Smoke at Barangaroo House is inviting guests to take a trip down memory lane with the launch of its latest cocktail menu Memories. Featuring eight signature cocktails that are reminiscent of Australian nostalgia, such as the smell of sunscreen, visits from the ice cream van and snacks from years gone by, the menu showcases a range of complex techniques.
From the chicken salt martini, made with Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin and a house-made chicken salt sherry, to Save the Day, a raspberry horchata cocktail topped with raspberry form and your choice of classic soft serve topping, the immersive cocktail experiences is designed to evoke fond childhood memories.
Bars and Clubs spoke to Jai Lyons, Bar Manager at Smoke, about the inspiration taken from the 90s and the methods used to reconnect consumers with their memories and tastebuds of that time.
“Memories is all about a fun and playful way to reminisce about things that are universally Australian and make every sip a trip down memory lane.
“We wanted to do a concept menu, but make it fun and relatable to our guests. Being a destination venue, we get tourists but also people from all over Sydney. We thought that Australian nostalgia would be a fun way to expose memories to people, but also to teach people like tourists in a fun way, making delicious drinks but not taking ourselves too seriously.
“We all sat down in a room and thought about what memories we could focus on, the big thing was that we wanted it to be universally relatable as opposed to our individual memories. We came up with ideas in terms of eight core memories, then we started building out the cocktails.
“As a team, we wanted to really push our creativity – all have an element of theatre when served and we’re making all syrups, vinegars, purees, infused spirits and wines, and liqueurs in house using techniques including sous-vide, clarification, switching, force carbonation and cold infusion.
“The way that we make drinks is produce first, we have always done this because it’s how I learned to bar tend, and with this menu it is even more prevalent because there were such specific memories. It’s one thing to make a delicious drink, it’s another to say it’s a memory of something and needs to remind you of that.
“A good example is the Hawaiian or Margarita, we wanted to take the flavours of a Hawaiian pizza and put them into the form of a Margarita. Our focus was finding the best way to put the tomato in, where does the bacon come in, where is the pineapple going to come from. Everything was prepped at different ratios to see what the best result was, and we created our drinks from there.”
Made with bacon-infused tequila and caramelised pineapple, the Hawaiian or Magarita was inspired by the teams’ memories of Friday night takeaway pizza washed down a soft drink. Much like the memory, this cocktail is served with a shot of Coca Cola on the side. Jai spoke about the different components, and the process of balancing them all.
“We did a bacon fat wash for the tequila, and that came out quite meaty. It gave you a structure like bacon tequila, but the flavour was more subtle to go with the pineapple-infused Cointreau, and we made a roasted tomato syrup to add sweetness and include some of that tomato flavour. The drink was nice but we felt it was missing something, and we also try to be as minimal waste as possible, so with the bacon after the fat wash we blitzed it into a salt, which gives you that extra meatiness.”
A nod to sporting matches, the Half Time Orange is a boozy, citrus forward drink served with an edible jelly orange wedge. Made with Patron Reposado switched with blood orange, sweet vermouth and carrot and tamarind-infused Campari, Jai spoke about the technique of switching.
“There is a bar called Panda and Sons in Scotland, the Owner Iain McPherson came up with the process of switching. Reece Griffiths [Group Bars Manager at Solotel] and I were talking about switching and decided to try it.
“Switching in a simple form is taking the water content out of the tequila using a blast chill freezer. We use it at minus 28, and add the liquid to an esky with no lid, that sits in there for 36 hours and the water turns to ice but the alcohol remains. We then strain that off, so we’re just left with the alcohol, and we then replace the water content with clarified blood orange juice to keep the same ABV, and it is a two day process to clarify.
“What you get is a really intense and vibrant infusion of blood orange. The whole process from switching to clarifying is three to four days, which we do in 15 litre batches.
“A lot of what we do is prepared earlier in batch, it gives consistency from drink to drink. We’re a high volume bar so drinks go out quickly, and the recipes are quite intricate, by batching and scaling up the flavours remain the same. Switching is definitely a tedious task, but when you get it right it gives you the most intense flavour, once you scale that up and do it in volume it’s not too difficult.”
With days of prep not only going into the tequila base, the carrot and tamarind-infused Campari is also the product of a labour of love. Using the sous-vide technique, Jai explains how the Campari was infused to enhance its flavour.
“Sous-vide is essentially about cooking something at a certain temperature which you can pick yourself. It’s a kitchen technique and it’s used a lot in restaurants, but a lot of bars have adapted to use it quite commonly now.
“Sous-vide means that we can infuse using heat and ingredient, so in this instance carrot and tamarind into Campari. We vacuum seal it and let it cook for three hours at the same temperature and then strain it off, it can be done in the back during service and it makes sure the temperature is consistent every time you do it.”
Salt Kissed Sun is another of the creations, inspired by milkshakes with friends at the corner shop after a day at the beach. This cocktail combines coconut-washed rum, house-made macadamia orgeat, banana and pineapple whey, and calvados to created a textured, creamy milk punch. Showcasing another bar tending method, Jai explains how he achieves a crystal clear liquid through the process of clarification.
“The memory was milkshakes at the beach and sunscreen, that being the coconut element. We imagined we’d been to the beach, gone to the corner store and got a milkshake in the sun. We had the coconut, but wondered how we could give it a rounded flavour.
“It’s known as a milk punch, where you build the base of your cocktail, in this instance the coconut rum, banana and pineapple whey, and calvados. Once you have your base cocktail, you use citrus milk to curdle through a filter, you get a solid curdling and everything else strains through the filter. That’s what gives you a really rounded flavour, and you’re removing the sediment, which leaves you with a clear drink.
“We knew that milk punch would give it that texture, and we wanted the drink to be clear because we have quite a few that are over the top with garnish, you’ve got the chicken salt martini with potato, the jello wedge. By having this one drink that just looked like a glass of water, we felt it was a fun and understated way to serve it, because the memory alone is quite strong. It really ties into the sunscreen, we felt it didn’t need the extra experience and being visually clear was a fun element.”
Presented in a menu that could easily be mistaken for a So Fresh CD booklet, Memories is available now at Smoke at Barangaroo House.
