Perfectly timed for the end of the summer months, Hong Kong’s LPM Restaurant & Bar is poised to launch a new cocktail menu celebrating the life of French bon-vivant Jean Cocteau.
We get ya. You’re keen to get out and about before the story season arrives, followed by Hong Kong’s often abrupt winter. Perhaps then, you’ll add a visit to Soho’s LPM Restaurant & Bar for October 11, when the elegant Riviera-styled eatery launched its new cocktail menu.
Paying homage to artist and writer Jean Cocteau, the new menu, developed by Global Bar Manager Tibor Krascsenics, launched to coincide with the Frenchman’s passing 58 years ago and takes its inspiration from his many influential friendships. Who doesn’t like a story behind their happy hour?
Designed to deliver a multi-sensorial and imaginative journey, the new menu has been in development for 18 months, with each drink across its four ‘chapters’ infused with history and art. The 1889 Americano for example. A nod to Cocteau’s birth year, this twist on the classic Americano cocktail integrates verdant French Suze liqueur with vermouth infused with lightly toasted pineapple (Cocteau’s favourite fruit) and is garnished with a single lemon balm leaf.
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Alternatively, Room 22 is based on the room in which Cocteau regularly stayed while visiting the legendary Hotel Welcome in the Southeast of France, where he would become acquainted with the creative-set of the 1920s, including Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel, Kiki de Montparnasse, and Louis-François Cartier. Together they threw raucous parties in Room 22 consuming a copious amount of absinthe to conjure up creative powers and the new elixir, which is designed to share, is presented in an absinthe fountain.
You might not know this but Cocteau liked to dabble in mixology himself, and experimented with his own creations at the iconic Parisian restaurant Le Grand Véfour, helmed by his friend chef Raymond Oliver. Here, Cocteau successfully blended Blood & Sand, a cocktail using Cognac, orange and cherry brandy. LPM’s Hommage uses Hennessy VSOP, Mancino Rosso, Cherry Heering liqueur, coffee, and cacao nibs to elegantly blend a dark velvety richness, intensifying the oak and vanilla notes of VSOP.
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If you’re on the wagon, LPM also presents six new alcohol-free drinks, each a slight twist on the alcoholic versions in the main menu. Because even artists need moments of clarity.
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