Mataroa creates Valentine’s menu

Greek brand Mataroa Mediterranean Dry Gin has teamed up with Athens bar Baba Au Rum to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special pairing menu.

For Valentine’s Day today (14 February), the bar will also welcome Filippos Filippopoulos from Tabula Rasa – a cocktail bar in Leeds, UK – for a guest shift, where the bartender will be shaking up cocktails made with Mataroa Gin.

Filippopoulos will be at the bar tonight between 8pm and midnight.

For the Valentine’s Day pairing menu, available until 18 February, Baba Au Rum has designed a Happy Spritz – a cocktail that blends Mataroa’s Happy expression – the brand’s new lower-proof (11% ABV) spirit, infused with cannabis and damiana – together with flowers, spices and Champagne.

To eat, Athens-based pastry shop In Love Again has prepared three sweet treats: a Heart Locket, which is dipped in strawberry chocolate and has a chocolate-chip cookie base with liquid strawberry jam inside; The Pouch of Love, which holds cheesecake mousse, apricot Champagne crémeux and apricot jam; and a red velvet cake.

Nopi Romanidou, sales and marketing director and co-owner of Melissanidi Distillery, which produces Mataroa products, said: “This event coincides with the launch of Mataroa Happy, and we couldn’t be happier about the occasion.

“Working with the brilliant Thanos Prunarus and Baba Au Rum is always a pleasure, but this time we have one more reason to be even more excited: Tabula Rasa bar and its owner and head bartender, Filippos Filippopoulos.

“Tabula Rasa is located in downtown Leeds and it is in the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list in England. As for Filippos personally, he has been voted among the four best bartenders in the country for three consecutive years. All this makes us even more proud that our very own Mataroa Mediterranean Dry Gin is being chosen by the best to create unique signature cocktails.”

Last Christmas, Mataroa also teamed up with another well-known bar, Milan’s Officina, for a special festive menu.

Mataroa is imported and distributed in the UK by Amathus Drinks, which opened its seventh London store last year.

The brand is available in more than 17 markets.