It's 110% cocktail season, which is pretty much the best news since sliced bread, and this one from Pomme Larmoyer’s Istanbul Cult Recipes is an absolute gem of a boozy bev.
You don't have to be nestled in the bustling hub of Istanbul to sink this one...just put on something flowing and colourful, play something a little like this and then soak it all in baby. Maybe get some Shisha happening too.
Istanbul is a cocktail: a fine mix of styles, the new and the old. Müzedechanga, a pioneering restaurant of the new Turkish cuisine, has created a rakı cocktail named after the city. It’s best enjoyed on their terrace overlooking the Bosphorus.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Makes 1 glass
½ mandarin*, cut into 5 wedges
20 ml (1 fl oz) sugar syrup
40 ml (2 fl oz) vodka
20 ml (1 fl oz) rakı
20 ml (1 fl oz) lemon juice
crushed ice
Use a pestle to crush the pieces of mandarin with the sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add the vodka, rakı, lemon juice and a big handful of crushed ice. Close the shaker, shake vigorously and serve in a pretty glass.
*At Müzedechanga, the mandarins used to come from Bodrum, a city in the southwest of Turkey, and have a very particular flavour and appearance (green outside, orange inside). It may be a little hard to justify going to Bodrum for a cocktail, so you can replace them with ordinary mandarins or bitter Seville oranges.
Images and recipes from Istanbul Cult Recipes by Pomme Larmoyer (Murdoch Books $49.99)
Pomme Larmoyer is a food writer, editor and traveller. She believes you can learn everything you need to know about a country from its kitchens and enjoys talking with other people from other cultures about their style of food.
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