Old fashioned fun.
When every day is the weekend, then every night is cocktail night. There are three particular places that we (used to) really love going to get a good cocktail. Our friends Olivia and James’ kitchen table any night of the week, Panda & Sons in Edinburgh after a brisk walk through the cold streets, and of course Dishoom. If you’ve never had the pleasure of visiting one of Dishoom’s restaurants then we’d highly recommend you put it high on your post-lockdown to-do list. They are a collection for the most incredibly fragranced, artfully designed, mouthwateringly delicious Indian restaurants you’re likely to find this side of 1920s Bombay.
This particular Old Fashioned cocktail is served in Dishoom, the perfect chaser to a creamy bowl of Mattar Paneer. It’s smoky and dark and cosy, much like the restaurant itself. The recipe is simple, requiring just 5 ingredients and a little patience. This is a boon for us because we’ve never been mixers and shakers in the cocktail arena, nor do we have the extensive booze shelf that many a more adventurous concoction calls for. In this recipe the bourbon is infused with a thick and treacly green tea, bay leaf and sugar reduction. It then needs to be left alone for at least a month in order for it to develop the desired depth of flavour. This is an investment of time which is absolutely worthwhile. It’s a leave and forget about it kind of recipe which will leave you a month later with the joyous surprise of the most elegant and sophisticated drink just waiting for you on your shelf. Like finding a fiver in the pocket of your shorts the first time you wear them after a long wet winter. All that’s needed is a final addition of orange bitters and filtered water to round it off. A little gift to yourself from the past. No need for a trip into the city. To sip a glass of this is to be transported to summer evenings long ago, far from the familiar surroundings of your living room, to a dark and smoky corner of a bustling candlelit café. Pair it with some of the incredible flavours and aromas from the rest of the food in Dishoom’s book and you’re in for a genuine treat.
