It's our favourite bar in London at the moment, so when Hot Dinners were invited to try the new cocktail selection at the ZTH bar in the Zetter Townhouse, we were more than eager to rush down to the Clerkenwell bar.
The new cocktails have been designed by Zetter/69 Colebrooke Row master mixoligist Tony Conigliaro and stick to the ZTH's mantra of simple, seasonal cocktails based around the travels of Aunt Wilhelmina, the fictional matriarch of the Zetter Townhouse. Tony told us "we're trying to make the drinks very simple, pared down from what we do at 69 Colebrooke row" as we asked him to take us through the new tipples:
Gooseberry Kir Royale - homemade gooseberry cordial & Perrier Jouet Champagne
"You can find gooseberries locally and it's an extension of the Rhubarb Kir Royale we had before so next season it'll be something different"
Fig Leaf Tom Collins - Beefeater Gin, Lemon, Sugar, Figleaf tincture and soda
"This came about because we've been working with Bruno Loubet on the fig-leaf tincture for his lamb dish. This has a Sicilian basis - in Sicily you have the orchards for the lemons and you also have the fig trees - so there was that association in my mind when Bruno asked us to come up with the fig leaf tincture. The fig leaf also helps to give the drink those greener notes."
Southland - Eucalyptus syrup, Martell NSOP cognac
"As we've been making cordials we made a little discovery with Euacalyptus leaves, which we've never used before. We worked out that by smelling and tasting it that it must go with cognac. This is based on the Japanese, which is made with orgeat - and we switched it round because Wilhelmina had been travelling to Australia!"
All the new drinks are, of course, fab. Tom Collins in particular is @hotdinners2's number one drink, and he rates the Fig Leaf variant as one of the best he's had. All this was coupled with canapes that reflect what Bruno Loubet is doing both in the Bistrot across the road and also in the bar menu of ZTH. A standout here was the slow cooked pork belly with aromatic ash - something we could have dined on all night, while the lamb with miso aubergine and fig oil was also a great accompaniment to the Collins.
The drinks are already on the ZTH menu, and come with Hot Dinners' strong mark of approval - so head down there at your earliest opportunity and don't forget to ask where Wilhelmina is.
ZTH Bar - Zetter Townhouse - 49-50 St John's Square - EC1V
