Prerna Sharma sips interesting molecular cocktails at a newly-opened restaurant, Café ludus, and realises the city needs to experiment more with spirits
Have you ever tasted baileys and kalhua’s eggs, drank an espresso martini or savoured toasted marshmallows infused vodkaIJ If not, then head to Café ludus, that offers an array of molecular drinks. While Delhiites love indulging in whisky and gins, these chemically prepared drinks will further let them experiment with their beverage. Clayton Gracias, a professional bartender, performs art of mixing liquour using interesting food ingredients.
Café ludus which means school in Greek, has been designed to remind you of your school life. The place is the brainchild of Nitin Choudhary, Abhimanyu Rai, Gaurav Gupta and Rachit Khanna. There’s a library with laboratory-like bar section along with an amphitheater. Dim lights and in-house music are a part of the fine dining restaurant. The outdoors remind you of the Greek courtyard with white drapes and wooden bleachers.
Of late, restaurants are taking an interest in making cocktails a culinary equal. Gracias introduces us to molecular mixology, a term applied to the process of creating cocktails using equipment and techniques of molecular gastronomy. Gracias explains, “The basic idea is to apply scientific analysis to the art of cooking and mixing. On the kitchen side, it is creating unique food combinations, while on the bar front, professionals are working with foams and gels to give innovative textures and flavours to cocktails.”
He prepares multicolour cocktails that have foams and bubbles. He plays with cigar flavours, flavoured ice, fresh herbs, hot and cold drinks and much more.
Clayton offers us their signature drink, Gin Basil Bash — an excellent gin-based cocktail made with fresh lime, cane sugar and basil. For ladies, they offer Toasted Marshmallow Martini. An overnight infused marshmallow in vodka, shaken with cranberry juice and served with slightly toasted marshmallow gives melting flavour in mouth. A ten on ten drink!
Before taking deconstructed cocktails, Clayton presents the star of the evening — Smoked Whisky Sour. Secret malt is added in scotch and shaken with fresh lime, sugar and dash of fresh egg white. It was purely an art of making simple yet potent and flavourful drink.
Amongst the deconstructed drinks (known as molecular drinks — prepared with the process of changing the state of a liquid into a solid), the most innovative was Espresso Nutty Martini (prepared with martini, vanilla vodka, espresso shot, hazelnut foam and kahlua). The rich chocolate cigars served with the drink make it famous among ladies. B-52 was one of the most innovative. The bartender puts chemicals that turned liquid into soft spongy ball. The moment you put it in mouth, it bursts releasing all flavours. Kalhua bailey ravioli balls were soft and provided an exciting concoction mixed with chilled triple see shot.
Along with the cocktails, we savour both vegetarian and non-vegetarian pizzas. The chef recommends potato wedges and chilly chicken that goes best with the drinks. While the cocktails excel the list, the quality of the food is average. “I personally prefer no munchies with the drinks. It takes away the taste of alcohol,” says Clayton. “In India, mixology of drinks is not appreciated much, while the culture is quite developed in foreign countries. Indians are known for their drinking habits, but do not experiment with new flavours. When it comes to molecular drinking, lesser people can afford it. The ingredients used in the making of the drinks are quite expensive,” he adds.