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Feature
Cocktail stories: Three Carriages, Darjeeling Express
Indian food and cocktails? Darjeeling Express has the perfect pairing, created by drinks designer and consultant Ruchira Neotia.
*This feature was originally published in the March 2024 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
The food at Darjeeling Express is “quite literally from the home”, says Ruchira Neotia.
“I wanted to take that concept and really bring our Indianness and, quite specifically, our Calcuttaness to the fore.”
Neotia was given the task by Asma Khan – founder of the all-women-run Indian restaurant on the top floor of Kingly Court in London – to build the venue’s cocktail menu.
With the food being a “sensorial explosion”, making sure the cocktails could pair well was vital for Neotia: “I needed to create something that’s a bit of a journey.” This journey is put into drinkable form through a cocktail flight called Three Carriages, which transports guests from Calcutta and the Bay of Bengal through tropical lychee orchards and misty tea fields, ending up at the foothills of the Himalayas. “It’s the metaphorical journey of the Darjeeling Express,” she explains. “I wanted to create a sense of the breadth of what India has to offer.”
In each carriage, an Indian gin takes centre stage. The first, Phool Baagan, which translates to ‘flower garden’ (Calcutta is “ruled by hibiscus and roses”, says Neotia), uses Greater Than Gin, and is charged with Champagne. Neotia says the carriage has florality and a touch of tanginess – “like a Hibiscus Sour but not too sweet”. It also has a vegan foamer, keeping the drinks inclusive for everyone.
After the sour, the next stop is the Lychee Surprise, which has more of a “zesty sweetness to it without being over the top”. Neotia says this point in the journey marks the passing of orchards in Bengal, where lychees grow. Hapusa gin is used as the base, which she says “takes on the fresh flavours of lychee really beautifully”.
For the last carriage, Makaibari, named after the oldest tea gardens in Darjeeling, the journey halts at the foothills of the Himalayas. The base is created by infusing Greater Than Gin with Makaibari tea, giving it an “earthy lift that seals the entire carriage”.
“The way the cocktail flight works is that it’s an entire journey of flavours that gives you a nice cross-selection to go with the dishes. When people used to come here and look at the menu, it used to take them close to 30 minutes to order,” quips Neotia. “When you don’t know what you want, you just start here.”
Ingredients and methods
Proportions below are for full-sized cocktails. Use two-thirds for the flights, and serve in small Nick & Nora glasses.
Phool Baagan
50ml Greater Than Gin
20ml Hibiscus syrup
15ml Fresh lime juice
One (generous) dash of vegan foamer
Combine the ingredients in a shaker. Add ice and shake well. Strain the cocktail into a coupe glass, and top with Champagne. Garnish with dry hibiscus petals.
Lychee Surprise
35ml Hapusa Gin
25ml Lychee Liquor
15ml Homemade simple syrup infused with citrus (lemon and orange)
15ml Fresh lime juice
20ml Lychee purée
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with an edible flower and serve.
Makaibari
40ml Darjeeling tea- infused Greater Than Gin
25ml Lucky Sod Irish Whiskey Liqueur
15ml Fresh lime juice
15ml Sugar syrup
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake well. Strain into a coupe. Garnish with a skeleton leaf and serve.
Check out our previous Cocktail Stories from the Continental Midtown and Red Frog.
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