December 11, 2011

Moltkes Bar Speakeasy

As you walk through the gate on Dronningens Tværgade do yourself a favor and turn around and admire the inside of it - or save it for when you leave, as you please.

Then proceed up the stairs - perhaps a nice man will greet you there - if not turn right and enter one of the best kept secrets of Copenhagen: Moltkes Bar and Speakeasy.

As you leave the splendid baroque of Moltkes Palace you enter into another world. A bar that has a feeling of a 50'ies boardroom in an elegant bank.

It's a strange sensation the bar closes around it's guests. It's another world, a perfect place to put the hustle and bustle of everyday life behind you.

The cocktail menu is strong on the classics and a surefooted selection of a few modern classics.

Their motto is: Why tamper with something already perfect.

We decided to check whether or not the bar stays true to this motto, and did so by way of the Corpse Reviver II, Clover Club, Ramos Gin Fizz and Sazerac. We had three each.

All of the cocktails we beautiful creations - the two egg white cocktails - the Clover Club and the Ramos Gin Fizz - had soft magical foam that attested to the bartenders skills.

The Corpse Revivers where mixed on on a traditional London Dry Gin, but on the French grape based G'Vine which together with orange bitters gave the drink a small twist.

The Sazerac wasn't just served in a Absinthe rinsed glass, the Absinthe also came a part in it's own glass. A wonderful way to serve it.

Moltke does not go wild with garnish - it's a very focused presentation with the underlaying understanding that you come to drink cocktails, not to eat them.

Not that you starve - perhaps the biggest surprise is Moltkes bar snack: A silver platter of croutons and a dry cheese.

And of cause you are offered plenty of water to minimize the damages the next day.

Vesper


I have to admit I've been a bit pig headed about this cocktail. I've considered it a gimmicky martini and only mixed it with gin flat out refusing to consider that vodka could have any place in a cocktail.

Well, then I bought a tiny bottle of vodka and gave it a shot and ended up being quite impressed, the vodka does seem to add something to the balance of this drink.
  • 6 cl Tanqueray
  • 2 cl Smirnoff
  • 1 cl Lillet Blanc

Stir everything with ice and strain into martini glass - shaking my be James Bonds preferred method, but why bother when stirring keep the drink crystal clear?

Another way at looking at the recipe is: Two parts gin, to one part vodka to one half part dry vermouth. But Mr. Ian Flemming was quite specific and wrote Kina Lillet instead of dry vermouth in Casino Royal where the drink debuts.

Kina Lillet has gone out of production and Lillet Blanc is the closest living cousin.