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Tony Conigliaro
Where? 69 Colebrooke Row, 69 Colebrooke Row, N1 8AA
The drinks guru better known as Tony C has long been a proponent
of savoury �avours and continues to garner awards with experimental
oerings at his bars. 'It's been a long, slow movement, but savoury
cocktails are denitely having their moment,' he says.
Conigliaro credits the increasingly strong link between bar and
kitchen for these new �avour frontiers. 'Thinking about how my
cocktails would be consumed in a restaurant environment turned
out to be the perfect platform to start incorporating new savoury
�avours such as tru e, cucumber, olive and tomato,' he says. 'There's
a decadence that comes with dryness of �avour. The mouthfeel of
savoury �avours is often richer, more sensuous.'
Conigliaro's Prairie Oyster is the perfect example of his playful, yet
rened approach to incorporating unusual �avours into cocktails.
Served in a custom-designed shell, the drink provides a threeelement,
single-gulp experience. One, you drink the light liquid
surrounding the faux-yolk (tomato consommé, horseradish vodka and
a dash of sherry, all dyed yellow). Two, you swallow the yolk, which
pops in your mouth with an explosion of taste. Three, you chew on
the nely chopped shallots as you begin to experience sea �avours.
Conigliaro's creation was inspired by the lm Cabaret, in which
Liza Minnelli's character, Sally Bowles, starts each day with a
spiced raw egg yolk in brandy. 'I've always been a huge fan of the
Bloody Mary as a xer for that morning-after feeling, and decided
to blend the two to create a concoction that hovers between the
boundaries of food and drink in taste, texture and aesthetics.'
Bartenders are pushing the boundaries
of mixology once more, by using bold
savoury �avours in their drinks. Anyone
for a burger and bourbon cocktail?
WORDS SASHA FILIMONOV
S
alt beef beigels, blue cheese or bone marrow -
which would you like to drink? All of the above?
Well now you can, as the latest trend to hit the
London cocktail scene is of the savoury sort.
While fashionable ingredients such as bacon have
been cropping up on cocktail menus for a few years,
barkeeps are broadening their foodie horizons. Many are looking
to incorporate the 'fth taste', also known as umami - after salt,
sweet, sour and bitter - to add further dimension and a moreish
quality to drinks. Read on to meet some of the leading lights of
this latest craze and nd out what you should be ordering next.
A MEAL
IN A
GLASS