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Japanese Spirit at Mizuwari

March 18, 2013 in Reviews

I love me a good drinking den. And, let’s be honest, London is pretty full of top-end joints to hunker down of an eve and do just that – drink. I have no doubt many other cities in this fine country have much to offer too, of course, but my experience is with the capital and, thus far, I can’t complain.

One of the newest whisky spots on the block is Mizuwari – a Japanese themed bar on Old Compton Street in the downstairs section of Izakaya restaurant, Bincho, that’s filled with cocktails and drams galore.

As a big fan of Japanese whisky, the news of its opening was thrilling to my ears. Unfortunately, many other people felt the same so on opening night the small space was so rammed that getting a good look at its interiors or experiencing it in full was not possible.

Cocktail at BinchoI have since had the chance to go back and can say that it is a place I will be adding to my “Soho bars of best repute” list.

The bar is what one might call intimate – petite round tables and shared benches with individual lamps that can be dimmed dot the dark-wood floored and mahogany walled room, while behind the bar are rows of Japanese whisky.

The place was developed in partnership with Suntory, so all of the cocktails on the list feature whiskies from the company’s brands (think: Hakushu, Hibiki and Yamazaki).

However, when it comes to single drams, the menu is much more extensive and includes more than a dozen options from the Nikka range, various Ichiro’s Malts and a jaw-dropping selection of Karuizawas, which given their rarity and the fact this is a central London bar, are really rather reasonably priced (from £8.50-£12).

Locked cage at BinchoWhat I like about the space is that it will hopefully appeal to a wide range of drinker – not just the seasoned whisky lover. I could easily imagine bringing my non-whisky drinking girlfriends and winning them over with the feisty Rissun cocktail (Yamazaki 12, plum liqueur and ginger) or the silky smooth Seimei (Hibiki 12, maraschino liqueur, absinthe and lemon zest).

If you want to get fully into the spirit of Japanese tradition, then you can also purchase a bottle of whisky (such as the Yamazaki 12) to store in a locked cage behind the bar, as is done in drinking dens in the east. Your name will be left on it and you can access it any time you’re in the area. Okay – it’s a bit of a mark-up from shop price (£88 instead of £43 for the Yamazaki 12) but if you’re going out frequently in the area, it makes a good investment compared to buying individual drams each time.

Now, I won’t pretend this place is cheap. It’s not. A cocktail will hit your wallet for around £10 minimum but as a special treat it is well worthwhile. And, if you come on a Monday, the fabulous restaurant upstairs features all of its skewers of charcoal grilled meat for £1 each, so you can make a night of it for a fairly reasonable price.

In short, I’m hoping this will help raise the profile once more for the wonderful drink that is Japanese whisky. If you’ve not had the chance to try many yet and are in London, this will surely be the new place to go.

Photos provided by the team behind Mizuwari.

For more details, visit: bincho.co.uk/whisky-joint

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Martine Nouet speaks to Miss Whisky

November 23, 2012 in Whisky Women

 

In my latest Whisky Women interview, I speak to Martine Nouet, a celebrated food and whisky writer and chef, and former editor of Whisky Magazine France.

In the full interview, here, she speaks of her determination to write about whisky, why she doesn’t believe in positive discrimination to get more women into the industry and her favourite memory of whisky drinking, shared on a beach with whisky writer Michael Jackson.

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A warming whisky evening

October 19, 2012 in Uncategorized

On a chilly, rainy autumn night, can there be much that’s more appealing than good food and great drams?

This combination ranks highly for me at this time of the year. And on a recent dark and blustery evening, I found myself splashing through puddles in inappropriately high heels to get to my destination which had promised to serve up just that.

On the 28th floor of the Gherkin, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society had taken over the bright orange Glenmorangie Signet private dining room – a welcome space to find myself walking into after my soggy journey.

The view – while slightly obscured due to the fog and rain – was still breathtaking, with blue and orange lights blinking as far as I could see.

The dinner was hosted in honour of the recent TWE Whisky Show, so Billy Abbott (ie: @cowfish and whisky blogger extraordinaire) was on hand to tell the set of 11 guests all about the show, while Joe McGirr (London’s SMWS manager) and Helen Stewart (the UK SMWS brand manager) were there to present some incredible whiskies.

The food came in the form of six small courses, which included: ‘Cardigan bay’ smoked mussels with bread velouté and suckling belly; pork terrine with pistachios; roast halibut and hard shell clams; Iberian pork shoulder; artisan cheeses from Mons; and, a chocolate cremeaux with orange and honeycomb. In short – pretty darn dazzling.

The whiskies, meanwhile, included some real stunners from the latest selection of bottlings. There was 7.78 (French patisserie in a bluebell wood), 116.17 (Pin-ball wizard in a Japanese tea house), 76.88 (Complex and manly), 26.71 (The great outdoors), 3.195 (Cigar smoking dragon), and 127.27 (A viking sucking Blackpool rock).

Of the food, I had a few favourites. The smoked mussels were a great place to start and paired wonderfully with 26.71. They were cooked perfectly and the small bite of suckling belly, along with an odd but tasty white chocolate sauce was an intriguing assault on the tastebuds. Equally, the whisky stood up. The 25 year old Clynelish was like a warm day at the beach on the nose, with hints of butter, pineapple, almonds and starfruit, while the palate was initially spicy but then sweet. With water the dram took on chocolatey and caramalised banana notes, like a tropical beach with flambéed bananas, a salty sea breeze and sizzling BBQ prawns. It had quite a spicy, herbal aftertaste, with flavours of cumin and rosemary.

Another stand out of the evening for me, food wise, was the roast halibut. It was served with clams, sea vegetables, olive oil caviar and yuzu (one of my newest choice sauces which is made of a citrus fruit from Japan). Each bit of olive oil caviar popped in the mouth, while the halibut was flaky soft with a hint of crunchy skin and the yuzu added a fruity, citric kick.

 


And of course, a final choice bit of the meal was the selection of cheeses. I’m a massive fan of pairing whisky and cheese together. The selection was put with my favourite whisky of the night: number 127.27, an eight year old Port Charlotte. On the nose it was all rubbery tires and Camembert to me, but while others found it very smoky, I thought it held quite a sweet, creamy smokiness. On the palate, I got chilli chocolate, cream, rubber, burnt sugar and lemongrass. It was a punchy dram with a hell of a spirit.

Of the other drams, my choice would have been number 7.78 – French patisserie in a bluebell wood. This 20 year old Longmorn from a refill cask was, to me, like smelling a bag of fudge or akin to the smell of walking into a fudge shop. On the palate it was an instant caramel bomb that exploded into sweet fragments. With it, I was transported to the Christmas markets I would attend when I was a kid – every year I’d get to choose some fudge and I remember cherishing the bag and finding a corner to sit down in and eat it afterwards. It was a bit too sweet to be a regular dram for me, but in place of pudding or after a meal I think it would be lovely.

By the end of the evening, I was buzzing with the warmth of good hospitality, fantastic food and desirable drams that helped keep me cosy during my splashy, freezing walk back to the tube. It was just what I needed on the first really chill autumn evening.

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A taste of greatness: Whisky Show dinner

September 14, 2012 in Uncategorized

“We think it’s going to be great. And if you don’t, I’m sure you will after four or five whiskies.”

So said Michelin star chef Sriram Aylur at Bombay Brasserie to a room full of whisky lovers, and so began The Whisky Exchange’s Whisky Show dinner.

The evening’s dramlaxing commenced on an eastern note with the launch of a new Indian single malt whisky from Paul John, a very large producer in India but one unknown to the UK shores before now. It was delightfully rich for a three-year old dram, with hints of honey, vanilla and caramel.

After finding our seats in the cream and brown accented room, we lucky guests were presented with an outstanding cocktail from award winning mixologist, Ryan Chetiyawardana. The man behind London’s headlining cocktail bars Purl and The Whistling Shop, whipped up a rich and spicy drink made from Cocci vermouth, a tumeric bitter, Eagle Rare bourbon, lemon and basil. It was mouthwatering, with just the right balance between sweet and bitter.

But the evening – which acted as a prequel to The Whisky Exchange’s upcoming show on the 6-7 October – was all about food and whisky pairings. Sriram worked to concoct a menu that would move from starters through to dessert with a whisky match for each dish. A hard task for any set of foods but equally harder with robust, Indian fare, I thought. To make the evening more interesting, all of the whiskies were served blind, thereby forgoing any potential bias we might have towards the drams before we’d tried them with the food.

We began with deep fried spinach and sweet mango – a very nutty dish that reminded me of freshly baked pumpkin seeds. It was paired (I later learned) with the new Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask. The whisky – with its flavours of lychee and tinned pears, cream and cedar – matched very nicely with the sweet mango addition to the starter. I’m not sure it would have paired as well without some element of sweetness in the main dish but it was a pleasant way to begin.

The next dish was the stand out one of the night for me – but not because of the pairing. The tongue-tingling spiciness of the pan fried tilapia and batter fried spiced prawns were delectable. It was served with the biggest surprise whisky wise: Johnnie Walker Blue Label. While all my table-mates and I discussed which Speyside dram it might be, we were all shocked to learn this best seller was the match. I enjoyed the whisky (the first time I’ve tried that one) and the food was gorgeous, but I found the butter caramel and pineapple notes of the dram to be too sweet for the food – its spiciness totally clobbered the dram into in-distinction.

And so it followed that my favourite dram of the night followed my favourite dish. We were all perplexed by mystery dram number three. At first, I got lemon cookies, almonds, Christmas trees and panettone on the nose and the mouth was all “mango, mango, mango” as I wrote. But it was when Tim (resident blogger of The Whisky Exchange) said he was confident it was an Irish dram that it suddenly clicked for me and memories of one of my favourite drams from the company’s Irish tasting back in March came flooding to my mind – Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy! This was paired with an assortment of delicious Indian dishes, such as lamb Roganjosh, dal tadka and, my favourite, aloo Katilyan (potatoes cooked with cumin, garlic, ginger and spices). But, again, I preferred the whisky on its own. I think my palate might have been overwhelmed by that point. Regardless, both were delicious – I’m just not sure I’d put them together in future.

After satiating myself on so many courses, I felt sure I couldn’t handle a dessert but when the reduced milk pudding with berries and Malai kulfi came out I couldn’t resist. Many people were taken aback at the bold pairing: an Ardbeg Uigeadail. But after a few tastes and sips, I could see some of the logic – after all the savoury food, the Ardbeg took on distinctly sweet notes which paired pleasantly with the kulfi. An experiment with the other whiskies on the table, however, showed us the previous whisky – the Barry Crockett – actually worked better with the milk pudding. But, I commend the chef on his bold choices.

The meal finished on a dark, Madagascar chocolate and the exciting new Glenfarclas 105 20 year old. I, unfortunately, didn’t take notes on this one, but allowed myself to sit back in satisfaction that I was trying a new dram from one of my favoured distilleries.

By the time I waddled out, happily filled to the brim with spices, rich flavours and fabulous whiskies, I could only think that if The Whisky Exchange’s whisky show prequel dinner was anything to go by, the festival in October will be outstanding.

For more information on The Whisky Exchange’s upcoming weekend whisky show, visit: http://www.whisky-show.com/

 

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Bistro du Whisky!

April 16, 2012 in Uncategorized

I have a confession. Whisky isn’t my only passion. I love to eat too. But, more than that, I have loved cooking as far back as I can remember. And, because of my passion for cooking, I enjoy learning about what goes into what I’m eating – where it’s come from, how it’s aged, what makes it what it is. This marries up beautifully with whisky because, similarly, understanding what makes a dram individual makes it all the more exciting.

As such, I get great pleasure out of pairing food and whisky – two of my favourite things in the world. So, when the Scotch Malt Whisky Society asked me along to an event at the Clerkenwell branch of Bistro du Vin, I replied straight away saying I’d be there. In fact, I nearly went directly to the restaurant to wait patiently in the corner until I could be allowed to eat, drink and be merry! Luckily, I managed to avoid embarrassing myself and stuck to the pre-arranged arrival time.

To my joy, we met in the “Whisky Snuggle” – Bistro du Vin’s private downstairs room, with a cozy and alluring name. There, I was greeted by fellow whisky woman Helen Stewart, the SMWS UK Brand Ambassador, another Brand Ambassador, John McCheyne, and London Members’ Rooms manager, Joe McGirr. The latter had been hard at “work” testing out the menu ahead of time, so my expectations were high. Whisky blogger extraordinaire, Billy Abbott, and London food blogger and NME Deputy Editor, Tim Chester, and his wife also joined in.

We started on a lovely whisky with a short and sweet name: “Classy and Attractive (aka: 25.62)”. This little beauty was a 20yo Rosebank, bottled in 1991. The nose immediately made me think of a warm summer’s day, when the light is filtering over the hayfields (I’m still a country girl at heart!). It was warm and “friendly” – quite creamy and sticky sweet, with notes of sherbert and strawberries on the palate. Adding water brought out a hint of raspberry and white chocolate – like a chocolate box!

Next up was “An Angel fallen to earth (aka: 104.13)” – a 36 yo Glen Craig, which still came in at a hefty 50.6%. On the nose, there were dashes of lemon, rosemary, aftershave and dried fruit while the on the mouth it hinted at light-brown burnt sugar and gentle rose. It had an incredible aftertaste that just kept on running – lingering notes of grass and campfire smoke. It was divine.

But, of course, this evening wasn’t just about the whisky! The food was also due to make a strong appearance. So, while those two drams worked their way around our systems, we headed upstairs to the meat room where we were taken through a showing of the beef on the menu for the evening.

Bistro du Vin works on thesis of: “Think homegrown and local”. All food, therefore, is supplied either locally or from farms they know and trust to be doing the best job. As such, if you get a chance to visit the meat locker (where the cuts of beef are aged) you’ll get a load of information about what you’re about to eat. The Clerkenwell branch uses Lake District Farmers, which supply native breed Cumbrian cattle that have been raised free range for at least two years. They are a slower growing cattle variety, so provide a richer, meatier taste. At Bistro du Vin they then age the meat under strict conditions for two to four weeks. The effect of this is fascinating: we were shown the differing sizes of cuts of meat, which shrank extensively during the aging process. It’s no wonder why the steaks are a bit pricey: the restaurant’s losing a third of its product just by aging it. But, this results in a denser, and far richer cut so I highly recommend treating yourself if you get the chance to one day.

After we’d gotten to know our steaks for the evening, we headed back to the Snuggle to be wrapped in more warm layers of whisky. The next dram was, rather appropriately, named: “Xmas cake & Afghan coats (121.50)” so we were really getting cozy. It was accompanied by (my first!) beef carpaccio & steak tartare.

The whisky wasn’t my favourite of the night, but would suit those looking for something a bit punchier: this 9-year old Arran certainly packs one. On the nose I got liquorice, cumin seeds, aged tequila and cigars while the mouth lent itself to flavours of treacle and ginger spice. It was astringent and left an aftertaste similar to when you chew on a wooden popsicle stick after the lolly’s finished (it might just be me that does this).

Next up was the steak – oh, the beautiful steak. Can I just wow you for a second?

This was followed by a cheese plate and a stunning pave au chocolat with black figs and honeycomb. Two other whiskies (“Hot embers at the gates of hell” – no. 93.50; and, “Oak and smoke intensity” – no. 29.109) finished the night off with the food. Unfortunately, yours truly was so caught up in the intense joy of it all that she didn’t take notes. Instead, I’ll woo you with some more pictures and suggest you head to your local SMWS to give them all a go…

 

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Perfect Pairings

November 29, 2011 in Uncategorized

At a recent tasting, the speaker said he tends to be loath to host whisky and food tastings because of the simple fact that whisky can taste so differently to each person and he does not like to prescribe exactly what will or won’t work well together.

I was intrigued by this statement but realised it made complete sense – after all, where one person might taste fragrant roses in a lovely scotch, another gets subtle notes of horse manure. Different strokes, for different folks.

So, it was with an open mind that I headed to Atul Kochhar’s lovely Berkeley Square restaurant Benares recently to taste some Indian food and pair it with whisky.

Bar manager – Giovanni Spezziga – takes pride in the quality of whiskies he makes star at the bar and on the restaurant’s “whisky trolley” which gets wheeled out to guests at the Michelin star restaurant when they have finished up some tasty treats.

The whisky trolley at Benares

However,  the restaurant is also trying to highlight that whisky is not only an after-dinner drink, but one that can be paired to match the spicy, rich flavours of its Indian food just as well.

“Our food is very complex so our whisky is too,” said Spezziga.

Added to this, Spezziga has also recently brought in two of the Amrut whiskies – the classic and the peated styles – to promote the Indian influence further.

“I thought, ‘Wow’. I was really surprised [at the Amrut] so I have started to suggest it to our guests,” he said.

Food and whisky: high scores all around

On my menu for the day was a potato cake, tandoori chicken, paneer with apricot sauce and a vegetable samosa with a tamarind sauce. We matched these up with a Glenmorangie, the Auchentoshan Three Wood, the Balvenie DoubleWood and the two Amrut whiskies. Finally, there’s a cheeky Manhattan made with the Amrut Peated, the stunning Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, and a cherry marinated in orange, cherry wine and anise – can you say: YUM!?

For the most part, the whisky went well and helped eke out further flavour from the food – the only time it didn’t happen was with the potato cake, which was a bit too light to do much with the Glenmorangie. But my favourite, by far, was the vegetable samosa with tamarind sauce, matched with the Balvenie DoubleWood. The sharp sweetness of the tamarind, along with the cumin spiciness of the samosa, worked beautifully with the sherry and cinnamon notes in the whisky. Parfait!

Next year the restaurant hopes to start doing some whisky masterclasses and to create a whisky and food matching menu to show off just how well the two foods go together. And after tasting the flavours, I could understand it: the powerful, spicy richness of Indian food with its cumin, coriander, ginger and tumeric, along with the spicy, oily full notes of many whiskies do seem to blend very well.

But, then again, that’s just Miss Whisky’s opinion – she says: go out and try it yourself and let her know what you think!

 

 

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