The Food Diaries

Ti Punch @ Callooh Callay

Ti Punch (pronounced Tee Paunsssh) is a traditional French-Caribbean cocktail made of rum, cane sugar and lime. It is distinctive for having no ice in it whatsoever, which makes for a very strong concoction indeed. This is a drink to be sipped slowly; a lovely choice for a later summer evening.

Although perennially popular in the hipster bars of Paris I have never come across it until now - at the Alice in Wonderland-inspired Shoreditch cocktail bar Callooh Callay.

Make sure you pay a visit sooner rather than later however - before their supply of limited edition La Mauny 55 rum (from the AOC-regulated Martinique) runs out.

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Dinner and Drinks in Shoreditch, London

Dinner at the always inspiring Saf Restaurant (a vegan restaurant where much of the menu is cooked under 48°C). Surprisingly for a vegan restaurant, the cocktails and wine menu are equally inspired. If I had a personal chef, I would eat Saf-style vegan food everyday and would be the happiest and healthiest person on the planet!

What we ate:

- Vegetable maki (made with parsnips)

- Beetroot ravioli (see photo above)

- Pad Thai

- Pumpkin risotto (one of a very few dishes cooked above 48°C)

What we drank:

- Black Forest Martini (cherry bark infused Woodford Reserve bourbon, framboise,
cointreau, cassis)

- Jasmine Pearl Martini (Jasmine green tea vodka, organic peche, lemon juice, raw
cane sugar syrup)

Then onto Callooh Callay Bar (remember Alice in Wonderland’s Jabberwocky poem?) where the cocktails are equally inventive and the staff super welcoming and friendly.

What we drank:

- Full Marks (Maker’s Mark, walnut liqueur, dark cacao liqueur, whiskey barrel bitters, port)

- Prosecco Cobbler (Prosecco, Triple Sec, Apricot brandy, Maraschino, lemon, orange, and pineapple)

- Rockin all Clover (Beefeater 24, raspberry and Earl Grey syrup, lemon, Maraschino, egg white)

Full Marks Cocktail

Full marks (pun intended) go to Andrea the bartender at Callooh Callay (a fab spot in Shoreditch, London), who came up with this award-winning cocktail. It is a concoction made up of Makers Mark Bourbon, Dark Cacao, walnut liqueur, whisky barrel bitters, and port and marasca cherries.

Here’s my attempt to recreate this at home. I managed to track down the walnut liqueur and the rare whiskey barrel bitters (!), but am still searching for the mascara cherries (had to make do with the somewhat nasty and artificial maraschino cherry).

Results? It more or less looks and tastes the part, but really, is not up to par with Andrea’s, which is much darker and complex in flavour. I may have to pay the bar a visit very soon.