Here is another selection of savoury snacks I’ve recently served and eaten with martinis. Roasted and salted soy beans. Prawns on lettuce with Peking duck sauce and fried spicy broad beans. You can get a lot of good stuff in IKEA. Fish roe goes well in Swedish croustades. Here are some of the filled croustades, as well as some Japanese nuts and seaweed snacks. Here … Continue reading More snacks and nibbles to accompany martinis
Here is a quick guide on how to infuse gin (or vodka for that matter) with green tea for you to use in a martini or an unusual gin and tonic. Simple, perfect, temperature-dependent, conducive towards mindful introspection… Am I talking about green tea or martinis here? I’ve previously made one or two gins infused with tea, such as Earl Grey but I wanted to … Continue reading Green Tea-infused Gin
I sometimes serve pickles alongside a martini as an accompanying snack. A pickled onion is the garnish of a Gibson Martini while I like Polish-style pickled gherkins on the side as well. However, I am also a fan of Japanese pickles – tsukemono / 漬物 – which I tend to find more delicate than their robust European cousins, so I thought they would make an … Continue reading An easy guide to making Tsukemono (Japanese pickles)
My brother commented that normal toothpicks were too short for my martini glasses. He is a very practical former Royal Marine and a keen perfectionist so I took his comments onboard and spent some time trying to think of an alternative. The other day I found some slightly longer mini bamboo skewers in an Asian supermarket and thought they would do the trick. Here is … Continue reading Use longer toothpicks to maximise your garnishes
Roka: 4/5 Roka is a lovely Japanese bar/restaurant with a couple of branches in London. I’m not here to review the food, I’m here to review the martini. They had a beautiful array of sakes, shochu and cocktails but with a very slight nudge their martinis could make this place out of this world: They don’t keep the gin/vodka and glasses in the freezer. That’s … Continue reading Roka Bar could rock my world with one small adjustment: 4/5
Get ready for winter with this ice-cold Japanese-Russian-British infusion. If Moscow cuts off Europe’s gas supplies this is how to stay warm! I love gari (Japanese pickled ginger) and wanted to incorporate it into a drink for ages. Similar to making Limoncello the aim is to infuse clear spirit and add it to a classic martini. Take 1 small pile of gari slices (as in … Continue reading The Japanese Pickled Ginger Martini
Inspired by Japanese bar food, I made some very simple spring onion skewers to accompany martinis. These are a very tasty snack. They are very simple ingredient-wise but can be a little bit fiddly to prepare. Nonetheless they can also be a very striking side dish. You could even serve them on top of a martini as an eye-catching garnish. I chopped the spring onions … Continue reading Japanese-style scallion / spring onion skewers
The Martini Socialist 