MERRY CHIRISTMAS AND SAFE HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

From the 2010 team xx

Martini and Tumbler Polycarbonate Glassware

Our Plastic/polycarbonate glassware range includes:

• Martini glasses: great for martini style drinks, daiquiris and much more
• Tall tumblers: great for mojitos and any drink served long. Also good for beer and mixed drinks.
• Wines glasses
• Champagne flutes

Get in contact today for hire and buy pricing information or with your mobile cocktail bar enquiry. We’ll put together a quote including delivery and can even supply cocktail equipment so you can make the cocktails yourself. Or we can provide the whole amazing 2010 mobile cocktail bar experience with great staff, fantastic cocktail lists, themed bar and much more.

I’ve made and tasted a million daiquiris and besides that I didn’t have any white rum left and also felt the urge to get creative. Spotting some white Creme de Cacao I had to see how it would blend with mango flavours. So folks ‘Will it blend?’

Mango Slide cocktail

In a blender add in this order..

• 1 mango cheek
• ice – a good scoop
• 45mls vodka
• 15mls Creme de Cacao
• dash of sugar syrup

Blend until smooth, the mango gives a great onsitency to the cocktail.

Drink on a nice sunny day whilst relaxing on a deck chair on a deserted beach. Or just imagine the latter…

Dodging chained up fixies we entered via the sneaky side door just off Crown St. Surry Hills, and immediate impressions are of just how loungey this place is. A stalwart in these parts for more than 15 years the new owners Simon (ex Winery) and Louis have added to their team with Toby Adams. All the guys contributing slight changes to the logistics of drinks and food service, an overhaul of the cocktail and food menu as well as interior design tweaks here and there adding even more lamps and unique touch ups. Not too mention the enhanced entertainment roster toting fantastic local vinyl playing (and sometimes wearing) DJ talent and much more. This all to the mural back drop of a sublime palm tree filled sunset installed long ago by Jumbo.

The Kiwi Love Chair at the Lounge

Having had a few cocktails here before, I steered back to my favourites from this very loungey themed cocktail list which includes a great mix of classic and modern style original drinks. Of course you can order from a great range of traditionals mentioned along the bottom, indeed the bar guys n gals will make to order any drink you want, the bar consecrated by their perfect half salt rimmed margarita. Names and descriptions of their themed orginals inspire you to lounge back, cocktail in hand and bob your white fro head along with all the other tightly clad and mostly unshaven cool kids.

The Lazy Boy – Inspired by the simple ingredients of old this kamikaze like cocktail adds bitters and Bundaberg ginger beer creating a refreshing but complex cocktail served on the rocks.

After 2 long drinks I was ready for something more along the lines of a digestive after my pumpkin pizza. With a description of ‘blow your f#%*ing head off’ The Recliner, paying a nod to the Old Fashioned cocktail, was a tasty way to wind up the evening.

Actually I had a Ricard pastis with rocks and water after that too, solely as a salute to my young days spent drinking this old school traditional beverage with cousins in France.

All in all a fantastic place to enjoy drinks, food and laughs on a Monday, or any night of the week that you feel like being transported into some lost wooden lounge room …except with drinks on tap!

Cafe Lounge - (02) 9356 8888
277 Goulburn Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Steven from Ecofarmers

I was looking for glass washers and ice machines but I got lost amongst the cheap fried, dried and crustyfied food, but thankfully found some interesting gems that related to my niche field of mobile cocktail bars.

The Philip Lazarus glassware and hospitality equipment stand had an amazing range of Libbey and Traex hospitality ware. Standard to fancy, well designed and made and with a hospitality eye, these guys are the go to for the best industry standard bar gear.

Steven Biviano from Ecofarmers was very hospitable in classic italian style and the amazing range of super fresh antipasto was exquisite, I’ll have to visit their deli in Haberfield. They shared the stand with some fantastic meats cured in Australia but in a very traditional style, I could’ve spent hours there but not with out a good red wine.

The 3rd Hand, a novel food presentation, designer fold out drink holder thingy has stepped up since I last noticed this ingenious eating/drinking cardboard system. Certainly track it down to hit 2-4 birds with one stone and make your event run smoother, easier and more eco friendly. They are brand-able too!

In amongst Chico rolls (a great themed stand) and Stegles (very clinical) there were steamed rice rollers and weird Asian things in packets, where I found a very interesting tea made from jam, doh I lost the card.

After a quick tasting of a small selection of Cyprian brandy from Miloway and a great range of St Ambroise beers from Montreal with the stand out being the framboise (raspberry beer…I know!). I certainly had to swing back past the Brazil area to find Mauro from Cerbaco at his stand with a fantastic range of Germana cachaca, some aged, not yet available in Australia but hopefully soon to be. Cachaca can be delicious, but it’s hard to get the good stuff here in Australia and this was no doubt the good stuff.

Mauro from Cerbaco

Starting from the not aged this almost pure filtered ethanol would be perfect in cocktails, namely a Caipirinha or a Batida. Moving along the aged cachaca had more of a rum vibe, but without the intense sweetness. Aged between 3-10 years each had a distinctive flavour imparted by just the right amount of time in French oak with some being finished in balsa wood and other barrels made from a local wood, amburana. Delicious as a straight sipping sprit but I would love to experiment and create some some spicy cocktails, if it gets brought to Australia.

So luckily I was able to find some interesting products on my day ‘off’ for the week, Chat Thai for lunch, a glass of French Chablis at Fig St James and a few quick ones at the Carrington in the late arvo certainly made for a good day. Today I’m off to see how Sydney Bar Show at the Hordern goes this warm Spring day this year, keep an eye out for the review…oh it’s a hard life.

Knickerbocker and Barons Samedis Brew at Grandmas

We were duly noted as we approached the small but superbly organized bar, though both barman were busy concocting cocktails, some in elegant cone shaped highballs and others in tiki mugs had flaming liquid from a mini fry pan poured over it, then sprinkled with cinnamon for extra fire works. Scanning the traditional and classic filed extensive cocktail list, uniquely designed with mini stories barley legible in the low light, as James dropped of the creations quipping he’d be with us in a tick.

I settled on 2 cocktails from the first double page; Baron Samedi’s Brew and a Knickerbock (both pictured with owner James Bradley). The Knickerbocker was made to perfection in a classic style served in good sized martini. Baron Samedi’s* Brew served in an enamel mug balanced the honey cream, rum and ginger beer, made in house and squirted on top from a soda bulb thingy, perfectly. Though I did find the chunks of separated honey texturally confusing initially but got over it.

I ordered Todays Punch served on the rocks in a mug as a slow sipper for my company Peter Eriksen from Upsynth. Concocted daily, this mix of sweet fruit and mixed bitters was well balanced and still too drinkable. Pointed towards a Tommy’s Margarita I was keen to try this very well know classic sans Cointreau. The agave syrup, meant to replace the sweetness of the triple sec, had a distinct almost maple flavour but the combination balanced the tequila nicely.

Throughout the mini visit the cocktail bartenders (grand children), cool in a non wanky way, were effortlessly helpful and happy to inform, chat or leave you be.

Yes, go here if you like cocktails! I did.

Grandma’s Bar

(02) 9264 3004
275 Clarence Street, Sydney NSW 2000
www.grandmasbarsydney.com.au

The traditional recipe is demonstrated here but add a dash of sugar syrup or your favorite juice for a less intense tequila bite.

Traditional Margarita recipe

• 40mls Tequila
• 20mls Cointreau
• 20mls lime juice
• Lime wheel
• Salt
• Ice

Half salt rim glass and gently fill with ice to chill. Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake. Expel ice carefully from glass and strain mix into glass.

Margarita equipment

• Martini glasses, medium to large size works best
• Cocktail Shaker: boston glass and shaker tin or 3 piece shaker
• Hawthorn strainer
• Chopping board and knife
• Ice

Pisco Sour & Pan con Tomate at El Bulli, Surry Hills

I’m always hungry it seems so quickly ordered some Pan con Tomate to go with my Pisco Sour and a glass of sauv blanc for my partner. The biggest venture so far by the El Bulli crew there were lots of staff being trained on their first big trading night, the place only bearly open with no eftpos or phone line just yet. An interesting looking Pisco Sour was tossed out by an efficient head bartender whilst training a newbie and when we quickly received both drinks and food, despite many orders going over the bar, I was duely impressed with this old school standard twisted with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top.

I asked the head barman ‘what cocktail I was drinking next?’ and was goaded for in-put on the base spirit. Tequila seemed the obvious choice and the offer of a coffee margarita I couldn’t resist. Not made with espresso coffee but a blend of coffee Patron and standard tequila let the spirits speak for themselves in true traditional margarita fashion and was tasty, but I’ll remember to ask for a shot of espresso in it next time though as this is my preferred version.

Considering its early days for this place the service was impressive and the live flamenco sent memories from time spent in Spain flooding through me in a positive rush of enjoyment. If I was to sum El Bulli up in a phrase it would be ‘like Spain but with better service!’. Though my partner who loves salt was not the only person to mention the food was too salty. Every dish, even the salad ordered later to cleanse our palates, was tasty but salty but also arrived quickly considering the place was at almost capacity.

Sipping tequila next and 1800 was the choice out of a fairly decent but uninteresting range, as a reminder of Jose Cuervos aged tequila which was once one of few choices in this category in Sydney. Noticing Sangrita was in one of the cocktails I was looking forward to this fresh, hard to find, complimentary tomato based accompaniment served on the side of a tequila shot. Alas, it was not to be, but I took the offer of bloody mary mix with extra tabasco and this had the desired effect.

1800 Tequila and sangrita

I’ll be back for some apple Aguardiente, so I chose one of each of the herb and orange chocolate spanish liqueurs. Served in bulbous tulips the herb one packed a warm punch on the alcohol side but this was subdued by earthy herbal flavours. The orange and chocolate liqueur was sweet and warming perfect for dare I say ‘the girls’ as an after dinner digestive/dessert. I wish I didn’t have to mention the nuggets of plastic i pulled out of my mouth that ended up in my night cap from a broken pourer as this was probably the only thing that marred an otherwise perfect evening.

Definitely head here and grab a seat at the bar to be part of the action, book a group table on the floor or semi PDR or sit amongst the flamenco dancer as she stamps out complimentary rhythms to guitar and cajon. We’ll be back!

El Bulli 
Address: Corner of Elizabeth and Goodlet St Surry Hills
Link: www.elbulli.com.au/