more complex and/or coldly sophisticated concoctions. And so now, if you’re at Clive’s and ask for the drink – the Cold Night In, though you might be more likely to call it by its “wow” ingredient, the grilled-cheese rum - you’re apt to get a dirty look followed by the words, “We don’t make that here anymore.”
Nothing like hearing about the hip new cocktail and finding out you won’t be tasting one any time soon.
Happily, Soole and Nate mixed up some other worthy drinks to go with the April Cocktail Kitchen Series 2 menu. With the month focusing on Japan (last month was Ireland), chef Ben de Champlain had put his own spin on some traditional Japanese food (but not sushi) while the bartenders crafted their cocktails with Osake artisanal sake and vodka, distilled in Vancouver on Granville Island.
Okonomiyaki, or traditional cabbage pancake; photographer Robyn Hanson's favourite of the night.
De Champlain, whose own culinary education, from what he said, seems to have galvanized by a visit to Japan when he was younger, clearly warmed to the challenge. A sunomono salad with compressed cucumber noodles and topped by a prawn with pickled ginger and citrus sauce was followed by the traditional cabbage pancake, okonomiyaki – as tasty as any potato pancake – topped with a delicious mayo-based sauce; the third was miso-marinated sable fish in a mushroom dashi (stock). This was my fourth Cocktail Kitchen, and this was the best-tasting food so far, beating out my previous favourite, the West Indies edition.
Godzilla's Egg cocktail at The Refinery, Vancouver, April 27 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
Booze-wise, Soole certainly knows his stuff beyond the grilled-cheese rum. For appearance’ sake, the second drink was the most interesting; it was called the Godzilla’s Egg for the huge egg-shaped (hollow) ice cube in a small bowl with a strawberry-coloured mix of soju (Korean vodka, imported by Osake’s Masa), house bitters and salt water (the secret ingredient, according to Soole). The drink had a black raspberry taste and smokey finish. (From what Soole said, the concoction was originally intended to be inside the ice cube. Oh well, maybe next time.)
The third drink, a sweet mix of soju with simply syrup and bitters (orange, juniper and cardomon), accomplished its task of cutting the saltiness of the miso-marinated (for two days) sable fish. But for my money the best pairing was the first – a cucumber cocktail (the “Samurai Fizz”) that tasted as green, fresh and zingy as the sunomono salad.
Sunomono salad at Cocktail Kitchen, The Refinery, Vancouver, April 27 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
Cocktail Kitchen continues to be one of my favourite food events in the city (and one of the few we are consistently invited to, so there’s that). Next month promises new vistas of pairings, as The Refinery goes vegetarian with de Champlain putting a spin on Thai food and beer (from Victoria’s Driftwood Brewery) testing the creativity of the series’ serious-minded, competitive mixologists.
Cocktail Kitchen Series 2 info
Nate, Shawn Soole, Masa and Lauren Mote at The Refinery, April 27 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
Miso-marinated sable fish with mushroom dashi and vegetables at The Refinery, Vancouver, April 27 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
