Food pairings with spirits and cocktails tend to be a hit-and-miss sometimes. However, I do love it when the chef and bartender, or spirits producer, come together to curate a meal that is delicious, where the drinks help elevate the flavours of the dishes.
The recent KL Cocktail Week (KLCW) featured a number of cocktail pairing dinners across the city that involved collaborations between some of KL’s best restaurants and bars.
The one I attended was on the opening day of KLCW on April 28, featuring the One Michelin-starred Akar Dining in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, and Three X Co, one of Malaysia’s top bars that’s currently ranked No.15 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars.
Chef Alvin Low of Akar prepared a one-night-only six-course menu to pair with special cocktails by Three X Co's team of bartenders, featuring Remy Martin cognac and The Botanist gin.
We started out with Rojak, Akar’s take on the popular Malaysian street food, but using a housemade yeast extract (thinks Marmite) with firefly squid and monkfish liver. It was an elevated version of rojak with savoury seafood flavours.
This was paired with the Pineapple cocktail, made with gin, dry vermouth, pineapple, and genmaicha.
While the pineapple notes in the drink matched the flavours in Rojak, it was the genmaicha that actually helped to enhance the more refined nuances of the dish.
We then moved on to the Forest Bamboo, a dish that is meant to highlight the flavour of bamboo shoots, with corn miso and sea prawn.
The second pairing was Cassava Noodles, and the Passionfruit cocktail. The noodles were served in a clam dashi, accentuated by kulim (jungle garlic) oil and razor clams.
Kulim oil was also a major feature in the Passionfruit cocktail, mixed with gin, lime, tomato and also some dashi brine – a slightly savoury drink that was more of a supporting act to the dish rather than a co-star.
The Waxed Slipper Lobster was an intriguing dish, with said lobster aged in beeswax, wrapped in an ensabi leaf, and served with a carrot gel and crustacean jus.
In the third pairing, duck made a welcome return to Akar’s table after two years (the restaurant focuses more on seafood these days), with the Aged Cherry Valley Duck dish.
Here, the aged duck is paired with a braised, stuffed turnip and served with a chen pi (dried tangerine peel) sauce.
The pairing was with the Glutinous Rice Pu Er cocktail, which is basically a cognac Old Fashioned, made with chen pi as well as pu er tea. Cognac is always a great match for red meat, but for me, the drink actually went better with the turnip rather than the duck itself.
Then came a surprise course – Apam Balik, Akar’s take on the iconic Malaysian dessert, made with peanuts, corn and coconut, and a soft, chewy mochi filling.
Here, it was the pairing drink that took centrestage. Wan came up with a mini, foamy “edible cocktail” made with cognac, cream corn and peanut butter, which serves as the dipping sauce for the apam balik.
It was an ingenious pairing that not only complement and enhanced the dish, but also showed that cocktails are not just about the flavours, but about textures as well.
The final dish was the Pasir Puteh Cacao, which showcases cacao from Sabah in three forms, and paired with a soursop sorbet and roselle sauce.
This was paired with the Ipoh White Coffee, made with gin, roselle, watermelon, rosso vermouth, and clarified using Ipoh white coffee for a drink that served both as a complement to the dessert, and as a great substitute for an after meal coffee.
As far as cocktail pairings go, this ranked as one of the best I’ve had, thanks to the way both chef and bartender worked together to make sure the combo worked, and did not overshaow one another.
Michael Cheang tends to judge restaurants by the drinks they serve. Follow him on Instagram (@mytipsyturvy) and Facebook (fb.com/mytipsyturvy).
Akar Dining x Three X Co cocktail pairing dinner
The 'Rojak' dish was paired with the lovely 'Pineapple' cocktail.
Forest Bamboo, a dish that is meant to highlight the flavour of bamboo shoots, with corn miso and sea prawn.
The second pairing was Cassava Noodles, and the Passionfruit cocktail.
The Waxed Slipper Lobster was an intriguing dish, with said lobster aged in beeswax, wrapped in an ensabi leaf, and served with a carrot gel and crustacean jus.
The cognac Old Fashioned-styled drink went brilliantly with Low’s aged duck dish.
The edible cocktail serves as a dipping sauce for the apam balik dish.
The Pasir Puteh Cacao, which showcases cacao from Sabah in three forms, and paired with a soursop sorbet and roselle sauce.
The 'Ipoh White Coffee' was clarified with actual Ipoh white coffee.
The Akar Dining and Three X Co pairing dinner was a great example of how chefs and bartenders can work together to create a unique meal.
