Valentine’s doesn’t have to be all hearts and flowers – it’s also about fun and taste sensations so with this in mind I met with head cocktail Mixologist, Conor O’Quigley, at Mu Mu’s. Mu Mu’s is a club, bar and restaurant situated at the top end of Week Street and they are well known for their outlandish yet devilishly tasty cocktails. I approached Mu Mu’s about Valentine’s ideas as I thought they may have a trick or two up their sleeves to impress us and I was right – a brand new cocktail menu has been launched and Conor showed me how to make two of the lively, luxurious concoctions he feels are perfect for Valentine’s.
The first cocktail showcased is the exquisitely named ‘Wiki-Tiki-Tea-4-2’ or in this case tea for one – the ladies Valentine’s choice. The end result is a hugely theatrical display with the cocktail served with its own steaming teapot – thanks to the special addition of dry ice. Conor thinks ‘Wiki-Tiki’ is an important cocktail on the menu because of the way it looks: “…this is all about creating theatre and the premium ingredients used. It’s exciting and looks good.” The list of ingredients is astonishing including gin, Courvoisier, rum, apple juice, passion fruit and elderflower garnish, ice and the all-important dry ice.
“You have to have training to be able to use dry ice properly in a cocktail – you don’t want it to freeze over” Conor explains. There is more to mixing professional cocktails then shaking the ingredients in a mixer and this is because Mu Mu’s likes to deliver something a little bit different and to a high standard.
The result is a cocktail in a tea cup with your own smouldering pot of ‘tea’. The cocktail is finished with a passion fruit husk filled with elderflower and every ingredient is measured out precisely to ensure a good balance of flavours. This cocktail is a devilish take on afternoon tea – and certainly impressive. It could be the perfect part of a lovers first date or the witches cauldron of trouble depending on how much you decide to consume!